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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 01:23:03 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 01:23:03 -0700 |
| commit | 7f42da99fc8b4d27b7051985d84f0c10496c5fc0 (patch) | |
| tree | 1371aaf4380561c28aa26e4f1afc286755207875 | |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/20417-8.txt b/20417-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fc1d414 --- /dev/null +++ b/20417-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12761 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4), by +J. Arthur Thomson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) + A Plain Story Simply Told + +Author: J. Arthur Thomson + +Release Date: January 22, 2007 [EBook #20417] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUTLINE OF SCIENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Brian Janes, Leonard Johnson and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +[Illustration: THE GREAT SCARLET SOLAR PROMINENCES, WHICH ARE SUCH A +NOTABLE FEATURE OF THE SOLAR PHENOMENA, ARE IMMENSE OUTBURSTS OF FLAMING +HYDROGEN RISING SOMETIMES TO A HEIGHT OF 500,000 MILES] + + + + +THE +OUTLINE OF SCIENCE + +A PLAIN STORY SIMPLY TOLD + + + +EDITED BY +J. ARTHUR THOMSON +REGIUS PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN THE +UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN + + + +WITH OVER 800 ILLUSTRATIONS +OF WHICH ABOUT 40 ARE IN COLOUR + + +IN FOUR VOLUMES + + + +G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS +NEW YORK AND LONDON +The Knickerbocker press + + + + +Copyright, 1922 +by +G. P. Putnam's Sons + + + +_First Printing April, 1922 +Second Printing April, 1922 +Third Printing April, 1922 +Fourth Printing April, 1922 +Fifth Printing June, 1922 +Sixth Printing June, 1922 +Seventh Printing June, 1922 +Eighth Printing June, 1922 +Ninth Printing August, 1922 +Tenth Printing September, 1922 +Eleventh Printing Sept., 1922 +Twelfth Printing, May, 1924_ + + +Made in the United States of America + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE + +By Professor J. Arthur Thomson + + +Was it not the great philosopher and mathematician Leibnitz who said +that the more knowledge advances the more it becomes possible to +condense it into little books? Now this "Outline of Science" is +certainly not a little book, and yet it illustrates part of the meaning +of Leibnitz's wise saying. For here within reasonable compass there is a +library of little books--an outline of many sciences. + +It will be profitable to the student in proportion to the discrimination +with which it is used. For it is not in the least meant to be of the +nature of an Encyclopædia, giving condensed and comprehensive articles +with a big full stop at the end of each. Nor is it a collection of +"primers," beginning at the very beginning of each subject and working +methodically onwards. That is not the idea. + +What then is the aim of this book? It is to give the intelligent +student-citizen, otherwise called "the man in the street," a bunch of +intellectual keys by which to open doors which have been hitherto shut +to him, partly because he got no glimpse of the treasures behind the +doors, and partly because the portals were made forbidding by an +unnecessary display of technicalities. Laying aside conventional modes +of treatment and seeking rather to open up the subject as one might on a +walk with a friend, the work offers the student what might be called +informal introductions to the various departments of knowledge. To put +it in another way, the articles are meant to be clues which the reader +may follow till he has left his starting point very far behind. Perhaps +when he has gone far on his own he will not be ungrateful to the simple +book of "instructions to travellers" which this "Outline of Science" is +intended to be. The simple "bibliographies" appended to the various +articles will be enough to indicate "first books." Each article is meant +to be an invitation to an intellectual adventure, and the short lists of +books are merely finger-posts for the beginning of the journey. + +We confess to being greatly encouraged by the reception that has been +given to the English serial issue of "The Outline of Science." It has +been very hearty--we might almost say enthusiastic. For we agree with +Professor John Dewey, that "the future of our civilisation depends upon +the widening spread and deepening hold of the scientific habit of mind." +And we hope that this is what "The Outline of Science" makes for. +Information is all to the good; interesting information is better still; +but best of all is the education of the scientific habit of mind. +Another modern philosopher, Professor L. T. Hobhouse, has declared that +the evolutionist's mundane goal is "the mastery by the human mind of the +conditions, internal as well as external, of its life and growth." Under +the influence of this conviction "The Outline of Science" has been +written. For life is not for science, but science for life. And even +more than science, to our way of thinking, is the individual development +of the scientific way of looking at things. Science is our legacy; we +must use it if it is to be our very own. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION 3 + +I. THE ROMANCE OF THE HEAVENS 7 + + The scale of the universe--The solar system--Regions of + the sun--The surface of the sun--Measuring the speed of + light--Is the sun dying?--The planets--Venus--Is there + life on Mars?--Jupiter and Saturn--The moon--The + mountains of the moon--Meteors and comets--Millions of + meteorites--A great comet--The stellar universe--The + evolution of stars--The age of stars--The nebular + theory--Spiral nebulæ--The birth and death of + stars--The shape of our universe--Astronomical + instruments. + +II. THE STORY OF EVOLUTION 53 + + The beginning of the earth--Making a home for life--The + first living creatures--The first plants--The first + animals--Beginnings of bodies--Evolution of + sex--Beginning of natural death--Procession of life + through the ages--Evolution of land animals--The flying + dragons--The first known bird--Evidences of + evolution--Factors in evolution. + +III. ADAPTATIONS TO ENVIRONMENT 113 + + The shore of the sea--The open sea--The deep sea--The + fresh waters--The dry land--The air. + +IV. THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 135 + + Animal and bird mimicry and disguise--Other kinds of + elusiveness. + +V. THE ASCENT OF MAN 153 + + Anatomical proof of man's relationship with a Simian + stock--Physiological proof--Embryological proof--Man's + pedigree--Man's arboreal apprenticeship--Tentative + men--Primitive men--Races of mankind--Steps in human + evolution--Factors in human progress. + +VI. EVOLUTION GOING ON 183 + + Evolutionary prospect for man--The fountain of change; + variability--Evolution of plants--Romance of + wheat--Changes in animal life--Story of the + salmon--Forming new habits--Experiments in locomotion; + new devices. + +VII. THE DAWN OF MIND 205 + + A caution in regard to instinct--A useful law--Senses of + fishes--The mind of a minnow--The mind and senses of + amphibians--The reptilian mind--Mind in + birds--Intelligence co-operating with instinct--The + mind of the mammal--Instinctive aptitudes--Power of + association--Why is there not more intelligence?--The + mind of monkeys--Activity for activity's + sake--Imitation--The mind of man--Body and mind. + +VIII. FOUNDATIONS OF THE UNIVERSE 243 + + The world of atoms--The energy of atoms--The discovery of + X-rays--The discovery of radium--The discovery of the + electron--The electron theory--The structure of the + atom--The new view of matter--Other new views--The + nature of electricity--Electric current--The + dynamo--Magnetism--Ether and waves--Light--What the + blue "sky" means--Light without heat--Forms of + energy--What heat is--Substitutes for coal--Dissipation + of energy--What a uniform temperature would + mean--Matter, ether, and Einstein--The tides--Origin of + the moon--The earth slowing down--The day becoming + longer. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + FACING + PAGE + +THE GREAT SCARLET SOLAR PROMINENCES, WHICH ARE SUCH A + NOTABLE FEATURE OF THE SOLAR PHENOMENA, ARE IMMENSE + OUTBURSTS OF FLAMING HYDROGEN RISING SOMETIMES TO A + HEIGHT OF 500,000 MILES + _Coloured Frontispiece_ + +LAPLACE 10 + +PROFESSOR J. C. ADAMS 10 + Photo: Royal Astronomical Society. + +PROFESSOR EDDINGTON OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY 10 + Photo: Elliot & Fry, Ltd. + +THE PLANETS, SHOWING THEIR RELATIVE DISTANCES AND + DIMENSIONS 11 + +THE MILKY WAY 14 + Photo: Harvard College Observatory. + +THE MOON ENTERING THE SHADOW CAST BY THE EARTH 14 + +THE GREAT NEBULA IN ANDROMEDA, MESSIER 31 15 + From a photograph taken at the Yerkes Observatory. + +DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MAIN LAYERS OF THE SUN 18 + +SOLAR PROMINENCES SEEN AT TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE, MAY 29, + 1919. TAKEN AT SOBRAL, BRAZIL 18 + Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich. + +THE VISIBLE SURFACE OF THE SUN 19 + Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory. + +THE SUN PHOTOGRAPHED IN THE LIGHT OF GLOWING HYDROGEN 19 + Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory. + +THE AURORA BOREALIS (_Coloured Illustration_) 20 + Reproduced from _The Forces of Nature_ (Messrs. Macmillan) + +THE GREAT SUN-SPOT OF JULY 17, 1905 22 + Yerkes Observatory. + +SOLAR PROMINENCES 22 + From photographs taken at the Yerkes Observatory. + +MARS, OCTOBER 5, 1909 23 + Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory. + +JUPITER 23 + +SATURN, NOVEMBER 19, 1911 23 + Photo: Professor E. E. Barnard, Yerkes Observatory. + +THE SPECTROSCOPE, AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT; IT + PROVIDES MEANS FOR IDENTIFYING SUBSTANCES (_Coloured + Illustration_) 24 + +THE MOON 28 + +MARS 29 + Drawings by Professor Percival Lowell. + +THE MOON, AT NINE AND THREE QUARTER DAYS 29 + +A MAP OF THE CHIEF PLAINS AND CRATERS OF THE MOON 32 + +A DIAGRAM OF A STREAM OF METEORS SHOWING THE EARTH PASSING + THROUGH THEM 32 + +COMET, SEPTEMBER 29, 1908 33 + Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich. + +COMET, OCTOBER 3, 1908 33 + Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich. + +TYPICAL SPECTRA 36 + Photo: Harvard College Observatory. + +A NEBULAR REGION SOUTH OF ZETA ORIONIS 37 + Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory. + +STAR CLUSTER IN HERCULES 37 + Photo: Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria, British Columbia. + +THE GREAT NEBULA IN ORION 40 + Photo: Yerkes Observatory. + +GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA, MARCH 23, 1914 41 + Photo: Lick Observatory. + +A SPIRAL NEBULA SEEN EDGE-ON 44 + Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory. + +100-INCH TELESCOPE, MOUNT WILSON 45 + Photo: H. J. Shepstone. + +THE YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTOR 48 + +THE DOUBLE-SLIDE PLATE-HOLDER ON YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTING + TELESCOPE 49 + Photo: H. J. Shepstone. + +MODERN DIRECT-READING SPECTROSCOPE 49 + By A. Hilger, Ltd. + +CHARLES DARWIN 56 + Photo: Rischgitz Collection. + +LORD KELVIN 56 + Photo: Rischgitz Collection. + +A GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA 57 + Photo: Lick Observatory. + +METEORITE WHICH FELL NEAR SCARBOROUGH AND IS NOW TO BE SEEN + IN THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM 57 + Photo: Natural History Museum. + +A LIMESTONE CANYON 60 + Reproduced from the Smithsonian Report, 1915. + +GEOLOGICAL TREE OF ANIMALS 61 + +DIAGRAM OF AMOEBA 61 + +A PIECE OF A REEF-BUILDING CORAL, BUILT UP BY A LARGE + COLONY OF SMALL SEA-ANEMONE-LIKE POLYPS, EACH OF WHICH + FORMS FROM THE SALTS OF THE SEA A SKELETON OR SHELL OF + LIME 64 + From the Smithsonian Report, 1917. + +A GROUP OF CHALK-FORMING ANIMALS, OR FORAMINIFERA, EACH + ABOUT THE SIZE OF A VERY SMALL PIN'S HEAD 65 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +A COMMON FORAMINIFER (POLYSTOMELLA) SHOWING THE SHELL IN + THE CENTRE AND THE OUTFLOWING NETWORK OF LIVING MATTER, + ALONG WHICH GRANULES ARE CONTINUALLY TRAVELLING, AND BY + WHICH FOOD PARTICLES ARE ENTANGLED AND DRAWN IN 65 + Reproduced by permission of the Natural History Museum + (after Max Schultze). + +A PLANT-LIKE ANIMAL, OR ZOOPHYTE, CALLED OBELIA 68 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +TRYPANOSOMA GAMBIENSE 69 + Reproduced by permission of _The Quart. Journ. Mic. Sci._ + +VOLVOX 69 + +PROTEROSPONGIA 69 + +GREEN HYDRA 72 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE BEGINNING OF INDIVIDUAL LIFE 72 + +EARTHWORM 72 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +GLASS MODEL OF A SEA-ANEMONE 72 + Reproduced from the Smithsonian Report, 1917. + +THIS DRAWING SHOWS THE EVOLUTION OF THE BRAIN FROM FISH TO + MAN 73 + +OKAPI AND GIRAFFE (_Coloured Illustration_) 74 + +DIAGRAM OF A SIMPLE REFLEX ARC IN A BACKBONELESS ANIMAL + LIKE AN EARTHWORM 76 + +THE YUCCA MOTH 76 + Photo: British Museum (Natural History). + +INCLINED PLANE OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR 76 + +VENUS' FLY-TRAP 77 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +A SPIDER SUNNING HER EGGS 77 + Reproduced by permission from _The Wonders of Instinct_ by + J. H. Fabre. + +THE HOATZIN INHABITS BRITISH GUIANA 82 + +PERIPATUS 83 + Photograph, from the British Museum (Natural History), of a + drawing by Mr. E. Wilson. + +ROCK KANGAROO CARRYING ITS YOUNG IN A POUCH 83 + Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S. + +PROFESSOR THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY (1825-95) 86 + Photo: Rischgitz. + +BARON CUVIER, 1769-1832 86 + +AN ILLUSTRATION SHOWING VARIOUS METHODS OF FLYING AND + SWOOPING 87 + +ANIMALS OF THE CAMBRIAN PERIOD 90 + From Knipe's _Nebula to Man_. + +A TRILOBITE 90 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +THE GAMBIAN MUD-FISH, PROTOPTERUS 91 + Photo: British Museum (Natural History). + +THE ARCHÆOPTERYX 91 + After William Leche of Stockholm. + +WING OF A BIRD, SHOWING THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE FEATHERS 91 + +PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION OF STRATA OF THE EARTH'S CRUST, + WITH SUGGESTIONS OF CHARACTERISTIC FOSSILS (_Coloured + Illustration_) 92 + +FOSSIL OF A PTERODACTYL OR EXTINCT FLYING DRAGON 94 + Photo: British Museum (Natural History). + +PARIASAURUS: AN EXTINCT VEGETARIAN TRIASSIC REPTILE 94 + From Knipe's _Nebula to Man_. + +TRICERATOPS: A HUGE EXTINCT REPTILE 95 + From Knipe's _Nebula to Man_. + +THE DUCKMOLE OR DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS OF AUSTRALIA 95 + Photo: _Daily Mail_. + +SKELETON OF AN EXTINCT FLIGHTLESS TOOTHED BIRD, HESPERORNIS 100 + After Marsh. + +SIX STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE HORSE, SHOWING GRADUAL +INCREASE IN SIZE 101 + After Lull and Matthew. + +DIAGRAM SHOWING SEVEN STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE + FORE-LIMBS AND HIND-LIMBS OF THE ANCESTORS OF THE MODERN + HORSE, BEGINNING WITH THE EARLIEST KNOWN PREDECESSORS OF + THE HORSE AND CULMINATING WITH THE HORSE OF TO-DAY 104 + After Marsh and Lull. + +WHAT IS MEANT BY HOMOLOGY? ESSENTIAL SIMILARITY OF + ARCHITECTURE, THOUGH THE APPEARANCES MAY BE VERY + DIFFERENT 105 + +AN EIGHT-ARMED CUTTLEFISH OR OCTOPUS ATTACKING A SMALL CRAB 116 + +A COMMON STARFISH, WHICH HAS LOST THREE ARMS AND IS + REGROWING THEM 116 + After Professor W. C. McIntosh. + +THE PAPER NAUTILUS (ARGONAUTA), AN ANIMAL OF THE OPEN SEA 117 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +A PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING A STARFISH (_Asterias Forreri_) WHICH + HAS CAPTURED A LARGE FISH 117 + +TEN-ARMED CUTTLEFISH OR SQUID IN THE ACT OF CAPTURING A FISH 118 + +GREENLAND WHALE 118 + +MINUTE TRANSPARENT EARLY STAGE OF A SEA-CUCUMBER 119 + +AN INTRICATE COLONY OF OPEN-SEA ANIMALS (_Physophora + Hydrostatica_) RELATED TO THE PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR 119 + Photo: British Museum (Natural History). + +A SCENE IN THE GREAT DEPTHS 119 + +SEA-HORSE IN SARGASSO WEED 120 + +LARGE MARINE LAMPREYS (_Petromyzon Marinus_) 120 + +THE DEEP-SEA FISH _Chiasmodon Niger_ 120 + +DEEP-SEA FISHES 120 + +FLINTY SKELETON OF VENUS' FLOWER BASKET (_Euplectella_), A + JAPANESE DEEP-SEA SPONGE 121 + +EGG DEPOSITORY OF _Semotilus Atromaculatus_ 121 + +THE BITTERLING (_Rhodeus Amarus_) 124 + +WOOLLY OPOSSUM CARRYING HER FAMILY 124 + Photo: W. S. Berridge. + +SURINAM TOAD (_Pipa Americana_) WITH YOUNG ONES HATCHING + OUT OF LITTLE POCKETS ON HER BACK 125 + +STORM PETREL OR MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKEN (_Procellaria + Pelagica_) 125 + +ALBATROSS: A CHARACTERISTIC PELAGIC BIRD OF THE SOUTHERN + SEA 128 + +THE PRAYING MANTIS (_Mantis Religiosa_) 138 + +PROTECTIVE COLORATION: A WINTER SCENE IN NORTH SCANDINAVIA 138 + +THE VARIABLE MONITOR (_Varanus_) 139 + Photo: A. A. White. + +BANDED KRAIT: A VERY POISONOUS SNAKE WITH ALTERNATING + YELLOW AND DARK BANDS 140 + Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S. + +THE WARTY CHAMELEON 140 + Photos: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S. + +SEASONAL COLOUR-CHANGE: SUMMER SCENE IN NORTH SCANDINAVIA 141 + +PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE 142 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +WHEN ONLY A FEW DAYS OLD, YOUNG BITTERN BEGIN TO STRIKE THE + SAME ATTITUDE AS THEIR PARENTS, THRUSTING THEIR BILLS + UPWARDS AND DRAWING THEIR BODIES UP SO THAT THEY RESEMBLE + A BUNCH OF REEDS 143 + +PROTECTIVE COLORATION OR CAMOUFLAGING, GIVING ANIMALS A + GARMENT OF INVISIBILITY (_Coloured Illustration_) 144 + +ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF PROTECTIVE COLORATION (_Coloured + Illustration_) 144 + +DEAD-LEAF BUTTERFLY (_Kallima Inachis_) FROM INDIA 146 + +PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN A SMALL SPIDER (_to the + left_) AND AN ANT (_to the right_) 146 + +THE WASP BEETLE, WHICH, WHEN MOVING AMONGST THE BRANCHES, + GIVES A WASP-LIKE IMPRESSION 147 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +HERMIT-CRAB WITH PARTNER SEA-ANEMONES 147 + +CUCKOO-SPIT 147 + Photo: G. P. Duffus. + +CHIMPANZEE, SITTING 156 + Photo: New York Zoological Park. + +CHIMPANZEE, ILLUSTRATING WALKING POWERS 156 + Photo: New York Zoological Park. + +SURFACE VIEW OF THE BRAINS OF MAN AND CHIMPANZEE 157 + +SIDE-VIEW OF CHIMPANZEE'S HEAD 157 + Photo: New York Zoological Park. + +PROFILE VIEW OF HEAD OF PITHECANTHROPUS, THE JAVA APE-MAN, + RECONSTRUCTED FROM THE SKULL-CAP 157 + After a model by J. H. McGregor. + +THE FLIPPER OF A WHALE AND THE HAND OF A MAN 157 + +THE GORILLA, INHABITING THE FOREST TRACT OF THE GABOON IN + AFRICA (_Coloured Illustration_) 158 + +"DARWIN'S POINT" ON HUMAN EAR 160 + +PROFESSOR SIR ARTHUR KEITH, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S. 161 + Photo: J. Russell & Sons. + +SKELETONS OF THE GIBBON, ORANG, CHIMPANZEE, GORILLA, MAN 161 + After T. H. Huxley (by permission of Messrs. Macmillan). + +SIDE-VIEW OF SKULL OF MAN AND GORILLA 164 + +THE SKULL AND BRAIN-CASE OF PITHECANTHROPUS, THE JAVA + APE-MAN, AS RESTORED BY J. H. MCGREGOR FROM THE SCANTY + REMAINS 164 + +SUGGESTED GENEALOGICAL TREE OF MAN AND ANTHROPOID APES 165 + +THE GIBBON IS LOWER THAN THE OTHER APES AS REGARDS ITS + SKULL AND DENTITION, BUT IT IS HIGHLY SPECIALIZED IN THE + ADAPTATION OF ITS LIMBS TO ARBOREAL LIFE 166 + Photo: New York Zoological Park. + +THE ORANG HAS A HIGH ROUNDED SKULL AND A LONG FACE 166 + Photo: New York Zoological Park. + +COMPARISONS OF THE SKELETONS OF HORSE AND MAN 167 + Photo: British Museum (Natural History). + +A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE JAVA MAN (_Coloured Illustration_) 168 + +PROFILE VIEW OF THE HEAD OF PITHECANTHROPUS, THE JAVA + APE-MAN--AN EARLY OFFSHOOT FROM THE MAIN LINE OF MAN'S + ASCENT 170 + After a model by J. H. McGregor. + +PILTDOWN SKULL 170 + From the reconstruction by J. H. McGregor. + +SAND-PIT AT MAUER, NEAR HEIDELBERG: DISCOVERY SITE OF THE + JAW OF HEIDELBERG MAN 171 + Reproduced by permission from Osborn's + _Men of the Old Stone Age_. + +PAINTINGS ON THE ROOF OF THE ALTAMIRA CAVE IN NORTHERN + SPAIN, SHOWING A BISON AND A GALLOPING BOAR (_Coloured + Illustration_) 172 + +PILTDOWN MAN, PRECEDING NEANDERTHAL MAN, PERHAPS 100,000 TO + 150,000 YEARS AGO 174 + After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor. + +THE NEANDERTHAL MAN OF LA CHAPELLE-AUX-SAINTS 175 + After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor. + +RESTORATION BY A. FORESTIER OF THE RHODESIAN MAN WHOSE + SKULL WAS DISCOVERED IN 1921 176-177 + +SIDE VIEW OF A PREHISTORIC HUMAN SKULL DISCOVERED IN 1921 + IN BROKEN HILL CAVE, NORTHERN RHODESIA 178 + Photo: British Museum (Natural History). + +A CROMAGNON MAN OR CROMAGNARD, REPRESENTATIVE OF A STRONG + ARTISTIC RACE LIVING IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE IN THE UPPER + PLEISTOCENE, PERHAPS 25,000 YEARS AGO 178 + After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor. + +PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING A NARROW PASSAGE IN THE CAVERN OF + FONT-DE-GAUME ON THE BEUNE 179 + Reproduced by permission from Osborn's + _Men of the Old Stone Age_. + +A MAMMOTH DRAWN ON THE WALL OF THE FONT-DE-GAUME CAVERN 179 + +A GRAZING BISON, DELICATELY AND CAREFULLY DRAWN, ENGRAVED + ON A WALL OF THE ALTAMIRA CAVE, NORTHERN SPAIN 179 + +PHOTOGRAPH OF A MEDIAN SECTION THROUGH THE SHELL OF THE + PEARLY NAUTILUS 186 + +PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ENTIRE SHELL OF THE PEARLY NAUTILUS 186 + +NAUTILUS 186 + +SHOEBILL 187 + Photo: W. S. Berridge. + +THE WALKING-FISH OR MUD-SKIPPER (_Periophthalmus_), COMMON + AT THE MOUTHS OF RIVERS IN TROPICAL AFRICA, ASIA, AND + NORTH-WEST AUSTRALIA 190 + +THE AUSTRALIAN MORE-PORK OR PODARGUS 190 + Photo: _The Times_. + +PELICAN'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR CATCHING AND STORING FISHES 191 + +SPOONBILL'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR SIFTING THE MUD AND CATCHING + THE SMALL ANIMALS, E.G. FISHES, CRUSTACEANS, INSECT + LARVÆ, WHICH LIVE THERE 191 + +AVOCET'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR A CURIOUS SIDEWAYS SCOOPING IN + THE SHORE-POOLS AND CATCHING SMALL ANIMALS 191 + +HORNBILL'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR EXCAVATING A NEST IN A TREE, + AND ALSO FOR SEIZING AND BREAKING DIVERSE FORMS OF FOOD, + FROM MAMMALS TO TORTOISES, FROM ROOTS TO FRUITS 191 + +FALCON'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR SEIZING, KILLING, AND TEARING + SMALL MAMMALS AND BIRDS 191 + +PUFFIN'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR CATCHING SMALL FISHES NEAR THE + SURFACE OF THE SEA, AND FOR HOLDING THEM WHEN CAUGHT AND + CARRYING THEM TO THE NEST 191 + +LIFE-HISTORY OF A FROG 192 + +HIND-LEG OF WHIRLIGIG BEETLE WHICH HAS BECOME BEAUTIFULLY + MODIFIED FOR AQUATIC LOCOMOTION 192 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +THE BIG ROBBER-CRAB (_Birgus Latro_), THAT CLIMBS THE + COCONUT PALM AND BREAKS OFF THE NUTS 193 + +EARLY LIFE-HISTORY OF THE SALMON 196 + +THE SALMON LEAPING AT THE FALL IS A MOST FASCINATING SPECTACLE 197 + +DIAGRAM OF THE LIFE-HISTORY OF THE COMMON EEL (_Anguilla + Vulgaris_) 200 + +CASSOWARY 201 + Photo: Gambier Bolton. + +THE KIWI, ANOTHER FLIGHTLESS BIRD, OF REMARKABLE + APPEARANCE, HABITS, AND STRUCTURE 201 + Photo: Gambier Bolton. + +THE AUSTRALIAN FRILLED LIZARD, WHICH IS AT PRESENT TRYING + TO BECOME A BIPED 202 + +A CARPET OF GOSSAMER 202 + +THE WATER SPIDER 203 + +JACKDAW BALANCING ON A GATEPOST 208 + Photo: O. J. Wilkinson. + +TWO OPOSSUMS FEIGNING DEATH 208 + From Ingersoll's _The Wit of the Wild_. + +MALE OF THREE-SPINED STICKLEBACK, MAKING A NEST OF + WATER-WEED, GLUED TOGETHER BY VISCID THREADS SECRETED + FROM THE KIDNEYS AT THE BREEDING SEASON 209 + +A FEMALE STICKLEBACK ENTERS THE NEST WHICH THE MALE HAS + MADE, LAYS THE EGGS INSIDE, AND THEN DEPARTS 209 + +HOMING PIGEON 212 + Photo: Imperial War Museum. + +CARRIER PIGEON 212 + Photo: Imperial War Museum. + +YELLOW-CROWNED PENGUIN 213 + Photo: James's Press Agency. + +PENGUINS ARE "A PECULIAR PEOPLE" 213 + Photo: Cagcombe & Co. + +HARPY-EAGLE 216 + Photo: W. S. Berridge. + +THE DINGO OR WILD DOG OF AUSTRALIA, PERHAPS AN INDIGENOUS + WILD SPECIES, PERHAPS A DOMESTICATED DOG THAT HAS GONE + WILD OR FERAL 216 + Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S. + +WOODPECKER HAMMERING AT A COTTON-REEL, ATTACHED TO A TREE 217 + +THE BEAVER 220 + +THE THRUSH AT ITS ANVIL 221 + Photo: F. R. Hinkins & Son. + +ALSATIAN WOLF-DOG 226 + Photo: Lafayette. + +THE POLAR BEAR OF THE FAR NORTH 227 + Photo: W. S. Berridge. + +AN ALLIGATOR "YAWNING" IN EXPECTATION OF FOOD 227 + From the Smithsonian Report, 1914. + +BABY ORANG 232 + Photo: W. P. Dando. + +ORANG-UTAN 232 + Photo: Gambier Bolton. + +CHIMPANZEE 233 + Photo: James's Press Agency. + +BABY ORANG-UTAN 233 + Photo: James's Press Agency. + +ORANG-UTAN 233 + Photo: James's Press Agency. + +BABY CHIMPANZEES 233 + Photo: James's Press Agency. + +CHIMPANZEE 238 + Photo: W. P. Dando. + +YOUNG CHEETAHS, OR HUNTING LEOPARDS 238 + Photo: W. S. Berridge. + +COMMON OTTER 239 + Photo: C. Reid. + +SIR ERNEST RUTHERFORD 246 + Photo: Elliott & Fry. + +J. CLERK-MAXWELL 246 + Photo: Rischgitz Collection. + +SIR WILLIAM CROOKES 247 + Photo: Ernest H. Mills. + +PROFESSOR SIR W. H. BRAGG 247 + Photo: Photo Press. + +COMPARATIVE SIZES OF MOLECULES 250 + +INCONCEIVABLE NUMBERS AND INCONCEIVABLY SMALL PARTICLES 250 + +WHAT IS A MILLION? 250 + +THE BROWNIAN MOVEMENT 251 + +A SOAP BUBBLE (_Coloured Illustration_) 252 + Reproduced from _The Forces of Nature_ (Messrs. Macmillan). + +DETECTING A SMALL QUANTITY OF MATTER 254 + From _Scientific Ideas of To-day_. + +THIS X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH IS THAT OF A HAND OF A SOLDIER + WOUNDED IN THE GREAT WAR 254 + Reproduced by permission of X-Rays Ltd. + +AN X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH OF A GOLF BALL, REVEALING AN IMPERFECT + CORE 254 + Photo: National Physical Laboratory. + +A WONDERFUL X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH 255 + Reproduced by permission of X-Rays Ltd. + +ELECTRIC DISCHARGE IN A VACUUM TUBE 258 + +THE RELATIVE SIZES OF ATOMS AND ELECTRONS 258 + +ELECTRONS STREAMING FROM THE SUN TO THE EARTH 259 + +PROFESSOR SIR J. J. THOMSON 262 + +ELECTRONS PRODUCED BY PASSAGE OF X-RAYS THROUGH AIR 262 + From the Smithsonian Report, 1915. + +MAGNETIC DEFLECTION OF RADIUM RAYS 263 + +PROFESSOR R. A. MILLIKAN'S APPARATUS FOR COUNTING ELECTRONS 263 + Reproduced by permission of _Scientific American_. + +MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE 266 + +THE THEORY OF ELECTRONS 267 + +ARRANGEMENTS OF ATOMS IN A DIAMOND 267 + +DISINTEGRATION OF ATOMS 270 + +SILK TASSEL ELECTRIFIED 270 + Reproduced by permission from _The Interpretation of Radium_ + (John Murray). + +SILK TASSEL DISCHARGED BY THE RAYS FROM RADIUM 270 + +A HUGE ELECTRIC SPARK 271 + +ELECTRICAL ATTRACTION BETWEEN COMMON OBJECTS 271 + From _Scientific Ideas of To-day_. + +AN ELECTRIC SPARK 274 + Photo: Leadbeater. + +AN ETHER DISTURBANCE AROUND AN ELECTRON CURRENT 275 + From _Scientific Ideas of To-day_. + +LIGHTNING 278 + Photo: H. J. Shepstone. + +LIGHT WAVES 279 + +THE MAGNETIC CIRCUIT OF AN ELECTRIC CURRENT 279 + +THE MAGNET 279 + +ROTATING DISC OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON FOR MIXING COLOURS + (_Coloured Illustration_) 280 + +WAVE SHAPES 282 + +THE POWER OF A MAGNET 282 + +THE SPEED OF LIGHT 283 + Photo: The Locomotive Publishing Co., Ltd. + +ROTATING DISC OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON FOR MIXING COLOURS 283 + +NIAGARA FALLS 286 + +TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY 287 + Photo: Stephen Cribb. + +"BOILING" A KETTLE ON ICE 287 + Photo: Underwood & Underwood. + +THE CAUSE OF TIDES 290 + +THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT 290 + Photo: G. Brocklehurst. + +A BIG SPRING TIDE, THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT 291 + Photo: G. Brocklehurst. + + + + +The Outline of Science + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +There is abundant evidence of a widened and deepened interest in modern +science. How could it be otherwise when we think of the magnitude and +the eventfulness of recent advances? + +But the interest of the general public would be even greater than it is +if the makers of new knowledge were more willing to expound their +discoveries in ways that could be "understanded of the people." No one +objects very much to technicalities in a game or on board a yacht, and +they are clearly necessary for terse and precise scientific description. +It is certain, however, that they can be reduced to a minimum without +sacrificing accuracy, when the object in view is to explain "the gist of +the matter." So this OUTLINE OF SCIENCE is meant for the general reader, +who lacks both time and opportunity for special study, and yet would +take an intelligent interest in the progress of science which is making +the world always new. + +The story of the triumphs of modern science is one of which Man may well +be proud. Science reads the secret of the distant star and anatomises +the atom; foretells the date of the comet's return and predicts the +kinds of chickens that will hatch from a dozen eggs; discovers the laws +of the wind that bloweth where it listeth and reduces to order the +disorder of disease. Science is always setting forth on Columbus +voyages, discovering new worlds and conquering them by understanding. +For Knowledge means Foresight and Foresight means Power. + +The idea of Evolution has influenced all the sciences, forcing us to +think of _everything_ as with a history behind it, for we have travelled +far since Darwin's day. The solar system, the earth, the mountain +ranges, and the great deeps, the rocks and crystals, the plants and +animals, man himself and his social institutions--all must be seen as +the outcome of a long process of Becoming. There are some eighty-odd +chemical elements on the earth to-day, and it is now much more than a +suggestion that these are the outcome of an inorganic evolution, element +giving rise to element, going back and back to some primeval stuff, from +which they were all originally derived, infinitely long ago. No idea has +been so powerful a tool in the fashioning of New Knowledge as this +simple but profound idea of Evolution, that the present is the child of +the past and the parent of the future. And with the picture of a +continuity of evolution from nebula to social systems comes a promise of +an increasing control--a promise that Man will become not only a more +accurate student, but a more complete master of his world. + +It is characteristic of modern science that the whole world is seen to +be more vital than before. Everywhere there has been a passage from the +static to the dynamic. Thus the new revelations of the constitution of +matter, which we owe to the discoveries of men like Professor Sir J. J. +Thomson, Professor Sir Ernest Rutherford, and Professor Frederick Soddy, +have shown the very dust to have a complexity and an activity heretofore +unimagined. Such phrases as "dead" matter and "inert" matter have gone +by the board. + +The new theory of the atom amounts almost to a new conception of the +universe. It bids fair to reveal to us many of nature's hidden secrets. +The atom is no longer the indivisible particle of matter it was once +understood to be. We know now that there is an atom within the +atom--that what we thought was elementary can be dissociated and broken +up. The present-day theories of the atom and the constitution of matter +are the outcome of the comparatively recent discovery of such things as +radium, the X-rays, and the wonderful revelations of such instruments as +the spectroscope and other highly perfected scientific instruments. + +The advent of the electron theory has thrown a flood of light on what +before was hidden or only dimly guessed at. It has given us a new +conception of the framework of the universe. We are beginning to know +and realise of what matter is made and what electric phenomena mean. We +can glimpse the vast stores of energy locked up in matter. The new +knowledge has much to tell us about the origin and phenomena, not only +of our own planet, but other planets, of the stars, and the sun. New +light is thrown on the source of the sun's heat; we can make more than +guesses as to its probable age. The great question to-day is: is there +_one_ primordial substance from which all the varying forms of matter +have been evolved? + +But the discovery of electrons is only one of the revolutionary changes +which give modern science an entrancing interest. + +As in chemistry and physics, so in the science of living creatures there +have been recent advances that have changed the whole prospect. A good +instance is afforded by the discovery of the "hormones," or chemical +messengers, which are produced by ductless glands, such as the thyroid, +the supra-renal, and the pituitary, and are distributed throughout the +body by the blood. The work of physiologists like Professor Starling and +Professor Bayliss has shown that these chemical messengers regulate what +may be called the "pace" of the body, and bring about that regulated +harmony and smoothness of working which we know as health. It is not too +much to say that the discovery of hormones has changed the whole of +physiology. Our knowledge of the human body far surpasses that of the +past generation. + +The persistent patience of microscopists and technical improvements like +the "ultramicroscope" have greatly increased our knowledge of the +invisible world of life. To the bacteria of a past generation have been +added a multitude of microscopic _animal_ microbes, such as that which +causes Sleeping Sickness. The life-histories and the weird ways of many +important parasites have been unravelled; and here again knowledge means +mastery. To a degree which has almost surpassed expectations there has +been a revelation of the intricacy of the stones and mortar of the house +of life, and the microscopic study of germ-cells has wonderfully +supplemented the epoch-making experimental study of heredity which began +with Mendel. It goes without saying that no one can call himself +educated who does not understand the central and simple ideas of +Mendelism and other new departures in biology. + +The procession of life through the ages and the factors in the sublime +movement; the peopling of the earth by plants and animals and the +linking of life to life in subtle inter-relations, such as those between +flowers and their insect-visitors; the life-histories of individual +types and the extraordinary results of the new inquiry called +"experimental embryology"--these also are among the subjects with which +this OUTLINE will deal. + +The behaviour of animals is another fascinating study, leading to a +provisional picture of the dawn of mind. Indeed, no branch of science +surpasses in interest that which deals with the ways and habits--the +truly wonderful devices, adaptations, and instincts--of insects, birds, +and mammals. We no longer deny a degree of intelligence to some members +of the animal world--even the line between intelligence and reason is +sometimes difficult to find. + +Fresh contacts between physiology and the study of man's mental life; +precise studies of the ways of children and wild peoples; and new +methods like those of the psycho-analyst must also receive the attention +they deserve, for they are giving us a "New Psychology" and the claims +of psychical research must also be recognised by the open-minded. + +The general aim of the OUTLINE is to give the reader a clear and concise +view of the essentials of present-day science, so that he may follow +with intelligence the modern advance and share appreciatively in man's +continued conquest of his kingdom. + +J. ARTHUR THOMSON. + + + + +I + +THE ROMANCE OF THE HEAVENS + + + + +THE SCALE OF THE UNIVERSE--THE SOLAR SYSTEM + + +§ 1 + +The story of the triumphs of modern science naturally opens with +Astronomy. The picture of the Universe which the astronomer offers to us +is imperfect; the lines he traces are often faint and uncertain. There +are many problems which have been solved, there are just as many about +which there is doubt, and notwithstanding our great increase in +knowledge, there remain just as many which are entirely unsolved. + + The problem of the structure and duration of the universe [said the + great astronomer Simon Newcomb] is the most far-reaching with which + the mind has to deal. Its solution may be regarded as the ultimate + object of stellar astronomy, the possibility of reaching which has + occupied the minds of thinkers since the beginning of civilisation. + Before our time the problem could be considered only from the + imaginative or the speculative point of view. Although we can to-day + attack it to a limited extent by scientific methods, it must be + admitted that we have scarcely taken more than the first step toward + the actual solution.... What is the duration of the universe in + time? Is it fitted to last for ever in its present form, or does it + contain within itself the seeds of dissolution? Must it, in the + course of time, in we know not how many millions of ages, be + transformed into something very different from what it now is? This + question is intimately associated with the question whether the + stars form a system. If they do, we may suppose that system to be + permanent in its general features; if not, we must look further for + our conclusions. + + +The Heavenly Bodies + +The heavenly bodies fall into two very distinct classes so far as their +relation to our Earth is concerned; the one class, a very small one, +comprises a sort of colony of which the Earth is a member. These bodies +are called _planets_, or wanderers. There are eight of them, including +the Earth, and they all circle round the sun. Their names, in the order +of their distance from the sun, are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, +Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and of these Mercury, the nearest to +the sun, is rarely seen by the naked eye. Uranus is practically +invisible, and Neptune quite so. These eight planets, together with the +sun, constitute, as we have said, a sort of little colony; this colony +is called the Solar System. + +The second class of heavenly bodies are those which lie _outside_ the +solar system. Every one of those glittering points we see on a starlit +night is at an immensely greater distance from us than is any member of +the Solar System. Yet the members of this little colony of ours, judged +by terrestrial standards, are at enormous distances from one another. If +a shell were shot in a straight line from one side of Neptune's orbit to +the other it would take five hundred years to complete its journey. Yet +this distance, the greatest in the Solar System as now known (excepting +the far swing of some of the comets), is insignificant compared to the +distances of the stars. One of the nearest stars to the earth that we +know of is Alpha Centauri, estimated to be some twenty-five million +millions of miles away. Sirius, the brightest star in the firmament, is +double this distance from the earth. + +We must imagine the colony of planets to which we belong as a compact +little family swimming in an immense void. At distances which would take +our shell, not hundreds, but millions of years to traverse, we reach +the stars--or rather, a star, for the distances between stars are as +great as the distance between the nearest of them and our Sun. The +Earth, the planet on which we live, is a mighty globe bounded by a crust +of rock many miles in thickness; the great volumes of water which we +call our oceans lie in the deeper hollows of the crust. Above the +surface an ocean of invisible gas, the atmosphere, rises to a height of +about three hundred miles, getting thinner and thinner as it ascends. + +[Illustration: LAPLACE + +One of the greatest mathematical astronomers of all time and the +originator of the nebular theory.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Royal Astronomical Society._ + +PROFESSOR J. C. ADAMS + +who, anticipating the great French mathematician, Le Verrier, discovered +the planet Neptune by calculations based on the irregularities of the +orbit of Uranus. One of the most dramatic discoveries in the history of +Science.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Elliott & Fry, Ltd._ + +PROFESSOR EDDINGTON + +Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge. The most famous of the English +disciples of Einstein.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.--DIAGRAMS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM + +THE COMPARATIVE DISTANCES OF THE PLANETS + +(Drawn approximately to scale) + +The isolation of the Solar System is very great. On the above scale the +_nearest_ star (at a distance of 25 trillions of miles) would be over +_one half mile_ away. The hours, days, and years are the measures of +time as we use them; that is: Jupiter's "Day" (one rotation of the +planet) is made in ten of _our hours_; Mercury's "Year" (one revolution +of the planet around the Sun) is eighty-eight of _our days_. Mercury's +"Day" and "Year" are the same. This planet turns always the same side to +the Sun.] + +[Illustration: THE COMPARATIVE SIZES OF THE SUN AND THE PLANETS (Drawn +approximately to scale) + +On this scale the Sun would be 17-1/2 inches in diameter; it is far +greater than all the planets put together. Jupiter, in turn, is greater +than all the other planets put together.] + +Except when the winds rise to a high speed, we seem to live in a very +tranquil world. At night, when the glare of the sun passes out of our +atmosphere, the stars and planets seem to move across the heavens with a +stately and solemn slowness. It was one of the first discoveries of +modern astronomy that this movement is only apparent. The apparent +creeping of the stars across the heavens at night is accounted for by +the fact that the earth turns upon its axis once in every twenty-four +hours. When we remember the size of the earth we see that this implies a +prodigious speed. + +In addition to this the earth revolves round the sun at a speed of more +than a thousand miles a minute. Its path round the sun, year in year +out, measures about 580,000,000 miles. The earth is held closely to this +path by the gravitational pull of the sun, which has a mass 333,432 +times that of the earth. If at any moment the sun ceased to exert this +pull the earth would instantly fly off into space straight in the +direction in which it was moving at the time, that is to say, at a +tangent. This tendency to fly off at a tangent is continuous. It is the +balance between it and the sun's pull which keeps the earth to her +almost circular orbit. In the same way the seven other planets are held +to their orbits. + +Circling round the earth, in the same way as the earth circles round the +sun, is our moon. Sometimes the moon passes directly between us and the +sun, and cuts off the light from us. We then have a total or partial +eclipse of the sun. At other times the earth passes directly between the +sun and the moon, and causes an eclipse of the moon. The great ball of +the earth naturally trails a mighty shadow across space, and the moon is +"eclipsed" when it passes into this. + +The other seven planets, five of which have moons of their own, circle +round the sun as the earth does. The sun's mass is immensely larger than +that of all the planets put together, and all of them would be drawn +into it and perish if they did not travel rapidly round it in gigantic +orbits. So the eight planets, spinning round on their axes, follow their +fixed paths round the sun. The planets are secondary bodies, but they +are most important, because they are the only globes in which there can +be life, as we know life. + +If we could be transported in some magical way to an immense distance in +space above the sun, we should see our Solar System as it is drawn in +the accompanying diagram (Fig. 1), except that the planets would be mere +specks, faintly visible in the light which they receive from the sun. +(This diagram is drawn approximately to scale.) If we moved still +farther away, trillions of miles away, the planets would fade entirely +out of view, and the sun would shrink into a point of fire, a star. And +here you begin to realize the nature of the universe. _The sun is a +star. The stars are suns._ Our sun looks big simply because of its +comparative nearness to us. The universe is a stupendous collection of +millions of stars or suns, many of which may have planetary families +like ours. + + +§ 2 + +The Scale of the Universe + +How many stars are there? A glance at a photograph of star-clouds will +tell at once that it is quite impossible to count them. The fine +photograph reproduced in Figure 2 represents a very small patch of that +pale-white belt, the Milky Way, which spans the sky at night. It is true +that this is a particularly rich area of the Milky Way, but the entire +belt of light has been resolved in this way into masses or clouds of +stars. Astronomers have counted the stars in typical districts here and +there, and from these partial counts we get some idea of the total +number of stars. There are estimated to be between two and three +thousand million stars. + +Yet these stars are separated by inconceivable distances from each +other, and it is one of the greatest triumphs of modern astronomy to +have mastered, so far, the scale of the universe. For several centuries +astronomers have known the relative distances from each other of the sun +and the planets. If they could discover the actual distance of any one +planet from any other, they could at once tell all the distances within +the Solar System. + +The sun is, on the latest measurements, at an average distance of +92,830,000 miles from the earth, for as the orbit of the earth is not a +true circle, this distance varies. This means that in six months from +now the earth will be right at the opposite side of its path round the +sun, or 185,000,000 miles away from where it is now. Viewed or +photographed from two positions so wide apart, the nearest stars show a +tiny "shift" against the background of the most distant stars, and that +is enough for the mathematician. He can calculate the distance of any +star near enough to show this "shift." We have found that the nearest +star to the earth, a recently discovered star, is twenty-five trillion +miles away. Only thirty stars are known to be within a hundred trillion +miles of us. + +This way of measuring does not, however, take us very far away in the +heavens. There are only a few hundred stars within five hundred trillion +miles of the earth, and at that distance the "shift" of a star against +the background (parallax, the astronomer calls it) is so minute that +figures are very uncertain. At this point the astronomer takes up a new +method. He learns the different types of stars, and then he is able to +deduce more or less accurately the distance of a star of a known type +from its faintness. He, of course, has instruments for gauging their +light. As a result of twenty years work in this field, it is now known +that the more distant stars of the Milky Way are at least a hundred +thousand trillion (100,000,000,000,000,000) miles away from the sun. + +Our sun is in a more or less central region of the universe, or a few +hundred trillion miles from the actual centre. The remainder of the +stars, which are all outside our Solar System, are spread out, +apparently, in an enormous disc-like collection, so vast that even a ray +of light, which travels at the rate of 186,000 miles a second, would +take 50,000 years to travel from one end of it to the other. This, then +is what we call our universe. + + +Are there other Universes? + +Why do we say "our universe"? Why not _the_ universe? It is now believed +by many of our most distinguished astronomers that our colossal family +of stars is only one of many universes. By a universe an astronomer +means any collection of stars which are close enough to control each +other's movements by gravitation; and it is clear that there might be +many universes, in this sense, separated from each other by profound +abysses of space. Probably there are. + +For a long time we have been familiar with certain strange objects in +the heavens which are called "spiral nebulæ" (Fig 4). We shall see at a +later stage what a nebula is, and we shall see that some astronomers +regard these spiral nebulæ as worlds "in the making." But some of the +most eminent astronomers believe that they are separate +universes--"island-universes" they call them--or great collections of +millions of stars like our universe. There are certain peculiarities in +the structure of the Milky Way which lead these astronomers to think +that our universe may be a spiral nebula, and that the other spiral +nebulæ are "other universes." + +[Illustration: _Photo: Harvard College Observatory._ + +FIG. 2.--THE MILKY WAY + +Note the cloud-like effect.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 3--THE MOON ENTERING THE SHADOW CAST BY THE EARTH + +The diagram shows the Moon partially eclipsed.] + +[Illustration: _From a photograph taken at the Yerkes Observatory_ + +FIG. 4.--THE GREAT NEBULA IN ANDROMEDA, MESSIER 31] + +Vast as is the Solar System, then, it is excessively minute in +comparison with the Stellar System, the universe of the Stars, which is +on a scale far transcending anything the human mind can apprehend. + + +THE SOLAR SYSTEM + +THE SUN + + +§ 1 + +But now let us turn to the Solar System, and consider the members of our +own little colony. + +Within the Solar System there are a large number of problems that +interest us. What is the size, mass, and distance of each of the +planets? What satellites, like our Moon, do they possess? What are their +temperatures? And those other, sporadic members of our system, comets +and meteors, what are they? What are their movements? How do they +originate? And the Sun itself, what is its composition, what is the +source of its heat, how did it originate? Is it running down? + +These last questions introduce us to a branch of astronomy which is +concerned with the physical constitution of the stars, a study which, +not so very many years ago, may well have appeared inconceivable. But +the spectroscope enables us to answer even these questions, and the +answer opens up questions of yet greater interest. We find that the +stars can be arranged in an order of development--that there are stars +at all stages of their life-history. The main lines of the evolution of +the stellar universe can be worked out. In the sun and stars we have +furnaces with temperatures enormously high; it is in such conditions +that substances are resolved into their simplest forms, and it is thus +we are enabled to obtain a knowledge of the most primitive forms of +matter. It is in this direction that the spectroscope (which we shall +refer to immediately) has helped us so much. It is to this wonderful +instrument that we owe our knowledge of the composition of the sun and +stars, as we shall see. + + "That the spectroscope will detect the millionth of a milligram of + matter, and on that account has discovered new elements, commands + our admiration; but when we find in addition that it will detect the + nature of forms of matter trillions of miles away, and moreover, + that it will measure the velocities with which these forms of matter + are moving with an absurdly small per cent. of possible error, we + can easily acquiesce in the statement that it is the greatest + instrument ever devised by the brain and hand of man." + +Such are some of the questions with which modern astronomy deals. To +answer them requires the employment of instruments of almost incredible +refinement and exactitude and also the full resources of mathematical +genius. Whether astronomy be judged from the point of view of the +phenomena studied, the vast masses, the immense distances, the æons of +time, or whether it be judged as a monument of human ingenuity, +patience, and the rarest type of genius, it is certainly one of the +grandest, as it is also one of the oldest, of the sciences. + + +The Solar System + +In the Solar System we include all those bodies dependent on the sun +which circulate round it at various distances, deriving their light and +heat from the sun--the planets and their moons, certain comets and a +multitude of meteors: in other words, all bodies whose movements in +space are determined by the gravitational pull of the sun. + + +The Sun + +Thanks to our wonderful modern instruments and the ingenious methods +used by astronomers, we have to-day a remarkable knowledge of the sun. + +Look at the figure of the sun in the frontispiece. The picture +represents an eclipse of the sun; the dark body of the moon has screened +the sun's shining disc and taken the glare out of our eyes; we see a +silvery halo surrounding the great orb on every side. It is the sun's +atmosphere, or "crown" (corona), stretching for millions of miles into +space in the form of a soft silvery-looking light; probably much of its +light is sunlight reflected from particles of dust, although the +spectroscope shows an element in the corona that has not so far been +detected anywhere else in the universe and which in consequence has been +named Coronium. + +We next notice in the illustration that at the base of the halo there +are red flames peeping out from the edges of the hidden disc. When one +remembers that the sun is 866,000 miles in diameter, one hardly needs to +be told that these flames are really gigantic. We shall see what they +are presently. + + +Regions of the Sun + +The astronomer has divided the sun into definite concentric regions or +layers. These layers envelop the nucleus or central body of the sun +somewhat as the atmosphere envelops our earth. It is through these +vapour layers that the bright white body of the sun is seen. Of the +innermost region, the heart or nucleus of the sun, we know almost +nothing. The central body or nucleus is surrounded by a brilliantly +luminous envelope or layer of vaporous matter which is what we see when +we look at the sun and which the astronomer calls the photosphere. + +Above--that is, overlying--the photosphere there is a second layer of +glowing gases, which is known as the reversing layer. This layer is +cooler than the underlying photosphere; it forms a veil of smoke-like +haze and is of from 500 to 1,000 miles in thickness. + +A third layer or envelope immediately lying over the last one is the +region known as the chromosphere. The chromosphere extends from 5,000 +to 10,000 miles in thickness--a "sea" of red tumultuous surging fire. +Chief among the glowing gases is the vapour of hydrogen. The intense +white heat of the photosphere beneath shines through this layer, +overpowering its brilliant redness. From the uppermost portion of the +chromosphere great fiery tongues of glowing hydrogen and calcium vapour +shoot out for many thousands of miles, driven outward by some prodigious +expulsive force. It is these red "prominences" which are such a notable +feature in the picture of the eclipse of the sun already referred to. + +During the solar eclipse of 1919 one of these red flames rose in less +than seven hours from a height of 130,000 miles to more than 500,000 +miles above the sun's surface. This immense column of red-hot gas, four +or five times the thickness of the earth, was soaring upward at the rate +of 60,000 miles an hour. + +These flaming jets or prominences shooting out from the chromosphere are +not to be seen every day by the naked eye; the dazzling light of the sun +obscures them, gigantic as they are. They can be observed, however, by +the spectroscope any day, and they are visible to us for a very short +time during an eclipse of the sun. Some extraordinary outbursts have +been witnessed. Thus the late Professor Young described one on September +7, 1871, when he had been examining a prominence by the spectroscope: + + It had remained unchanged since noon of the previous day--a long, + low, quiet-looking cloud, not very dense, or brilliant, or in any + way remarkable except for its size. At 12:30 p.m. the Professor left + the spectroscope for a short time, and on returning half an hour + later to his observations, he was astonished to find the gigantic + Sun flame shattered to pieces. The solar atmosphere was filled with + flying debris, and some of these portions reached a height of + 100,000 miles above the solar surface. Moving with a velocity which, + even at the distance of 93,000,000 miles, was almost perceptible to + the eye, these fragments doubled their height in ten minutes. On + January 30, 1885, another distinguished solar observer, the late + Professor Tacchini of Rome, observed one of the greatest prominences + ever seen by man. Its height was no less than 142,000 + miles--eighteen times the diameter of the earth. Another mighty + flame was so vast that supposing the eight large planets of the + solar system ranged one on top of the other, the prominence would + still tower above them.[1] + + [1] _The Romance of Astronomy_, by H. Macpherson. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.--DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MAIN LAYERS OF THE SUN + +Compare with frontispiece.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich._ + +FIG. 6.--SOLAR PROMINENCES SEEN AT TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE, May 29, 1919. +TAKEN AT SOBRAL, BRAZIL. + +The small Corona is also visible.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 7.--THE VISIBLE SURFACE OF THE SUN + +A photograph taken at the Mount Wilson Observatory of the Carnegie +Institution at Washington.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 8.--THE SUN + +Photographed in the light of glowing hydrogen, at the Mount Wilson +Observatory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington: vortex phenomena +near the spots are especially prominent.] + +The fourth and uppermost layer or region is that of the corona, of +immense extent and fading away into the surrounding sky--this we have +already referred to. The diagram (Fig. 5) shows the dispositions of +these various layers of the sun. It is through these several transparent +layers that we see the white light body of the sun. + + +§ 2 + +The Surface of the Sun + +Here let us return to and see what more we know about the +photosphere--the sun's surface. It is from the photosphere that we have +gained most of our knowledge of the composition of the sun, which is +believed not to be a solid body. Examination of the photosphere shows +that the outer surface is never at rest. Small bright cloudlets come and +go in rapid succession, giving the surface, through contrasts in +luminosity, a granular appearance. Of course, to be visible at all at +92,830,000 miles the cloudlets cannot be small. They imply enormous +activity in the photosphere. If we might speak picturesquely the sun's +surface resembles a boiling ocean of white-hot metal vapours. We have +to-day a wonderful instrument, which will be described later, which +dilutes, as it were, the general glare of the sun, and enables us to +observe these fiery eruptions at any hour. The "oceans" of red-hot gas +and white-hot metal vapour at the sun's surface are constantly driven by +great storms. Some unimaginable energy streams out from the body or +muscles of the sun and blows its outer layers into gigantic shreds, as +it were. + +The actual temperature at the sun's surface, or what appears to us to be +the surface--the photosphere--is, of course, unknown, but careful +calculation suggests that it is from 5,000° C. to 7,000° C. The interior +is vastly hotter. We can form no conception of such temperatures as must +exist there. Not even the most obdurate solid could resist such +temperatures, but would be converted almost instantaneously into gas. +But it would not be gas as we know gases on the earth. The enormous +pressures that exist on the sun must convert even gases into thick +treacly fluids. We can only infer this state of matter. It is beyond our +power to reproduce it. + + +Sun-spots + +It is in the brilliant photosphere that the dark areas known as +sun-spots appear. Some of these dark spots--they are dark only by +contrast with the photosphere surrounding them--are of enormous size, +covering many thousands of square miles of surface. What they are we +cannot positively say. They look like great cavities in the sun's +surface. Some think they are giant whirlpools. Certainly they seem to be +great whirling streams of glowing gases with vapours above them and +immense upward and downward currents within them. Round the edges of the +sun-spots rise great tongues of flame. + +Perhaps the most popularly known fact about sun-spots is that they are +somehow connected with what we call magnetic storms on earth. These +magnetic storms manifest themselves in interruptions of our telegraphic +and telephonic communications, in violent disturbances of the mariner's +compass, and in exceptional auroral displays. The connection between the +two sets of phenomena cannot be doubted, even although at times there +may be a great spot on the sun without any corresponding "magnetic +storm" effects on the earth. + +A surprising fact about sun-spots is that they show definite periodic +variations in number. The best-defined period is one of about eleven +years. During this period the spots increase to a maximum in number and +then diminish to a minimum, the variation being more or less regular. +Now this can only mean one thing. To be periodic the spots must have +some deep-seated connection with the fundamental facts of the sun's +structure and activities. Looked at from this point of view their +importance becomes great. + +[Illustration: _Reproduction from "The Forces of Nature"_ (_Messrs. +Macmillan_) + +THE AURORA BOREALIS + +The aurora borealis is one of the most beautiful spectacles in the sky. +The colours and shape change every instant; sometimes a fan-like cluster +of rays, at other times long golden draperies gliding one over the +other. Blue, green, yellow, red, and white combine to give a glorious +display of colour. The theory of its origin is still, in part, obscure, +but there can be no doubt that the aurora is related to the magnetic +phenomena of the earth and therefore is connected with the electrical +influence of the sun.] + +It is from the study of sun-spots that we have learned that the sun's +surface does not appear to rotate all at the same speed. The +"equatorial" regions are rotating quicker than regions farther north or +south. A point forty-five degrees from the equator seems to take about +two and a half days longer to complete one rotation than a point on the +equator. This, of course, confirms our belief that the sun cannot be a +solid body. + +What is its composition? We know that there are present, in a gaseous +state, such well-known elements as sodium, iron, copper, zinc, and +magnesium; indeed, we know that there is practically every element in +the sun that we know to be in the earth. How do we know? + +It is from the photosphere, as has been said, that we have won most of +our knowledge of the sun. The instrument used for this purpose is the +spectroscope; and before proceeding to deal further with the sun and the +source of its energy it will be better to describe this instrument. + + +A WONDERFUL INSTRUMENT AND WHAT IT REVEALS + +The spectroscope is an instrument for analysing light. So important is +it in the revelations it has given us that it will be best to describe +it fully. Every substance to be examined must first be made to glow, +made luminous; and as nearly everything in the heavens _is_ luminous the +instrument has a great range in Astronomy. And when we speak of +analysing light, we mean that the light may be broken up into waves of +different lengths. What we call light is a series of minute waves in +ether, and these waves are--measuring them from crest to crest, so to +say--of various lengths. Each wave-length corresponds to a colour of the +rainbow. The shortest waves give us a sensation of violet colour, and +the largest waves cause a sensation of red. The rainbow, in fact, is a +sort of natural spectrum. (The meaning of the rainbow is that the +moisture-laden air has sorted out these waves, in the sun's light, +according to their length.) Now the simplest form of spectroscope is a +glass prism--a triangular-shaped piece of glass. If white light +(sunlight, for example) passes through a glass prism, we see a series of +rainbow-tinted colours. Anyone can notice this effect when sunlight is +shining through any kind of cut glass--the stopper of a wine decanter, +for instance. If, instead of catching with the eye the coloured lights +as they emerge from the glass prism, we allow them to fall on a screen, +we shall find that they pass, by continuous gradations, from red at the +one end of the screen, through orange, yellow, green, blue, and indigo, +to violet at the other end. _In other words, what we call white light is +composed of rays of these several colours. They go to make up the effect +which we call white._ And now just as water can be split up into its two +elements, oxygen and hydrogen, so sunlight can be broken up into its +primary colours, which are those we have just mentioned. + +This range of colours, produced by the spectroscope, we call the solar +spectrum, and these are, from the spectroscopic point of view, primary +colours. Each shade of colour has its definite position in the spectrum. +That is to say, the light of each shade of colour (corresponding to its +wave-length) is reflected through a certain fixed angle on passing +through the glass prism. Every possible kind of light has its definite +position, and is denoted by a number which gives the wave-length of the +vibrations constituting that particular kind of light. + +Now, other kinds of light besides sunlight can be analysed. Light +from any substance which has been made incandescent may be observed with +the spectroscope in the same way, and each element can be thus +separated. It is found that each substance (in the same conditions of +pressure, etc.) gives a constant spectrum of its own. _Each metal +displays its own distinctive colour. It is obvious, therefore, that the +spectrum provides the means for identifying a particular substance._ It +was by this method that we discovered in the sun the presence of such +well-known elements as sodium, iron, copper, zinc, and magnesium. + +[Illustration: _Yerkes Observatory._ + +FIG. 9.--THE GREAT SUN-SPOT OF JULY 17, 1905] + +[Illustration: _From photographs taken at the Yerkes Observatory._ + +FIG. 10.--SOLAR PROMINENCES + +These are about 60,000 miles in height. The two photographs show the +vast changes occurring in ten minutes. October 10, 1910.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory._ + +FIG. 11.--MARS, October 5, 1909 + +Showing the dark markings and the Polar Cap.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 12.--JUPITER + +Showing the belts which are probably cloud formations.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Professor E. E. Barnard, Yerkes Observatory._ + +FIG. 13.--SATURN, November 19, 1911 + +Showing the rings, mighty swarms of meteorites.] + +Every chemical element known, then, has a distinctive spectrum of its +own when it is raised to incandescence, and this distinctive spectrum is +as reliable a means of identification for the element as a human face is +for its owner. Whether it is a substance glowing in the laboratory or in +a remote star makes no difference to the spectroscope; if the light of +any substance reaches it, that substance will be recognised and +identified by the characteristic set of waves. + +The spectrum of a glowing mass of gas will consist in a number of bright +lines of various colours, and at various intervals; corresponding to +each kind of gas, there will be a peculiar and distinctive arrangement +of bright lines. But if the light from such a mass of glowing gas be +made to pass through a cool mass of the _same_ gas it will be found that +dark lines replace the bright lines in the spectrum, the reason for this +being that the cool gas absorbs the rays of light emitted by the hot +gas. Experiments of this kind enable us to reach the important general +statement that every gas, when cold, absorbs the same rays of light +which it emits when hot. + +Crossing the solar spectrum are hundreds and hundreds of dark lines. +These could not at first be explained, because this fact of +discriminative absorption was not known. We understand now. The sun's +white light comes from the photosphere, but between us and the +photosphere there is, as we have seen, another solar envelope of +relatively cooler vapours--the reversing layer. Each constituent +element in this outer envelope stops its own kind of light, that is, the +kind of light made by incandescent atoms of the same element in the +photosphere. The "stoppages" register themselves in the solar spectrum +as dark lines placed exactly where the corresponding bright lines would +have been. The explanation once attained, dark lines became as +significant as bright lines. The secret of the sun's composition was +out. We have found practically every element in the sun that we know to +be in the earth. We have identified an element in the sun before we were +able to isolate it on the earth. We have been able even to point to the +coolest places on the sun, the centres of sun-spots, where alone the +temperature seems to have fallen sufficiently low to allow chemical +compounds to form. + +It is thus we have been able to determine what the stars, comets, or +nebulæ are made of. + + +A Unique Discovery + +In 1868 Sir Norman Lockyer detected a light coming from the prominences +of the sun which was not given by any substance known on earth, and +attributed this to an unknown gas which he called helium, from the Greek +_helios_, the sun. _In 1895 Sir William Ramsay discovered in certain +minerals the same gas identified by the spectroscope._ We can say, +therefore, that this gas was discovered in the sun nearly thirty years +before it was found on earth; this discovery of the long-lost heir is as +thrilling a chapter in the detective story of science as any in the +sensational stories of the day, and makes us feel quite certain that our +methods really tell us of what elements sun and stars are built up. The +light from the corona of the sun, as we have mentioned indicates a gas +still unknown on earth, which has been christened Coronium. + + +Measuring the Speed of Light + +But this is not all; soon a new use was found for the spectroscope. We +found that we could measure with it the most difficult of all speeds +to measure, speed in the line of sight. Movement at right angles to the +direction in which one is looking is, if there is sufficient of it, easy +to detect, and, if the distance of the moving body is known, easy to +measure. But movement in the line of vision is both difficult to detect +and difficult to measure. Yet, even at the enormous distances with which +astronomers have to deal, the spectroscope can detect such movement and +furnish data for its measurement. If a luminous body containing, say, +sodium is moving rapidly towards the spectroscope, it will be found that +the sodium lines in the spectrum have moved slightly from their usual +definite positions towards the violet end of the spectrum, the amount of +the change of position increasing with the speed of the luminous body. +If the body is moving away from the spectroscope the shifting of the +spectral lines will be in the opposite direction, towards the red end of +the spectrum. In this way we have discovered and measured movements that +otherwise would probably not have revealed themselves unmistakably to us +for thousands of years. In the same way we have watched, and measured +the speed of, tremendous movements on the sun, and so gained proof that +the vast disturbances we should expect there actually do occur. + +[Illustration: THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT; IT +PROVIDES THE MEANS FOR IDENTIFYING DIFFERENT SUBSTANCES + +This pictorial diagram illustrates the principal of Spectrum Analysis, +showing how sunlight is decomposed into its primary colours. What we +call white light is composed of seven different colours. The diagram is +relieved of all detail which would unduly obscure the simple process by +which a ray of light is broken up by a prism into different +wave-lengths. The spectrum rays have been greatly magnified.] + + +IS THE SUN DYING? + +§ 3 + +Now let us return to our consideration of the sun. + +To us on the earth the most patent and most astonishing fact about the +sun is its tremendous energy. Heat and light in amazing quantities pour +from it without ceasing. + +Where does this energy come from? Enormous jets of red glowing gases can +be seen shooting outwards from the sun, like flames from a fire, for +thousands of miles. Does this argue fire, as we know fire on the earth? +On this point the scientist is sure. The sun is not burning, and +combustion is not the source of its heat. Combustion is a chemical +reaction between atoms. The conditions that make it possible are known +and the results are predictable and measurable. But no chemical reaction +of the nature of combustion as we know it will explain the sun's energy, +nor indeed will any ordinary chemical reaction of any kind. If the sun +were composed of combustible material throughout and the conditions of +combustion as we understand them were always present, the sun would burn +itself out in some thousands of years, with marked changes in its heat +and light production as the process advanced. There is no evidence of +such changes. There is, instead, strong evidence that the sun has been +emitting light and heat in prodigious quantities, not for thousands, but +for millions of years. Every addition to our knowledge that throws light +on the sun's age seems to make for increase rather than decrease of its +years. This makes the wonder of its energy greater. + +And we cannot avoid the issue of the source of the energy by saying +merely that the sun is gradually radiating away an energy that +originated in some unknown manner, away back at the beginning of things. +Reliable calculations show that the years required for the mere cooling +of a globe like the sun could not possibly run to millions. In other +words, the sun's energy must be subject to continuous and more or less +steady renewal. However it may have acquired its enormous energy in the +past, it must have some source of energy in the present. + +The best explanation that we have to-day of this continuous accretion of +energy is that it is due to shrinkage of the sun's bulk under the force +of gravity. Gravity is one of the most mysterious forces of nature, but +it is an obvious fact that bodies behave as if they attracted one +another, and Newton worked out the law of this attraction. We may say, +without trying to go too deeply into things, that every particle of +matter attracts every other throughout the universe. If the diameter of +the sun were to shrink by one mile all round, this would mean that all +the millions of tons in the outer one-mile thickness would have a +straight drop of one mile towards the centre. And that is not all, +because obviously the layers below this outer mile would also drop +inwards, each to a less degree than the one above it. What a tremendous +movement of matter, however slowly it might take place! And what a +tremendous energy would be involved! Astronomers calculate that the +above shrinkage of one mile all round would require fifty years for its +completion, assuming, reasonably, that there is close and continuous +relationship between loss of heat by radiation and shrinkage. Even if +this were true we need not feel over-anxious on this theory; before the +sun became too cold to support life many millions of years would be +required. + +It was suggested at one time that falls of meteoric matter into the sun +would account for the sun's heat. This position is hardly tenable now. +The mere bulk of the meteoric matter required by the hypothesis, apart +from other reasons, is against it. There is undoubtedly an enormous +amount of meteoric matter moving about within the bounds of the solar +system, but most of it seems to be following definite routes round the +sun like the planets. The stray erratic quantities destined to meet +their doom by collision with the sun can hardly be sufficient to account +for the sun's heat. + +Recent study of radio-active bodies has suggested another factor that +may be working powerfully along with the force of gravitation to +maintain the sun's store of heat. In radio-active bodies certain atoms +seem to be undergoing disintegration. These atoms appear to be splitting +up into very minute and primitive constituents. But since matter may be +split up into such constituents, may it not be built up from them? + +The question is whether these "radio-active" elements are undergoing +disintegration, or formation, in the sun. If they are undergoing +disintegration--and the sun itself is undoubtedly radio-active--then we +have another source of heat for the sun that will last indefinitely. + + + + +THE PLANETS + +LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS? + +§ 1 + +It is quite clear that there cannot be life on the stars. Nothing solid +or even liquid can exist in such furnaces as they are. Life exists only +on planets, and even on these its possibilities are limited. Whether all +the stars, or how many of them, have planetary families like our sun, we +cannot positively say. If they have, such planets would be too faint and +small to be visible tens of trillions of miles away. Some astronomers +think that our sun may be exceptional in having planets, but their +reasons are speculative and unconvincing. Probably a large proportion at +least of the stars have planets, and we may therefore survey the globes +of our own solar system and in a general way extend the results to the +rest of the universe. + +In considering the possibility of life as we know it we may at once rule +out the most distant planets from the sun, Uranus and Neptune. They are +probably intrinsically too hot. We may also pass over the nearest planet +to the sun, Mercury. We have reason to believe that it turns on its axis +in the same period as it revolves round the sun, and it must therefore +always present the same side to the sun. This means that the heat on the +sunlit side of Mercury is above boiling-point, while the cold on the +other side must be between two and three hundred degrees below +freezing-point. + + +The Planet Venus + +The planet Venus, the bright globe which is known to all as the morning +and evening "star," seems at first sight more promising as regards the +possibility of life. It is of nearly the same size as the earth, and it +has a good atmosphere, but there are many astronomers who believe that, +like Mercury, it always presents the same face to the sun, and it would +therefore have the same disadvantage--a broiling heat on the sunny side +and the cold of space on the opposite side. We are not sure. The +surface of Venus is so bright--the light of the sun is reflected to us +by such dense masses of cloud and dust--that it is difficult to trace +any permanent markings on it, and thus ascertain how long it takes to +rotate on its axis. Many astronomers believe that they have succeeded, +and that the planet always turns the same face to the sun. If it does, +we can hardly conceive of life on its surface, in spite of the +cloud-screen. + +[Illustration: FIG. 14.--THE MOON + +Showing a great plain and some typical craters. There are thousands of +these craters, and some theories of their origin are explained on page +34.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 15.--MARS + + 1} Drawings by Prof. Lowell to accompany actual photographs of Mars + showing many of the + 2} canals. Taken in 1907 by Mr. E. C. Slipher of the Lowell Observatory. + 3 Drawing by Prof. Lowell made January 6, 1914. + 4 Drawing by Prof. Lowell made January 21, 1914. + +Nos. 1 and 2 show the effect of the planet's rotation. Nos. 3 and 4 +depict quite different sections. Note the change in the polar snow-caps +in the last two.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 16.--THE MOON, AT NINE AND THREE-QUARTER DAYS + +Note the mysterious "rays" diverging from the almost perfectly circular +craters indicated by the arrows (Tycho, upper; Copernicus, lower), and +also the mountains to the right with the lunar dawn breaking on them.] + +We turn to Mars; and we must first make it clear why there is so much +speculation about life on Mars, and why it is supposed that, if there +_is_ life on Mars, it must be more advanced than life on the earth. + + +Is there Life on Mars? + +The basis of this belief is that if, as we saw, all the globes in our +solar system are masses of metal that are cooling down, the smaller will +have cooled down before the larger, and will be further ahead in their +development. Now Mars is very much smaller than the earth, and must have +cooled at its surface millions of years before the earth did. Hence, if +a story of life began on Mars at all, it began long before the story of +life on the earth. We cannot guess what sort of life-forms would be +evolved in a different world, but we can confidently say that they would +tend toward increasing intelligence; and thus we are disposed to look +for highly intelligent beings on Mars. + +But this argument supposes that the conditions of life, namely air and +water, are found on Mars, and it is disputed whether they are found +there in sufficient quantity. The late Professor Percival Lowell, who +made a lifelong study of Mars, maintained that there are hundreds of +straight lines drawn across the surface of the planet, and he claimed +that they are beds of vegetation marking the sites of great channels or +pipes by means of which the "Martians" draw water from their polar +ocean. Professor W. H. Pickering, another high authority, thinks that +the lines are long, narrow marshes fed by moist winds from the poles. +There are certainly white polar caps on Mars. They seem to melt in the +spring, and the dark fringe round them grows broader. + +Other astronomers, however, say that they find no trace of water-vapour +in the atmosphere of Mars, and they think that the polar caps may be +simply thin sheets of hoar-frost or frozen gas. They point out that, as +the atmosphere of Mars is certainly scanty, and the distance from the +sun is so great, it may be too cold for the fluid water to exist on the +planet. + +If one asks why our wonderful instruments cannot settle these points, +one must be reminded that Mars is never nearer than 34,000,000 miles +from the earth, and only approaches to this distance once in fifteen or +seventeen years. The image of Mars on the photographic negative taken in +a big telescope is very small. Astronomers rely to a great extent on the +eye, which is more sensitive than the photographic plate. But it is easy +to have differences of opinion as to what the eye sees, and so there is +a good deal of controversy. + +In August, 1924, the planet will again be well placed for observation, +and we may learn more about it. Already a few of the much-disputed +lines, which people wrongly call "canals," have been traced on +photographs. Astronomers who are sceptical about life on Mars are often +not fully aware of the extraordinary adaptability of life. There was a +time when the climate of the whole earth, from pole to pole, was +semi-tropical for millions of years. No animal could then endure the +least cold, yet now we have plenty of Arctic plants and animals. If the +cold came slowly on Mars, as we have reason to suppose, the population +could be gradually adapted to it. On the whole, it is possible that +there is advanced life on Mars, and it is not impossible, in spite of +the very great difficulties of a code of communication, that our "elder +brothers" may yet flash across space the solution of many of our +problems. + + +§ 2 + +Jupiter and Saturn + +Next to Mars, going outward from the sun, is Jupiter. Between Mars and +Jupiter, however, there are more than three hundred million miles of +space, and the older astronomers wondered why this was not occupied by a +planet. We now know that it contains about nine hundred "planetoids," or +small globes of from five to five hundred miles in diameter. It was at +one time thought that a planet might have burst into these fragments (a +theory which is not mathematically satisfactory), or it may be that the +material which is scattered in them was prevented by the nearness of the +great bulk of Jupiter from uniting into one globe. + +For Jupiter is a giant planet, and its gravitational influence must +extend far over space. It is 1,300 times as large as the earth, and has +nine moons, four of which are large, in attendance on it. It is +interesting to note that the outermost moons of Jupiter and Saturn +revolve round these planets in a direction contrary to the usual +direction taken by moons round planets, and by planets round the sun. +But there is no life on Jupiter. + +The surface which we see in photographs (Fig. 12) is a mass of cloud or +steam which always envelops the body of the planet. It is apparently +red-hot. A red tinge is seen sometimes at the edges of its cloud-belts, +and a large red region (the "red spot"), 23,000 miles in length, has +been visible on it for half a century. There may be a liquid or solid +core to the planet, but as a whole it is a mass of seething vapours +whirling round on its axis once in every ten hours. As in the case of +the sun, however, different latitudes appear to rotate at different +rates. The interior of Jupiter is very hot, but the planet is not +self-luminous. The planets Venus and Jupiter shine very brightly, but +they have no light of their own; they reflect the sunlight. + +Saturn is in the same interesting condition. The surface in the +photograph (Fig. 13) is steam, and Saturn is so far away from the sun +that the vaporisation of its oceans must necessarily be due to its own +internal heat. It is too hot for water to settle on its surface. Like +Jupiter, the great globe turns on its axis once in ten hours--a +prodigious speed--and must be a swirling, seething mass of metallic +vapours and gases. It is instructive to compare Jupiter and Saturn in +this respect with the sun. They are smaller globes and have cooled down +more than the central fire. + +Saturn is a beautiful object in the telescope because it has ten moons +(to include one which is disputed) and a wonderful system of "rings" +round it. The so-called rings are a mighty swarm of meteorites--pieces +of iron and stone of all sorts and sizes, which reflect the light of the +sun to us. This ocean of matter is some miles deep, and stretches from a +few thousand miles from the surface of the planet to 172,000 miles out +in space. Some astronomers think that this is volcanic material which +has been shot out of the planet. Others regard it as stuff which would +have combined to form an eleventh moon but was prevented by the nearness +of Saturn itself. There is no evidence of life on Saturn. + + +THE MOON + +Mars and Venus are therefore the only planets, besides the earth, on +which we may look for life; and in the case of Venus, the possibility is +very faint. But what about the moons which attend the planets? They +range in size from the little ten-miles-wide moons of Mars, to Titan, a +moon of Saturn, and Ganymede, a satellite of Jupiter, which are about +3,000 miles in diameter. May there not be life on some of the larger of +these moons? We will take our own moon as a type of the class. + + +A Dead World + +The moon is so very much nearer to us than any other heavenly body that +we have a remarkable knowledge of it. In Fig. 14 you have a photograph, +taken in one of our largest telescopes, of part of its surface. In a +sense such a telescope brings the moon to within about fifty miles of +us. We should see a city like London as a dark, sprawling blotch on the +globe. We could just detect a Zeppelin or a Diplodocus as a moving speck +against the surface. But we find none of these things. It is true that a +few astronomers believe that they see signs of some sort of feeble life +or movement on the moon. Professor Pickering thinks that he can trace +some volcanic activity. He believes that there are areas of vegetation, +probably of a low order, and that the soil of the moon may retain a +certain amount of water in it. He speaks of a very thin atmosphere, and +of occasional light falls of snow. He has succeeded in persuading some +careful observers that there probably are slight changes of some kind +taking place on the moon. + +[Illustration: FIG. 17.--A MAP OF THE CHIEF PLAINS AND CRATERS OF THE +MOON + +The plains were originally supposed to be seas: hence the name "Mare."] + +[Illustration: FIG. 18.--A DIAGRAM OF A STREAM OF METEORS SHOWING THE +EARTH PASSING THROUGH THEM] [Illustration: _Photo: Royal Observatory, +Greenwich._ + +FIG. 19.--COMET, September 29, 1908 + +Notice the tendency to form a number of tails. (See photograph below.)] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich._ + +FIG. 20.--COMET, October 3, 1908 + +The process has gone further and a number of distinct tails can now be +counted.] + +But there are many things that point to absence of air on the moon. Even +the photographs we reproduce tell the same story. The edges of the +shadows are all hard and black. If there had been an appreciable +atmosphere it would have scattered the sun's light on to the edges and +produced a gradual shading off such as we see on the earth. This +relative absence of air must give rise to some surprising effects. There +will be no sounds on the moon, because sounds are merely air waves. Even +a meteor shattering itself to a violent end against the surface of the +moon would make no noise. Nor would it herald its coming by glowing into +a "shooting star," as it would on entering the earth's atmosphere. There +will be no floating dust, no scent, no twilight, no blue sky, no +twinkling of the stars. The sky will be always black and the stars will +be clearly visible by day as by night. The sun's wonderful corona, which +no man on earth, even by seizing every opportunity during eclipses, can +hope to see for more than two hours in all in a long lifetime, will be +visible all day. So will the great red flames of the sun. Of course, +there will be no life, and no landscape effects and scenery effects due +to vegetation. + +The moon takes approximately twenty-seven of our days to turn once on +its axis. So for fourteen days there is continuous night, when the +temperature must sink away down towards the absolute cold of space. This +will be followed without an instant of twilight by full daylight. For +another fourteen days the sun's rays will bear straight down, with no +diffusion or absorption of their heat, or light, on the way. It does not +follow, however, that the temperature of the moon's surface must rise +enormously. It may not even rise to the temperature of melting ice. +Seeing there is no air there can be no check on radiation. The heat that +the moon gets will radiate away immediately. We know that amongst the +coldest places on the earth are the tops of very high mountains, the +points that have reared themselves nearest to the sun but farthest out +of the sheltering blanket of the earth's atmosphere. The actual +temperature of the moon's surface by day is a moot point. It may be +below the freezing-point or above the boiling-point of water. + + +The Mountains of the Moon + +The lack of air is considered by many astronomers to furnish the +explanation of the enormous number of "craters" which pit the moon's +surface. There are about a hundred thousand of these strange rings, and +it is now believed by many that they are spots where very large +meteorites, or even planetoids, splashed into the moon when its surface +was still soft. Other astronomers think that they are the remains of +gigantic bubbles which were raised in the moon's "skin," when the globe +was still molten, by volcanic gases from below. A few astronomers think +that they are, as is popularly supposed, the craters of extinct +volcanoes. Our craters, on the earth, are generally deep cups, whereas +these ring-formations on the moon are more like very shallow and broad +saucers. Clavius, the largest of them, is 123 miles across the interior, +yet its encircling rampart is not a mile high. + +The mountains on the moon (Fig. 16) rise to a great height, and are +extraordinarily gaunt and rugged. They are like fountains of lava, +rising in places to 26,000 and 27,000 feet. The lunar Apennines have +three thousand steep and weird peaks. Our terrestrial mountains are +continually worn down by frost acting on moisture and by ice and water, +but there are none of these agencies operating on the moon. Its +mountains are comparatively "everlasting hills." + +The moon is interesting to us precisely because it is a dead world. It +seems to show how the earth, or any cooling metal globe, will evolve in +the remote future. We do not know if there was ever life on the moon, +but in any case it cannot have proceeded far in development. At the most +we can imagine some strange lowly forms of vegetation lingering here and +there in pools of heavy gas, expanding during the blaze of the sun's +long day, and frozen rigid during the long night. + + +METEORS AND COMETS + +We may conclude our survey of the solar system with a word about +"shooting stars," or meteors, and comets. There are few now who do not +know that the streak of fire which suddenly lights the sky overhead at +night means that a piece of stone or iron has entered our atmosphere +from outer space, and has been burned up by friction. It was travelling +at, perhaps, twenty or thirty miles a second. At seventy or eighty miles +above our heads it began to glow, as at that height the air is thick +enough to offer serious friction and raise it to a white heat. By the +time the meteor reached about twenty miles or so from the earth's +surface it was entirely dissipated, as a rule in fiery vapour. + + +Millions of Meteorites + +It is estimated that between ten and a hundred million meteorites enter +our atmosphere and are cremated, every day. Most of them weigh only an +ounce or two, and are invisible. Some of them weigh a ton or more, but +even against these large masses the air acts as a kind of "torpedo-net." +They generally burst into fragments and fall without doing damage. + +It is clear that "empty space" is, at least within the limits of our +solar system, full of these things. They swarm like fishes in the seas. +Like the fishes, moreover, they may be either solitary or gregarious. +The solitary bit of cosmic rubbish is the meteorite, which we have just +examined. A "social" group of meteorites is the essential part of a +comet. The nucleus, or bright central part, of the head of a comet (Fig. +19) consists of a swarm, sometimes thousands of miles wide, of these +pieces of iron or stone. This swarm has come under the sun's +gravitational influence, and is forced to travel round it. From some +dark region of space it has moved slowly into our system. It is not then +a comet, for it has no tail. But as the crowded meteors approach the +sun, the speed increases. They give off fine vapour-like matter and the +fierce flood of light from the sun sweeps this vapour out in an +ever-lengthening tail. Whatever way the comet is travelling, the tail +always points away from the sun. + + +A Great Comet + +The vapoury tail often grows to an enormous length as the comet +approaches the sun. The great comet of 1843 had a tail two hundred +million miles long. It is, however, composed of the thinnest vapours +imaginable. Twice during the nineteenth century the earth passed through +the tail of a comet, and nothing was felt. The vapours of the tail are, +in fact, so attenuated that we can hardly imagine them to be white-hot. +They may be lit by some electrical force. However that may be, the comet +dashes round the sun, often at three or four hundred miles a second, +then may pass gradually out of our system once more. It may be a +thousand years, or it may be fifty years, before the monarch of the +system will summon it again to make its fiery journey round his throne. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Harvard College Observatory._ + +FIG. 21.--TYPICAL SPECTRA + +Six main types of stellar spectra. Notice the lines they have in common, +showing what elements are met with in different types of stars. Each of +these spectra corresponds to a different set of physical and chemical +conditions.] [Illustration: _Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory._ + +FIG. 22.--A NEBULAR REGION SOUTH OF ZETA ORIONIS + +Showing a great projection of "dark matter" cutting off the light from +behind.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria, British +Columbia._ + +FIG. 23.--STAR CLUSTER IN HERCULES + +A wonderful cluster of stars. It has been estimated that the distance of +this cluster is such that it would take light more than 100,000 years to +reach us.] + + +THE STELLAR UNIVERSE + +§ 1 + +The immensity of the Stellar Universe, as we have seen, is beyond our +apprehension. The sun is nothing more than a very ordinary star, perhaps +an insignificant one. There are stars enormously greater than the sun. +One such, Betelgeux, has recently been measured, and its diameter is +more than 300 times that of the sun. + + +The Evolution of Stars + +The proof of the similarity between our sun and the stars has come to us +through the spectroscope. The elements that we find by its means in the +sun are also found in the same way in the stars. Matter, says the +spectroscope, is essentially the same everywhere, in the earth and the +sun, in the comet that visits us once in a thousand years, in the star +whose distance is incalculable, and in the great clouds of "fire-mist" +that we call nebulæ. + +In considering the evolution of the stars let us keep two points clearly +in mind. The starting-point, the nebula, is no figment of the scientific +imagination. Hundreds of thousands of nebulæ, besides even vaster +irregular stretches of nebulous matter, exist in the heavens. But the +stages of the evolution of this stuff into stars are very largely a +matter of speculation. Possibly there is more than one line of +evolution, and the various theories may be reconciled. And this applies +also to the theories of the various stages through which the stars +themselves pass on their way to extinction. + +The light of about a quarter of a million stars has been analysed in the +spectroscope, and it is found that they fall into about a dozen classes +which generally correspond to stages in their evolution (Fig. 21). + + +The Age of Stars + +In its main lines the spectrum of a star corresponds to its colour, and +we may roughly group the stars into red, yellow, and white. This is also +the order of increasing temperature, the red stars being the coolest and +the white stars the hottest. We might therefore imagine that the white +stars are the youngest, and that as they grow older and cooler they +become yellowish, then red, and finally become invisible--just as a +cooling white-hot iron would do. But a very interesting recent research +shows that there are two kinds of red stars; some of them are amongst +the oldest stars and some are amongst the youngest. The facts appear to +be that when a star is first formed it is not very hot. It is an immense +mass of diffuse gas glowing with a dull-red heat. It contracts under the +mutual gravitation of its particles, and as it does so it grows hotter. +It acquires a yellowish tinge. As it continues to contract it grows +hotter and hotter until its temperature reaches a maximum as a white +star. At this point the contraction process does not stop, but the +heating process does. Further contraction is now accompanied by cooling, +and the star goes through its colour changes again, but this time in the +inverse order. It contracts and cools to yellow and finally to red. But +when it again becomes a red star it is enormously denser and smaller +than when it began as a red star. Consequently the red stars are divided +into two classes called, appropriately, Giants and Dwarfs. This theory, +which we owe to an American astronomer, H. N. Russell, has been +successful in explaining a variety of phenomena, and there is +consequently good reason to suppose it to be true. But the question as +to how the red giant stars were formed has received less satisfactory +and precise answers. + +The most commonly accepted theory is the nebular theory. + + +THE NEBULAR THEORY + +§ 2 + +Nebulæ are dim luminous cloud-like patches in the heavens, more like +wisps of smoke in some cases than anything else. Both photography and +the telescope show that they are very numerous, hundreds of thousands +being already known and the number being continually added to. They are +not small. Most of them are immensely large. Actual dimensions cannot be +given, because to estimate these we must first know definitely the +distance of the nebulæ from the earth. The distances of some nebulæ are +known approximately, and we can therefore form some idea of size in +these cases. The results are staggering. The mere visible surface of +some nebulæ is so large that the whole stretch of the solar system would +be too small to form a convenient unit for measuring it. A ray of light +would require to travel for years to cross from side to side of such a +nebula. Its immensity is inconceivable to the human mind. + +There appear to be two types of nebulæ, and there is evidence suggesting +that the one type is only an earlier form of the other; but this again +we do not know. + +The more primitive nebulæ would seem to be composed of gas in an +extremely rarified form. It is difficult to convey an adequate idea of +the rarity of nebular gases. The residual gases in a vacuum tube are +dense by comparison. A cubic inch of air at ordinary pressure would +contain more matter than is contained in millions of cubic inches of the +gases of nebulæ. The light of even the faintest stars does not seem to +be dimmed by passing through a gaseous nebula, although we cannot be +sure on this point. The most remarkable physical fact about these gases +is that they are luminous. Whence they derive their luminosity we do not +know. It hardly seems possible to believe that extremely thin gases +exposed to the terrific cold of space can be so hot as to be luminous +and can retain their heat and their luminosity indefinitely. A cold +luminosity due to electrification, like that of the aurora borealis, +would seem to fit the case better. + +Now the nebular theory is that out of great "fire-mists," such as we +have described, stars are born. We do not know whether gravitation is +the only or even the main force at work in a nebula, but it is supposed +that under the action of gravity the far-flung "fire-mists" would begin +to condense round centres of greatest density, heat being evolved in the +process. Of course the condensation would be enormously slow, although +the sudden irruption of a swarm of meteors or some solid body might +hasten matters greatly by providing large, ready-made centres of +condensation. + + +Spiral Nebulæ + +It is then supposed that the contracting mass of gas would begin to +rotate and to throw off gigantic streamers, which would in their turn +form centres of condensation. The whole structure would thus form a +spiral, having a dense region at its centre and knots or lumps of +condensed matter along its spiral arms. Besides the formless gaseous +nebulæ there are hundreds of thousands of "spiral" nebulæ such as we +have just mentioned in the heavens. They are at all stages of +development, and they are visible to us at all angles--that is to say, +some of them face directly towards us, others are edge on, and some are +in intermediate positions. It appears, therefore, that we have here a +striking confirmation of the nebular hypothesis. But we must not go so +fast. There is much controversy as to the nature of these spiral nebulæ. +Some eminent astronomers think they are other stellar universes, +comparable in size with our own. In any case they are vast structures, +and if they represent stars in process of condensation, they must be +giving birth to huge agglomerations of stars--to star clusters at least. +These vast and enigmatic objects do not throw much light on the origin +of our own solar system. The nebular hypothesis, which was invented +by Laplace to explain the origin of our solar system, has not yet met +with universal acceptance. The explanation offers grave difficulties, +and it is best while the subject is still being closely investigated, to +hold all opinions with reserve. It may be taken as probable, however, +that the universe has developed from masses of incandescent gas. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Yerkes Observatory._ + +FIG. 24.--THE GREAT NEBULA IN ORION + +The most impressive nebula in the heavens. It is inconceivably greater +in dimensions than the whole solar system.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Lick Observatory._ + +FIG. 25--GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA, March 23, 1914 + +This spiral nebula is seen full on. Notice the central nucleus and the +two spiral arms emerging from its opposite directions. Is matter flowing +out of the nucleus into the arms or along the arms into the nucleus? In +either case we should get two streams in opposite directions within the +nucleus.] + + +THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF STARS + +§ 3 + +Variable, New, and Dark Stars: Dying Suns + +Many astronomers believe that in "variable stars" we have another star, +following that of the dullest red star, in the dying of suns. The light +of these stars varies periodically in so many days, weeks, or years. It +is interesting to speculate that they are slowly dying suns, in which +the molten interior periodically bursts through the shell of thick +vapours that is gathering round them. What we saw about our sun seems to +point to some such stage in the future. That is, however, not the +received opinion about variable stars. It may be that they are stars +which periodically pass through a great swarm of meteors or a region of +space that is rich in cosmic dust of some sort, when, of course, a great +illumination would take place. + +One class of these variable stars, which takes its name from the star +Algol, is of special interest. Every third night Algol has its light +reduced for several hours. Modern astronomy has discovered that in this +case there are really two stars, circulating round a common centre, and +that every third night the fainter of the two comes directly between us +and its companion and causes an "eclipse." This was until recently +regarded as a most interesting case in which a dead star revealed itself +to us by passing before the light of another star. But astronomers have +in recent years invented something, the "selenium-cell," which is even +more sensitive than the photographic plate, and on this the supposed +dead star registers itself as very much alive. Algol is, however, +interesting in another way. The pair of stars which we have discovered +in it are hundreds of trillions of miles away from the earth, yet we +know their masses and their distances from each other. + + +The Death and Birth of Stars + +We have no positive knowledge of dead stars; which is not surprising +when we reflect that a dead star means an invisible star! But when we +see so many individual stars tending toward death, when we behold a vast +population of all conceivable ages, we presume that there are many +already dead. On the other hand, there is no reason to suppose that the +universe as a whole is "running down." Some writers have maintained +this, but their argument implies that we know a great deal more about +the universe than we actually do. The scientific man does not know +whether the universe is finite or infinite, temporal or eternal; and he +declines to speculate where there are no facts to guide him. He knows +only that the great gaseous nebulæ promise myriads of worlds in the +future, and he concedes the possibility that new nebulæ may be forming +in the ether of space. + +The last, and not the least interesting, subject we have to notice is +the birth of a "new star." This is an event which astronomers now +announce every few years; and it is a far more portentous event than the +reader imagines when it is reported in his daily paper. The story is +much the same in all cases. We say that the star appeared in 1901, but +you begin to realise the magnitude of the event when you learn that the +distant "blaze" had really occurred about the time of the death of +Luther! The light of the conflagration had been speeding toward us +across space at 186,000 miles a second, yet it has taken nearly three +centuries to reach us. To be visible at all to us at that distance the +fiery outbreak must have been stupendous. If a mass of petroleum ten +times the size of the earth were suddenly fired it would not be seen at +such a distance. The new star had increased its light many hundredfold +in a few days. + +There is a considerable fascination about the speculation that in such +cases we see the resurrection of a dead world, a means of renewing the +population of the universe. What happens is that in some region of the +sky where no star, or only a very faint star, had been registered on our +charts, we almost suddenly perceive a bright star. In a few days it may +rise to the highest brilliancy. By the spectroscope we learn that this +distant blaze means a prodigious outpour of white-hot hydrogen at +hundreds of miles a second. But the star sinks again after a few months, +and we then find a nebula round it on every side. It is natural to +suppose that a dead or dying sun has somehow been reconverted in whole +or in part into a nebula. A few astronomers think that it may have +partially collided with another star, or approached too closely to +another, with the result we described on an earlier page. The general +opinion now is that a faint or dead star had rushed into one of those +regions of space in which there are immense stretches of nebulous +matter, and been (at least in part) vaporised by the friction. + +But the difficulties are considerable, and some astronomers prefer to +think that the blazing star may merely have lit up a dark nebula which +already existed. It is one of those problems on which speculation is +most tempting but positive knowledge is still very incomplete. We may be +content, even proud, that already we can take a conflagration that has +occurred more than a thousand trillion miles away and analyse it +positively into an outflame of glowing hydrogen gas at so many miles a +second. + + +THE SHAPE OF OUR UNIVERSE + +§ 4 + +Our Universe a Spiral Nebula + +What is the shape of our universe, and what are its dimensions? This is +a tremendous question to ask. It is like asking an intelligent insect, +living on a single leaf in the midst of a great Brazilian forest, to say +what is the shape and size of the forest. Yet man's ingenuity has proved +equal to giving an answer even to this question, and by a method exactly +similar to that which would be adopted by the insect. Suppose, for +instance, that the forest was shaped as an elongated oval, and the +insect lived on a tree near the centre of the oval. If the trees were +approximately equally spaced from one another they would appear much +denser along the length of the oval than across its width. This is the +simple consideration that has guided astronomers in determining the +shape of our stellar universe. There is one direction in the heavens +along which the stars appear denser than in the directions at right +angles to it. That direction is the direction in which we look towards +the Milky Way. If we count the number of stars visible all over the +heavens, we find they become more and more numerous as we approach the +Milky Way. As we go farther and farther from the Milky Way the stars +thin out until they reach a maximum sparseness in directions at right +angles to the plane of the Milky Way. We may consider the Milky Way to +form, as it were, the equator of our system, and the line at right +angles to point to the north and south poles. + +Our system, in fact, is shaped something like a lens, and our sun is +situated near the centre of this lens. In the remoter part of this lens, +near its edge, or possibly outside it altogether, lies the great series +of star clouds which make up the Milky Way. All the stars are in motion +within this system, but the very remarkable discovery has been made that +these motions are not entirely random. The great majority of the stars +whose motions can be measured fall into two groups drifting past one +another in opposite directions. The velocity of one stream relative to +the other is about twenty-five miles per second. The stars forming these +two groups are thoroughly well mixed; it is not a case of an inner +stream going one way and an outer stream the other. But there are not +quite as many stars going one way as the other. For every two stars in +one stream there are three in the other. Now, as we have said, some +eminent astronomers hold that the spiral nebulæ are universes like our +own, and if we look at the two photographs (Figs. 25 and 26) we see that +these spirals present features which, in the light of what we have just +said about our system, are very remarkable. The nebula in Coma Berenices +is a spiral edge-on to us, and we see that it has precisely the +lens-shaped middle and the general flattened shape that we have found in +our own system. The nebula in Canes Venatici is a spiral facing towards +us, and its shape irresistibly suggests motions along the spiral arms. +This motion, whether it is towards or away from the central, lens-shaped +portion, would cause a double streaming motion in that central portion +of the kind we have found in our own system. Again, and altogether apart +from these considerations, there are good reasons for supposing our +Milky Way to possess a double-armed spiral structure. And the great +patches of dark absorbing matter which are known to exist in the Milky +Way (see Fig. 22) would give very much the mottled appearance we notice +in the arms (which we see edge-on) of the nebula in Coma Berenices. The +hypothesis, therefore, that our universe is a spiral nebula has much to +be said for it. If it be accepted it greatly increases our estimate of +the size of the material universe. For our central, lens-shaped system +is calculated to extend towards the Milky Way for more than twenty +thousand times a million million miles, and about a third of this +distance towards what we have called the poles. If, as we suppose, each +spiral nebula is an independent stellar universe comparable in size with +our own, then, since there are hundreds of thousands of spiral nebulæ, +we see that the size of the whole material universe is indeed beyond our +comprehension. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory._ + +FIG. 26.--A SPIRAL NEBULA SEEN EDGE-ON + +Notice the lens-shaped formation of the nucleus and the arm stretching +as a band across it. See reference in the text to the resemblance +between this and our stellar universe.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: H. J. Shepstone._ + +100-INCH TELESCOPE, MOUNT WILSON + +A reflecting telescope: the largest in the world. The mirror is situated +at the base of the telescope.] + +[Illustration: + + ________________________________________________________________ + | | + | THE SOLAR SYSTEM | + |________________________________________________________________| + | | | | | | + | | MEAN DISTANCE | PERIOD OF | | | + | NAME | FROM SUN (IN | REVOLUTION | DIAMETER | NUMBER OF | + | | MILLIONS OF | AROUND SUN | (IN MILES) | SATELLITES | + | | MILES) | (IN YEARS) | | | + |_________|_______________|____________|____________|____________| + | | | | | | + | MERCURY | 36.0 | 0.24 | 3030 | 0 | + | VENUS | 67.2 | 0.62 | 7700 | 0 | + | EARTH | 92.9 | 1.00 | 7918 | 1 | + | MARS | 141.5 | 1.88 | 4230 | 2 | + | JUPITER | 483.3 | 11.86 | 86500 | 9 | + | SATURN | 886.0 | 29.46 | 73000 | 10 | + | URANUS | 1781.9 | 84.02 | 31900 | 4 | + | NEPTUNE | 2971.6 | 164.78 | 34800 | 1 | + | SUN | ------ | ------ | 866400 | -- | + | MOON | ------ | ------ | 2163 | -- | + |_________|_______________|____________|____________|____________| + +FIG. 27] + +[Illustration: + + ______________________________________ + | | + | STAR DISTANCES | + |______________________________________| + | | + | DISTANCE IN | + | STAR LIGHT-YEARS | + | | + | POLARIS 76 | + | CAPELLA 49.4 | + | RIGEL 466 | + | SIRIUS 8.7 | + | PROCYON 10.5 | + | REGULUS 98.8 | + | ARCTURUS 43.4 | + | [ALPHA] CENTAURI 4.29 | + | VEGA 34.7 | + |______________________________________| + | | + | SMALLER MAGELLANIC CLOUD 32,600[A] | + | GREAT CLUSTER IN HERCULES 108,600[A] | + |______________________________________| + +[A] ESTIMATED + +FIG. 28 + +The above distances are merely approximate and are subject to further +revision. A "light-year" is the distance that light, travelling at the +rate of 186,000 miles per second, would cover in one year.] + +In this simple outline we have not touched on some of the more debatable +questions that engage the attention of modern astronomers. Many of these +questions have not yet passed the controversial stage; out of these will +emerge the astronomy of the future. But we have seen enough to convince +us that, whatever advances the future holds in store, the science of the +heavens constitutes one of the most important stones in the wonderful +fabric of human knowledge. + + +ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS + +§ 1 + +The Telescope + +The instruments used in modern astronomy are amongst the finest triumphs +of mechanical skill in the world. In a great modern observatory the +different instruments are to be counted by the score, but there are two +which stand out pre-eminent as the fundamental instruments of modern +astronomy. These instruments are the telescope and the spectroscope, and +without them astronomy, as we know it, could not exist. + +There is still some dispute as to where and when the first telescope was +constructed; as an astronomical instrument, however, it dates from the +time of the great Italian scientist Galileo, who, with a very small and +imperfect telescope of his own invention, first observed the spots on +the sun, the mountains of the moon, and the chief four satellites of +Jupiter. A good pair of modern binoculars is superior to this early +instrument of Galileo's, and the history of telescope construction, from +that primitive instrument to the modern giant recently erected on Mount +Wilson, California, is an exciting chapter in human progress. But the +early instruments have only an historic interest: the era of modern +telescopes begins in the nineteenth century. + +During the last century telescope construction underwent an +unprecedented development. An immense amount of interest was taken in +the construction of large telescopes, and the different countries of the +world entered on an exciting race to produce the most powerful possible +instruments. Besides this rivalry of different countries there was a +rivalry of methods. The telescope developed along two different lines, +and each of these two types has its partisans at the present day. These +types are known as _refractors_ and _reflectors_, and it is necessary to +mention, briefly, the principles employed in each. The _refractor_ is +the ordinary, familiar type of telescope. It consists, essentially, of a +large lens at one end of a tube, and a small lens, called the eye-piece, +at the other. The function of the large lens is to act as a sort of +gigantic eye. It collects a large amount of light, an amount +proportional to its size, and brings this light to a focus within the +tube of the telescope. It thus produces a small but bright image, and +the eye-piece magnifies this image. In the _reflector_, instead of a +large lens at the top of the tube, a large mirror is placed at the +bottom. This mirror is so shaped as to reflect the light that falls on +it to a focus, whence the light is again led to an eye-piece. Thus the +refractor and the reflector differ chiefly in their manner of gathering +light. The powerfulness of the telescope depends on the size of the +light-gatherer. A telescope with a lens four inches in diameter is four +times as powerful as the one with a lens two inches in diameter, for the +amount of light gathered obviously depends on the _area_ of the lens, +and the area varies as the _square_ of the diameter. + +The largest telescopes at present in existence are _reflectors_. It is +much easier to construct a very large mirror than to construct a very +large lens; it is also cheaper. A mirror is more likely to get out of +order than is a lens, however, and any irregularity in the shape of a +mirror produces a greater distorting effect than in a lens. A refractor +is also more convenient to handle than is a reflector. For these reasons +great refractors are still made, but the largest of them, the great +Yerkes' refractor, is much smaller than the greatest reflector, the one +on Mount Wilson, California. The lens of the Yerkes' refractor measures +three feet four inches in diameter, whereas the Mount Wilson reflector +has a diameter of no less than eight feet four inches. + +[Illustration: THE YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTOR + +(The largest _refracting_ telescope in the world. Its big lens weighs +1,000 pounds, and its mammoth tube, which is 62 feet long, weighs about +12,000 pounds. The parts to be moved weigh approximately 22 tons. + +The great _100-inch reflector_ of the Mount Wilson reflecting +telescope--the largest _reflecting_ instrument in the world--weighs +nearly 9,000 pounds and the moving parts of the telescope weigh about +100 tons. + +The new _72-inch reflector_ at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, +near Victoria, B. C., weighs nearly 4,500 pounds, and the moving parts +about 35 tons.)] + +[Illustration: _Photo: H. J. Shepstone._ + +THE DOUBLE-SLIDE PLATE HOLDER ON YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTING TELESCOPE + +The smaller telescope at the top of the picture acts as a "finder"; the +field of view of the large telescope is so restricted that it is +difficult to recognise, as it were, the part of the heavens being +surveyed. The smaller telescope takes in a larger area and enables the +precise object to be examined to be easily selected.] + +[Illustration: MODERN DIRECT-READING SPECTROSCOPE + +(_By A. Hilger, Ltd._) + +The light is brought through one telescope, is split up by the prism, +and the resulting spectrum is observed through the other telescope.] + +But there is a device whereby the power of these giant instruments, +great as it is, can be still further heightened. That device is the +simple one of allowing the photographic plate to take the place of the +human eye. Nowadays an astronomer seldom spends the night with his eye +glued to the great telescope. He puts a photographic plate there. The +photographic plate has this advantage over the eye, that it builds up +impressions. However long we stare at an object too faint to be seen, we +shall never see it. With the photographic plate, however, faint +impressions go on accumulating. As hour after hour passes, the star +which was too faint to make a perceptible impression on the plate goes +on affecting it until finally it makes an impression which can be made +visible. In this way the photographic plate reveals to us phenomena in +the heavens which cannot be seen even through the most powerful +telescopes. + +Telescopes of the kind we have been discussing, telescopes for exploring +the heavens, are mounted _equatorially_; that is to say, they are +mounted on an inclined pillar parallel to the axis of the earth so that, +by rotating round this pillar, the telescope is enabled to follow the +apparent motion of a star due to the rotation of the earth. This motion +is effected by clock-work, so that, once adjusted on a star, and the +clock-work started, the telescope remains adjusted on that star for any +length of time that is desired. But a great official observatory, such +as Greenwich Observatory or the Observatory at Paris, also has _transit_ +instruments, or telescopes smaller than the equatorials and without the +same facility of movement, but which, by a number of exquisite +refinements, are more adapted to accurate measurements. It is these +instruments which are chiefly used in the compilation of the _Nautical +Almanac_. They do not follow the apparent motions of the stars. Stars +are allowed to drift across the field of vision, and as each star +crosses a small group of parallel wires in the eye-piece its precise +time of passage is recorded. Owing to their relative fixity of position +these instruments can be constructed to record the _positions_ of stars +with much greater accuracy than is possible to the more general and +flexible mounting of equatorials. The recording of transit is +comparatively dry work; the spectacular element is entirely absent; +stars are treated merely as mathematical points. But these observations +furnish the very basis of modern mathematical astronomy, and without +them such publications as the _Nautical Almanac_ and the _Connaissance +du Temps_ would be robbed of the greater part of their importance. + + +§ 2 + +The Spectroscope + +We have already learnt something of the principles of the spectroscope, +the instrument which, by making it possible to learn the actual +constitution of the stars, has added a vast new domain to astronomy. In +the simplest form of this instrument the analysing portion consists of a +single prism. Unless the prism is very large, however, only a small +degree of dispersion is obtained. It is obviously desirable, for +accurate analytical work, that the dispersion--that is, the separation +of the different parts of the spectrum--should be as great as possible. +The dispersion can be increased by using a large number of prisms, the +light emerging from the first prism, entering the second, and so on. In +this way each prism produces its own dispersive effect and, when a +number of prisms are employed, the final dispersion is considerable. A +considerable amount of light is absorbed in this way, however, so that +unless our primary source of light is very strong, the final spectrum +will be very feeble and hard to decipher. + +Another way of obtaining considerable dispersion is by using a +_diffraction grating_ instead of a prism. This consists essentially of a +piece of glass on which lines are ruled by a diamond point. When the +lines are sufficiently close together they split up light falling on +them into its constituents and produce a spectrum. The modern +diffraction grating is a truly wonderful piece of work. It contains +several thousands of lines to the inch, and these lines have to be +spaced with the greatest accuracy. But in this instrument, again, there +is a considerable loss of light. + +We have said that every substance has its own distinctive spectrum, and +it might be thought that, when a list of the spectra of different +substances has been prepared, spectrum analysis would become perfectly +straightforward. In practice, however, things are not quite so simple. +The spectrum emitted by a substance is influenced by a variety of +conditions. The pressure, the temperature, the state of motion of the +object we are observing, all make a difference, and one of the most +laborious tasks of the modern spectroscopist is to disentangle these +effects from one another. Simple as it is in its broad outlines, +spectroscopy is, in reality, one of the most intricate branches of +modern science. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +(The following list of books may be useful to readers wishing to pursue +further the study of Astronomy.) + + BALL, _The Story of the Heavens_. + BALL, _The Story of the Sun_. + FORBES, _History of Astronomy_. + HINCKS, _Astronomy_. + KIPPAX, _Call of the Stars_. + LOWELL, _Mars and Its Canals_. + LOWELL, _Evolution of Worlds_. + MCKREADY, _A Beginner's Star-Book_. + NEWCOMB, _Popular Astronomy_. + NEWCOMB, _The Stars: A Study of the Universe_. + OLCOTT, _Field Book of the Stars_. + PRICE, _Essence of Astronomy_. + SERVISS, _Curiosities of the Skies_. + WEBB, _Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes_. + YOUNG, _Text-Book of General Astronomy_. + + + + +II + +THE STORY OF EVOLUTION + + + + +INTRODUCTORY + +THE BEGINNING OF THE EARTH--MAKING A HOME FOR LIFE--THE FIRST LIVING +CREATURES + + +§ 1 + +The Evolution-idea is a master-key that opens many doors. It is a +luminous interpretation of the world, throwing the light of the past +upon the present. Everything is seen to be an antiquity, with a history +behind it--a _natural history_, which enables us to understand in some +measure how it has come to be as it is. We cannot say more than +"understand in some measure," for while the _fact_ of evolution is +certain, we are only beginning to discern the _factors_ that have been +at work. + +The evolution-idea is very old, going back to some of the Greek +philosophers, but it is only in modern times that it has become an +essential part of our mental equipment. It is now an everyday +intellectual tool. It was applied to the origin of the solar system and +to the making of the earth before it was applied to plants and animals; +it was extended from these to man himself; it spread to language, to +folk-ways, to institutions. Within recent years the evolution-idea has +been applied to the chemical elements, for it appears that uranium may +change into radium, that radium may produce helium, and that lead is the +final stable result when the changes of uranium are complete. Perhaps +all the elements may be the outcome of an inorganic evolution. Not less +important is the extension of the evolution-idea to the world within as +well as to the world without. For alongside of the evolution of bodies +and brains is the evolution of feelings and emotions, ideas and +imagination. + +Organic evolution means that the present is the child of the past and +the parent of the future. It is not a power or a principle; it is a +process--a process of becoming. It means that the present-day animals +and plants and all the subtle inter-relations between them have arisen +in a natural knowable way from a preceding state of affairs on the whole +somewhat simpler, and that again from forms and inter-relations simpler +still, and so on backwards and backwards for millions of years till we +lose all clues in the thick mist that hangs over life's beginnings. + +Our solar system was once represented by a nebula of some sort, and we +may speak of the evolution of the sun and the planets. But since it has +been _the same material throughout_ that has changed in its distribution +and forms, it might be clearer to use some word like genesis. Similarly, +our human institutions were once very different from what they are now, +and we may speak of the evolution of government or of cities. But Man +works with a purpose, with ideas and ideals in some measure controlling +his actions and guiding his achievements, so that it is probably clearer +to keep the good old word history for all processes of social becoming +in which man has been a conscious agent. Now between the genesis of the +solar system and the history of civilisation there comes the vast +process of organic evolution. The word development should be kept for +the becoming of the individual, the chick out of the egg, for instance. + +Organic evolution is a continuous natural process of racial change, by +successive steps in a definite direction, whereby distinctively new +individualities arise, take root, and flourish, sometimes alongside of, +and sometimes, sooner or later, in place of, the originative stock. Our +domesticated breeds of pigeons and poultry are the results of +evolutionary change whose origins are still with us in the Rock Dove and +the Jungle Fowl; but in most cases in Wild Nature the ancestral stocks +of present-day forms are long since extinct, and in many cases they are +unknown. Evolution is a long process of coming and going, appearing and +disappearing, a long-drawn-out sublime process like a great piece of +music. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Rischgitz Collection._ + +CHARLES DARWIN + +Greatest of naturalists, who made the idea of evolution current +intellectual coin, and in his _Origin of Species_ (1859) made the whole +world new.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Rischgitz Collection._ + +LORD KELVIN + +One of the greatest physicists of the nineteenth century. He estimated +the age of the earth at 20,000,000 years. He had not at his disposal, +however, the knowledge of recent discoveries, which have resulted in +this estimate being very greatly increased.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Lick Observatory._ + +A GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA + +Laplace's famous theory was that the planets and the earth were formed +from great whirling nebulæ.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Natural History Museum._ + +METEORITE WHICH FELL NEAR SCARBOROUGH, AND IS NOW TO BE SEEN IN THE +NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM + +It weighs about 56 lb., and is a "stony" meteorite, i.e., an aerolite.] + + +§ 2 + +The Beginning of the Earth + +When we speak the language of science we cannot say "In the beginning," +for we do not know of and cannot think of any condition of things that +did not arise from something that went before. But we may qualify the +phrase, and legitimately inquire into the beginning of the earth within +the solar system. If the result of this inquiry is to trace the sun and +the planets back to a nebula we reach only a relative beginning. The +nebula has to be accounted for. And even before matter there may have +been a pre-material world. If we say, as was said long ago, "In the +beginning was Mind," we may be expressing or trying to express a great +truth, but we have gone BEYOND SCIENCE. + + +The Nebular Hypothesis + +One of the grandest pictures that the scientific mind has ever thrown +upon the screen is that of the Nebular Hypothesis. According to +Laplace's famous form of this theory (1796), the solar system was once a +gigantic glowing mass, spinning slowly and uniformly around its centre. +As the incandescent world-cloud of gas cooled and its speed of rotation +increased the shrinking mass gave off a separate whirling ring, which +broke up and gathered together again as the first and most distant +planet. The main mass gave off another ring and another till all the +planets, including the earth, were formed. The central mass persisted as +the sun. + +Laplace spoke of his theory, which Kant had anticipated forty-one years +before, with scientific caution: "conjectures which I present with all +the distrust which everything not the result of observation or of +calculation ought to inspire." Subsequent research justified his +distrust, for it has been shown that the original nebula need not have +been hot and need not have been gaseous. Moreover, there are great +difficulties in Laplace's theory of the separation of successive rings +from the main mass, and of the condensation of a whirling gaseous ring +into a planet. + +So it has come about that the picture of a hot gaseous nebula revolving +as a unit body has given place to other pictures. Thus Sir Norman +Lockyer pointed out (1890) that the earth is gathering to itself +millions of meteorites every day; this has been going on for millions of +years; in distant ages the accretion may have been vastly more rapid and +voluminous; and so the earth has grown! Now the meteoritic contributions +are undoubted, but they require a centre to attract them, and the +difficulty is to account for the beginning of a collecting centre or +planetary nucleus. Moreover, meteorites are sporadic and erratic, +scattered hither and thither rather than collecting into unit-bodies. As +Professor Chamberlin says, "meteorites have rather the characteristics +of the wreckage of some earlier organisation than of the parentage of +our planetary system." Several other theories have been propounded to +account for the origin of the earth, but the one that has found most +favour in the eyes of authorities is that of Chamberlin and Moulton. +According to this theory a great nebular mass condensed to form the sun, +from which under the attraction of passing stars planet after planet, +the earth included, was heaved off in the form of knotted spiral nebulæ, +like many of those now observed in the heavens. + +Of great importance were the "knots," for they served as collecting +centres drawing flying matter into their clutches. Whatever part of the +primitive bolt escaped and scattered was drawn out into independent +orbits round the sun, forming the "planetesimals" which behave like +minute planets. These planetesimals formed the food on which the knots +subsequently fed. + + +The Growth of the Earth + +It has been calculated that the newborn earth--the "earth-knot" of +Chamberlin's theory--had a diameter of about 5,500 miles. But it grew +by drawing planetesimals into itself until it had a diameter of over +8,100 miles at the end of its growing period. Since then it has shrunk, +by periodic shrinkages which have meant the buckling up of successive +series of mountains, and it has now a diameter of 7,918 miles. But +during the shrinking the earth became more varied. + +A sort of slow boiling of the internally hot earth often forced molten +matter through the cold outer crust, and there came about a gradual +assortment of lighter materials nearer the surface and heavier materials +deeper down. The continents are built of the lighter materials, such as +granites, while the beds of the great oceans are made of the heavier +materials such as basalts. In limited areas land has often become sea, +and sea has often given place to land, but the probability is that the +distinction of the areas corresponding to the great continents and +oceans goes back to a very early stage. + +The lithosphere is the more or less stable crust of the earth, which may +have been, to begin with, about fifty miles in thickness. It seems that +the young earth had no atmosphere, and that ages passed before water +began to accumulate on its surface--before, in other words, there was +any hydrosphere. The water came from the earth itself, to begin with, +and it was long before there was any rain dissolving out saline matter +from the exposed rocks and making the sea salt. The weathering of the +high grounds of the ancient crust by air and water furnished the +material which formed the sandstones and mudstones and other sedimentary +rocks, which are said to amount to a thickness of over fifty miles in +all. + + +§ 3 + +Making a Home for Life + +It is interesting to inquire how the callous, rough-and-tumble +conditions of the outer world in early days were replaced by others that +allowed of the germination and growth of that tender plant we call +LIFE. There are very tough living creatures, but the average organism is +ill suited for violence. Most living creatures are adapted to mild +temperatures and gentle reactions. Hence the fundamental importance of +the early atmosphere, heavy with planetesimal dust, in blanketing the +earth against intensities of radiance from without, as Chamberlin says, +and inequalities of radiance from within. This was the first preparation +for life, but it was an atmosphere without free oxygen. Not less +important was the appearance of pools and lakelets, of lakes and seas. +Perhaps the early waters covered the earth. And water was the second +preparation for life--water, that can dissolve a larger variety of +substances in greater concentration than any other liquid; water, that +in summer does not readily evaporate altogether from a pond, nor in +winter freeze throughout its whole extent; water, that is such a mobile +vehicle and such a subtle cleaver of substances; water, that forms over +80 per cent. of living matter itself. + +Of great significance was the abundance of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen +(in the form of carbonic acid and water) in the atmosphere of the +cooling earth, for these three wonderful elements have a unique +_ensemble_ of properties--ready to enter into reactions and relations, +making great diversity and complexity possible, favouring the formation +of the plastic and permeable materials that build up living creatures. +We must not pursue the idea, but it is clear that the stones and mortar +of the inanimate world are such that they built a friendly home for +life. + + +Origin of Living Creatures upon the Earth + +During the early chapters of the earth's history, no living creature +that we can imagine could possibly have lived there. The temperature was +too high; there was neither atmosphere nor surface water. Therefore it +follows that at some uncertain, but inconceivably distant date, living +creatures appeared upon the earth. No one knows how, but it is +interesting to consider possibilities. + +[Illustration: _Reproduced from the Smithsonian Report, 1915._ + +A LIMESTONE CANYON + +Many fossils of extinct animals have been found in such rock +formations.] + +[Illustration: GENEALOGICAL TREE OF ANIMALS + +Showing in order of evolution the general relations of the chief classes +into which the world of living things is divided. This scheme represents +the present stage of our knowledge, but is admittedly provisional.] + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF AMOEBA + +(Greatly magnified.) + +The amoeba is one of the simplest of all animals, and gives us a hint +of the original ancestors. It looks like a tiny irregular speck of +greyish jelly, about 1/100th of an inch in diameter. It is commonly +found gliding on the mud or weeds in ponds, where it engulfs its +microscopic food by means of out-flowing lobes (PS). The food vacuole +(FV) contains ingested food. From the contractile vacuole (CV) the waste +matter is discharged. N is the nucleus, GR, granules.] + +From ancient times it has been a favourite answer that the dust of the +earth may have become living in a way which is outside scientific +description. This answer forecloses the question, and it is far too soon +to do that. Science must often say "Ignoramus": Science should be slow +to say "Ignorabimus." + +A second position held by Helmholtz, Lord Kelvin, and others, suggests +that minute living creatures may have come to the earth from elsewhere, +in the cracks of a meteorite or among cosmic dust. It must be remembered +that seeds can survive prolonged exposure to very low temperatures; that +spores of bacteria can survive high temperature; that seeds of plants +and germs of animals in a state of "latent life" can survive prolonged +drought and absence of oxygen. It is possible, according to Berthelot, +that as long as there is not molecular disintegration vital activities +may be suspended for a time, and may afterwards recommence when +appropriate conditions are restored. Therefore, one should be slow to +say that a long journey through space is impossible. The obvious +limitation of Lord Kelvin's theory is that it only shifts the problem of +the origin of organisms (i.e. living creatures) from the earth to +elsewhere. + +The third answer is that living creatures of a very simple sort may have +emerged on the earth's surface from not-living material, e.g. from some +semi-fluid carbon compounds activated by ferments. The tenability of +this view is suggested by the achievements of the synthetic chemists, +who are able artificially to build up substances such as oxalic acid, +indigo, salicylic acid, caffeine, and grape-sugar. We do not know, +indeed, what in Nature's laboratory would take the place of the clever +synthetic chemist, but there seems to be a tendency to complexity. +Corpuscles form atoms, atoms form molecules, small molecules large +ones. + +Various concrete suggestions have been made in regard to the possible +origin of living matter, which will be dealt with in a later chapter. So +far as we know of what goes on to-day, there is no evidence of +spontaneous generation; organisms seem always to arise from pre-existing +organisms of the same kind; where any suggestion of the contrary has +been fancied, there have been flaws in the experimenting. But it is one +thing to accept the verdict "omne vivum e vivo" as a fact to which +experiment has not yet discovered an exception and another thing to +maintain that this must always have been true or must always remain +true. + +If the synthetic chemists should go on surpassing themselves, if +substances like white of egg should be made artificially, and if we +should get more light on possible steps by which simple living creatures +may have arisen from not-living materials, this would not greatly affect +our general outlook on life, though it would increase our appreciation +of what is often libelled as "inert" matter. If the dust of the earth +did naturally give rise very long ago to living creatures, if they are +in a real sense born of her and of the sunshine, then the whole world +becomes more continuous and more vital, and all the inorganic groaning +and travailing becomes more intelligible. + + +§ 4 + +The First Organisms upon the Earth + +We cannot have more than a speculative picture of the first living +creatures upon the earth or, rather, in the waters that covered the +earth. A basis for speculation is to be found, however, in the simplest +creatures living to-day, such as some of the bacteria and one-celled +animalcules, especially those called Protists, which have not taken any +very definite step towards becoming either plants or animals. No one can +be sure, but there is much to be said for the theory that the first +creatures were microscopic globules of living matter, not unlike the +simplest bacteria of to-day, but able to live on air, water, and +dissolved salts. From such a source may have originated a race of +one-celled marine organisms which were able to manufacture chlorophyll, +or something like chlorophyll, that is to say, the green pigment which +makes it possible for plants to utilise the energy of the sunlight in +breaking up carbon dioxide and in building up (photosynthesis) carbon +compounds like sugars and starch. These little units were probably +encased in a cell-wall of cellulose, but their boxed-in energy expressed +itself in the undulatory movement of a lash or flagellum, by means of +which they propelled themselves energetically through the water. There +are many similar organisms to-day, mostly in water, but some of +them--simple one-celled plants--paint the tree-stems and even the +paving-stones green in wet weather. According to Prof. A. H. Church +there was a long chapter in the history of the earth when the sea that +covered everything teemed with these green flagellates--the originators +of the Vegetable Kingdom. + +On another tack, however, there probably evolved a series of simple +predatory creatures, not able to build up organic matter from air, +water, and salts, but devouring their neighbours. These units were not +closed in with cellulose, but remained naked, with their living matter +or protoplasm flowing out in changeful processes, such as we see in the +Amoebæ in the ditch or in our own white blood corpuscles and other +amoeboid cells. These were the originators of the animal kingdom. Thus +from very simple Protists the first animals and the first plants may +have arisen. All were still very minute, and it is worth remembering +that had there been any scientific spectator after our kind upon the +earth during these long ages, he would have lamented the entire absence +of life, although the seas were teeming. The simplest forms of life and +the protoplasm which Huxley called the physical basis of life will be +dealt with in the chapter on Biology in a later section of this work. + + +FIRST GREAT STEPS IN EVOLUTION + +THE FIRST PLANTS--THE FIRST ANIMALS--BEGINNINGS OF BODIES--EVOLUTION OF +SEX--BEGINNING OF NATURAL DEATH + +§ 1 + +The Contrast between Plants and Animals + +However it may have come about, there is no doubt at all that one of the +first great steps in Organic Evolution was the forking of the +genealogical tree into Plants and Animals--the most important parting of +the ways in the whole history of Nature. + +Typical plants have chlorophyll; they are able to feed at a low chemical +level on air, water, and salts, using the energy of the sunlight in +their photosynthesis. They have their cells boxed in by cellulose walls, +so that their opportunities for motility are greatly restricted. They +manufacture much more nutritive material than they need, and live far +below their income. They have no ready way of getting rid of any +nitrogenous waste matter that they may form, and this probably helps to +keep them sluggish. + +Animals, on the other hand, feed at a high chemical level, on the +carbohydrates (e.g. starch and sugar), fats, and proteins (e.g. gluten, +albumin, casein) which are manufactured by other animals, or to begin +with, by plants. Their cells have not cellulose walls, nor in most cases +much wall of any kind, and motility in the majority is unrestricted. +Animals live much more nearly up to their income. If we could make for +an animal and a plant of equal weight two fractions showing the ratio of +the upbuilding, constructive, chemical processes to the down-breaking, +disruptive, chemical processes that go on in their respective bodies, +the ratio for the plant would be much greater than the corresponding +ratio for the animal. In other words, animals take the munitions which +plants laboriously manufacture and explode them in locomotion and +work; and the entire system of animate nature depends upon the +photosynthesis that goes on in green plants. + +[Illustration: _From the Smithsonian Report, 1917_ + +A PIECE OF A REEF-BUILDING CORAL, BUILT UP BY A LARGE COLONY OF SMALL +SEA-ANEMONE-LIKE POLYPS, EACH OF WHICH FORMS FROM THE SALTS OF THE SEA A +SKELETON OR SHELL OF LIME + +The wonderful mass of corals, which are very beautiful, are the skeleton +remains of hundreds of these little creatures.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +THE INSET CIRCLE SHOWS A GROUP OF CHALK-FORMING ANIMALS, OR +FORAMINIFERA, EACH ABOUT THE SIZE OF A VERY SMALL PIN'S HEAD + +They form a great part of the chalk cliffs of Dover and similar deposits +which have been raised from the floor of an ancient sea. + +THE ENORMOUSLY ENLARGED ILLUSTRATION IS THAT OF A COMMON FORAMINIFER +(POLYSTOMELLA) SHOWING THE SHELL IN THE CENTRE AND THE OUTFLOWING +NETWORK OF LIVING MATTER, ALONG WHICH GRANULES ARE CONTINUALLY +TRAVELLING, AND BY WHICH FOOD PARTICLES ARE ENTANGLED AND DRAWN IN + +_Reproduced by permission of the Natural History Museum_ (_after Max +Schultze_).] + +As the result of much more explosive life, animals have to deal with +much in the way of nitrogenous waste products, the ashes of the living +fire, but these are usually got rid of very effectively, e.g. in the +kidney filters, and do not clog the system by being deposited as +crystals and the like, as happens in plants. Sluggish animals like +sea-squirts which have no kidneys are exceptions that prove the rule, +and it need hardly be said that the statements that have been made in +regard to the contrasts between plants and animals are general +statements. There is often a good deal of the plant about the animal, as +in sedentary sponges, zoophytes, corals, and sea-squirts, and there is +often a little of the animal about the plant, as we see in the movements +of all shoots and roots and leaves, and occasionally in the parts of the +flower. But the important fact is that on the early forking of the +genealogical tree, i.e. the divergence of plants and animals, there +depended and depends all the higher life of the animal kingdom, not to +speak of mankind. The continuance of civilisation, the upkeep of the +human and animal population of the globe, and even the supply of oxygen +to the air we breathe, depend on the silent laboratories of the green +leaves, which are able with the help of the sunlight to use carbonic +acid, water, and salts to build up the bread of life. + + +§ 2 + +The Beginnings of Land Plants + +It is highly probable that for long ages the waters covered the earth, +and that all the primeval vegetation consisted of simple Flagellates in +the universal Open Sea. But contraction of the earth's crust brought +about elevations and depressions of the sea-floor, and in places the +solid substratum was brought near enough the surface to allow the +floating plants to begin to settle down without getting out of the +light. This is how Professor Church pictures the beginning of a fixed +vegetation--a very momentous step in evolution. It was perhaps among +this early vegetation that animals had their first successes. As the +floor of the sea in these shallow areas was raised higher and higher +there was a beginning of dry land. The sedentary plants already spoken +of were the ancestors of the shore seaweeds, and there is no doubt that +when we go down at the lowest tide and wade cautiously out among the +jungle of vegetation only exposed on such occasions we are getting a +glimpse of very ancient days. _This_ is the forest primeval. + + +The Protozoa + +Animals below the level of zoophytes and sponges are called Protozoa. +The word obviously means "First Animals," but all that we can say is +that the very simplest of them may give us some hint of the simplicity +of the original first animals. For it is quite certain that the vast +majority of the Protozoa to-day are far too complicated to be thought of +as primitive. Though most of them are microscopic, each is an animal +complete in itself, with the same fundamental bodily attributes as are +manifested in ourselves. They differ from animals of higher degree in +not being built up of the unit areas or corpuscles called cells. They +have no cells, no tissues, no organs, in the ordinary acceptation of +these words, but many of them show a great complexity of internal +structure, far exceeding that of the ordinary cells that build up the +tissues of higher animals. They are complete living creatures which have +not gone in for body-making. + +In the dim and distant past there was a time when the only animals were +of the nature of Protozoa, and it is safe to say that one of the great +steps in evolution was the establishment of three great types of +Protozoa: (_a_) Some were very active, the Infusorians, like the slipper +animalcule, the night-light (Noctiluca), which makes the seas +phosphorescent at night, and the deadly Trypanosome, which causes +Sleeping Sickness. (_b_) Others were very sluggish, the parasitic +Sporozoa, like the malaria organism which the mosquito introduces into +man's body. (_c_) Others were neither very active nor very passive, the +Rhizopods, with out-flowing processes of living matter. This amoeboid +line of evolution has been very successful; it is represented by the +Rhizopods, such as Amoebæ and the chalk-forming Foraminifera and the +exquisitely beautiful flint-shelled Radiolarians of the open sea. They +have their counterparts in the amoeboid cells of most multicellular +animals, such as the phagocytes which migrate about in the body, +engulfing and digesting intruding bacteria, serving as sappers and +miners when something has to be broken down and built up again, and +performing other useful offices. + + +§ 3 + +The Making of a Body + +The great naturalist Louis Agassiz once said that the biggest gulf in +Organic Nature was that between the unicellular and the multicellular +animals (Protozoa and Metazoa). But the gulf was bridged very long ago +when sponges, stinging animals, and simple worms were evolved, and +showed, for the first time, a "body." What would one not give to be able +to account for the making of a body, one of the great steps in +evolution! No one knows, but the problem is not altogether obscure. + +When an ordinary Protozoon or one-celled animal divides into two or +more, which is its way of multiplying, the daughter-units thus formed +float apart and live independent lives. But there are a few Protozoa in +which the daughter-units are not quite separated off from one another, +but remain coherent. Thus Volvox, a beautiful green ball, found in some +canals and the like, is a colony of a thousand or even ten thousand +cells. It has almost formed a body! But in this "colony-making" +Protozoon, and in others like it, the component cells are all of one +kind, whereas in true multicellular animals there are different kinds +of cells, showing division of labour. There are some other Protozoa in +which the nucleus or kernel divides into many nuclei within the cell. +This is seen in the Giant Amoeba (Pelomyxa), sometimes found in +duck-ponds, or the beautiful Opalina, which always lives in the hind +part of the frog's food-canal. If a portion of the living matter of +these Protozoa should gather round each of the nuclei, then _that would +be the beginning of a body_. It would be still nearer the beginning of a +body if division of labour set in, and if there was a setting apart of +egg-cells and sperm-cells distinct from body-cells. + +It was possibly in some such way that animals and plants with a body +were first evolved. Two points should be noticed, that body-making is +not essentially a matter of size, though it made large size possible. +For the body of a many-celled Wheel Animalcule or Rotifer is no bigger +than many a Protozoon. Yet the Rotifer--we are thinking of Hydatina--has +nine hundred odd cells, whereas the Protozoon has only one, except in +forms like Volvox. Secondly, it is a luminous fact that _every +many-celled animal from sponge to man that multiplies in the ordinary +way begins at the beginning again as a "single cell,"_ the fertilised +egg-cell. It is, of course, not an ordinary single cell that develops +into an earthworm or a butterfly, an eagle, or a man; it is a cell in +which a rich inheritance, the fruition of ages, is somehow condensed; +but it is interesting to bear in mind the elementary fact that every +many-celled creature, reproduced in the ordinary way and not by budding +or the like, starts as a fertilised egg-cell. The coherence of the +daughter-cells into which the fertilised egg-cell divides is a +reminiscence, as it were, of the primeval coherence of daughter-units +that made the first body possible. + + +The Beginning of Sexual Reproduction + +A freshwater Hydra, growing on the duckweed usually multiplies by +budding. It forms daughter-buds, living images of itself; a check comes +to nutrition and these daughter-buds go free. A big sea-anemone may +divide in two or more parts, which become separate animals. This is +asexual reproduction, which means that the multiplication takes place by +dividing into two or many portions, and not by liberating egg-cells and +sperm-cells. Among animals as among plants, asexual reproduction is very +common. But it has great disadvantages, for it is apt to be +physiologically expensive, and it is beset with difficulties when the +body shows great division of labour, and is very intimately bound into +unity. Thus, no one can think of a bee or a bird multiplying by division +or by budding. Moreover, if the body of the parent has suffered from +injury or deterioration, the result of this is bound to be handed on to +the next generation if asexual reproduction is the only method. + +[Illustration: _Photos: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +A PLANT-LIKE ANIMAL, OR ZOOPHYTE, CALLED OBELIA + +Consisting of a colony of small polyps, whose stinging tentacles are +well shown greatly enlarged in the lower photograph.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission of "The Quart. Journ. Mic. +Sci."_ + +TRYPANOSOMA GAMBIENSE + +(Very highly magnified.) + +The microscopic animal Trypanosome, which causes Sleeping Sickness. The +study of these organisms has of late years acquired an immense +importance on account of the widespread and dangerous maladies to which +some of them give rise. It lives in the blood of man, who is infected by +the bite of a Tse-tse fly which carries the parasite from some other +host.] + +[Illustration: VOLVOX + +The Volvox is found in some canals and the like. It is one of the first +animals to suggest the beginning of a body. It is a colony of a thousand +or even ten thousand cells, but they are all cells of one kind. In +_multicellular_ animals the cells are of _different_ kinds with +different functions. Each of the ordinary cells (marked 5) has two +lashes or flagella. Daughter colonies inside the Parent colony are being +formed at 3, 4, and 2. The development of germ-cells is shown at 1.] + +[Illustration: PROTEROSPONGIA + +One of the simplest multicellular animals, illustrating the beginning of +a body. There is a setting apart of egg-cells and sperm-cells, distinct +from body-cells; the collared lashed cells on the margin are different +in kind from those farther in. Thus, as in indubitable multicellular +animals, division of labour has begun.] + +Splitting into two or many parts was the old-fashioned way of +multiplying, but one of the great steps in evolution was the discovery +of a better method, namely, sexual reproduction. The gist of this is +simply that during the process of body-building (by the development of +the fertilised egg-cell) certain units, _the germ-cells_, do not share +in forming ordinary tissues or organs, but remain apart, continuing the +full inheritance which was condensed in the fertilised egg-cell. _These +cells kept by themselves are the originators of the future reproductive +cells of the mature animal_; they give rise to the egg-cells and the +sperm-cells. + +The advantages of this method are great. (1) The new generation is +started less expensively, for it is easier to shed germ-cells into the +cradle of the water than to separate off half of the body. (2) It is +possible to start a great many new lives at once, and this may be of +vital importance when the struggle for existence is very keen, and when +parental care is impossible. (3) The germ-cells are little likely to be +prejudicially affected by disadvantageous dints impressed on the body of +the parent--little likely unless the dints have peculiarly penetrating +consequences, as in the case of poisons. (4) A further advantage is +implied in the formation of two kinds of germ-cells--the ovum or +egg-cell, with a considerable amount of building material and often with +a legacy of nutritive yolk; the spermatozoon or sperm-cell, adapted to +move in fluids and to find the ovum from a distance, thus securing +change-provoking cross-fertilisation. + + +§ 4 + +The Evolution of Sex + +Another of the great steps in organic evolution was the differentiation +of two different physiological types, the male or sperm-producer and the +female or egg-producer. It seems to be a deep-seated difference in +constitution, which leads one egg to develop into a male, and another, +lying beside it in the nest, into a female. In the case of pigeons it +seems almost certain, from the work of Professor Oscar Riddle, that +there are two kinds of egg, a male-producing egg and a female-producing +egg, which differ in their yolk-forming and other physiological +characters. + +In sea-urchins we often find two creatures superficially +indistinguishable, but the one is a female with large ovaries and the +other is a male with equally large testes. Here the physiological +difference does not affect the body as a whole, but the reproductive +organs or gonads only, though more intimate physiology would doubtless +discover differences in the blood or in the chemical routine +(metabolism). In a large number of cases, however, there are marked +superficial differences between the sexes, and everyone is familiar with +such contrasts as peacock and peahen, stag and hind. In such cases the +physiological difference between the sperm-producer and the +ovum-producer, for this is the essential difference, saturates through +the body and expresses itself in masculine and feminine structures and +modes of behaviour. The expression of the masculine and feminine +characters is in some cases under the control of hormones or chemical +messengers which are carried by the blood from the reproductive organs +throughout the body, and pull the trigger which brings about the +development of an antler or a wattle or a decorative plume or a capacity +for vocal and saltatory display. In some cases it is certain that the +female carries in a latent state the masculine features, but these are +kept from expressing themselves by other chemical messengers from the +ovary. Of these chemical messengers more must be said later on. + +Recent research has shown that while the difference between male and +female is very deep-rooted, corresponding to a difference in gearing, it +is not always clear-cut. Thus a hen-pigeon may be very masculine, and a +cock-pigeon very feminine. The difference is in degree, not in kind. + + +§ 5 + +What is the meaning of the universal or almost universal inevitableness +of death? A Sequoia or "Big Tree" of California has been known to live +for over two thousand years, but eventually it died. A centenarian +tortoise has been known, and a sea-anemone sixty years of age; but +eventually they die. What is the meaning of this apparently inevitable +stoppage of bodily life? + + +The Beginning of Natural Death + +There are three chief kinds of death, (_a_) The great majority of +animals come to a violent end, being devoured by others or killed by +sudden and extreme changes in their surroundings. (_b_) When an animal +enters a new habitat, or comes into new associations with other +organisms, it may be invaded by a microbe or by some larger parasite to +which it is unaccustomed and to which it can offer no resistance. With +many parasites a "live-and-let-live" compromise is arrived at, but new +parasites are apt to be fatal, as man knows to his cost when he is +bitten by a tse-tse fly which infects him with the microscopic animal (a +Trypanosome) that causes Sleeping Sickness. In many animals the +parasites are not troublesome as long as the host is vigorous, but if +the host is out of condition the parasites may get the upper hand, as in +the so-called "grouse disease," and become fatal. (_c_) But besides +violent death and microbic (or parasitic) death, there is natural death. +This is in great part to be regarded as the price paid for a body. A +body worth having implies complexity or division of labour, and this +implies certain internal furnishings of a more or less stable kind in +which the effects of wear and tear are apt to accumulate. It is not the +living matter itself that grows old so much as the framework in which it +works--the furnishings of the vital laboratory. There are various +processes of rejuvenescence, e.g. rest, repair, change, reorganisation, +which work against the inevitable processes of senescence, but sooner or +later the victory is with ageing. Another deep reason for natural death +is to be found in the physiological expensiveness of reproduction, for +many animals, from worms to eels, illustrate natural death as the +nemesis of starting new lives. Now it is a very striking fact that to a +large degree the simplest animals or Protozoa are exempt from natural +death. They are so relatively simple that they can continually +recuperate by rest and repair; they do not accumulate any bad debts. +Moreover, their modes of multiplying, by dividing into two or many +units, are very inexpensive physiologically. It seems that in some +measure this bodily immortality of the Protozoa is shared by some simple +many-celled animals like the freshwater Hydra and Planarian worms. Here +is an interesting chapter in evolution, the evolution of means of +evading or staving off natural death. Thus there is the well-known case +of the Paloloworm of the coral-reefs where the body breaks up in +liberating the germ-cells, but the head-end remains fixed in a crevice +of the coral, and buds out a new body at leisure. + +Along with the evolution of the ways of avoiding death should be +considered also the gradual establishment of the length of life best +suited to the welfare of the species, and the punctuation of the +life-history to suit various conditions. + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +GREEN HYDRA + +A little freshwater polyp, about half an inch long, with a crown of +tentacles round the mouth. It is seen giving off a bud, a clear +illustration of asexual reproduction. When a tentacle touches some small +organism the latter is paralysed and drawn into the mouth.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +EARTHWORM + +Earthworms began the profitable habit of moving with one end of the body +always in front, and from worms to man the great majority of animals +have bilateral symmetry.] + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE BEGINNING OF INDIVIDUAL LIFE + +1. An immature _sperm_-cell, with 4 chromosomes (nuclear bodies) +represented as rods. + +2. A mature sperm-cell, with 2 chromosomes. + +3. An immature _egg_-cell, with 4 chromosomes represented as curved +bodies. + +4. A mature egg-cell, with 2 chromosomes. + +5. The spermatozoon fertilises the ovum, introducing 2 chromosomes. + +6. The fertilised ovum, with 4 chromosomes, 2 of paternal origin and 2 +of maternal origin. + +7. The chromosomes lie at the equator, and each is split longitudinally. +The centrosome introduced by the spermatozoon has divided into two +centrosomes, one at each pole of the nucleus. These play an important +part in the division or segmentation of the egg. + +8. The fertilised egg has divided into two cells. Each cell has 2 +paternal and 2 maternal chromosomes.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced from the Smithsonian Report, 1917._ + +GLASS MODEL OF A SEA-ANEMONE + +A long tubular sea-anemone, with a fine crown of tentacles around the +mouth. The suggestion of a flower is very obvious. By means of stinging +lassoes on the tentacles minute animals on which it feeds are paralysed +and captured for food.] + +[Illustration: THIS DRAWING SHOWS THE EVOLUTION OF THE BRAIN FROM FISH +TO MAN + +The Cerebrum, the seat of intelligence, increases in proportion to the +other parts. In mammals it becomes more and more convoluted. The brain, +which lies in one plane in fishes, becomes gradually curved on itself. +In birds it is more curved than the drawing shows.] + + +§ 6 + +Great Acquisitions + +In animals like sea-anemones and jellyfishes the general symmetry of the +body is radial; that is to say, there is no right or left, and the body +might be halved along many planes. It is a kind of symmetry well suited +for sedentary or for drifting life. But worms began the profitable habit +of moving with one end of the body always in front, and from worms to +man the great majority of animals have bilateral symmetry. They have a +right and a left side, and there is only one cut that halves the body. +This kind of symmetry is suited for a more strenuous life than radial +animals show; it is suited for pursuing food, for avoiding enemies, for +chasing mates. And _with the establishment of bilateral symmetry must be +associated the establishment of head-brains_, the beginning of which is +to be found in some simple worm-types. + +Among the other great acquisitions gradually evolved we may notice: a +well-developed head with sense-organs, the establishment of large +internal surfaces such as the digestive and absorptive wall of the +food-canal, the origin of quickly contracting striped muscle and of +muscular appendages, the formation of blood as a distributing medium +throughout the body, from which all the parts take what they need and to +which they also contribute. + +Another very important acquisition, almost confined (so far as is known) +to backboned animals, was the evolution of what are called glands of +internal secretion, such as the thyroid and the supra-renal. These +manufacture subtle chemical substances which are distributed by the +blood throughout the body, and have a manifold influence in regulating +and harmonising the vital processes. Some of these chemical messengers +are called hormones, which stimulate organs and tissues to greater +activity; others are called chalones, which put on a brake. Some +regulate growth and others rapidly alter the pressure and composition +of the blood. Some of them call into active development certain parts of +the body which have been, as it were, waiting for an appropriate +trigger-pulling. Thus, at the proper time, the milk-glands of a +mammalian mother are awakened from their dormancy. This very interesting +outcome of evolution will be dealt with in another portion of this work. + + +THE INCLINED PLANE OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR + +§ 1 + +Before passing to a connected story of the gradual emergence of higher +and higher forms of life in the course of the successive ages--the +procession of life, as it may be called--it will be useful to consider +the evolution of animal behaviour. + + +Evolution of Mind + +A human being begins as a microscopic fertilised egg-cell, within which +there is condensed the long result of time--Man's inheritance. The long +period of nine months before birth, with its intimate partnership +between mother and offspring, is passed as it were in sleep, and no one +can make any statement in regard to the mind of the unborn child. Even +after birth the dawn of mind is as slow as it is wonderful. To begin +with, there is in the ovum and early embryo no nervous system at all, +and it develops very gradually from simple beginnings. Yet as mentality +cannot come in from outside, we seem bound to conclude that the +potentiality of it--whatever that means--resides in the individual from +the very first. The particular kind of activity known to us as thinking, +feeling, and willing is the most intimate part of our experience, known +to us directly apart from our senses, and the possibility of that must +be implicit in the germ-cell just as the genius of Newton was implicit +in a very miserable specimen of an infant. Now what is true of the +individual is true also of the race--there is a gradual evolution of +that aspect of the living creature's activity which we call mind. We +cannot put our finger on any point and say: Before this stage there was +no mind. Indeed, many facts suggest the conclusion that wherever there +is life there is some degree of mind--even in the plants. Or it might be +more accurate to put the conclusion in another way, that the activity we +call life has always in some degree an inner or mental aspect. + +[Illustration: OKAPI AND GIRAFFE + +The Okapi is one of the great zoölogical discoveries. It gives a good +idea of what the Giraffe's ancestors were like. The Okapi was unknown +until discovered in 1900 by Sir Harry Johnston in Central Africa, where +these strange animals have probably lived in dense forests from time +immemorial.] + +In another part of this book there is an account of the dawn of mind in +backboned animals; what we aim at here is an outline of what may be +called the inclined plane of animal behaviour. + +A very simple animal accumulates a little store of potential energy, and +it proceeds to expend this, like an explosive, by acting on its +environment. It does so in a very characteristic self-preservative +fashion, so that it burns without being consumed and explodes without +being blown to bits. It is characteristic of the organism that it +remains a going concern for a longer or shorter period--its length of +life. Living creatures that expended their energy ineffectively or +self-destructively would be eliminated in the struggle for existence. +When a simple one-celled organism explores a corner of the field seen +under a microscope, behaving to all appearance very like a dog scouring +a field seen through a telescope, it seems permissible to think of +something corresponding to mental endeavour associated with its +activity. This impression is strengthened when an amoeba pursues +another amoeba, overtakes it, engulfs it, loses it, pursues it again, +recaptures it, and so on. What is quite certain is that the behaviour of +the animalcule is not like that of a potassium pill fizzing about in a +basin of water, nor like the lurching movements of a gun that has got +loose and "taken charge" on board ship. Another feature is that the +locomotor activity of an animalcule often shows a distinct +individuality: it may swim, for instance, in a loose spiral. + +But there is another side to vital activity besides acting upon the +surrounding world; the living creature is acted on by influences from +without. The organism acts on its environment; that is the one side of +the shield: the environment acts upon the organism; that is the other +side. If we are to see life whole we must recognise these two sides of +what we call living, and it is missing an important part of the history +of animal life if we fail to see that evolution implies becoming more +advantageously sensitive to the environment, making more of its +influences, shutting out profitless stimuli, and opening more gateways +to knowledge. The bird's world is a larger and finer world than an +earthworm's; the world means more to the bird than to the worm. + + +The Trial and Error Method + +Simple creatures act with a certain degree of spontaneity on their +environment, and they likewise react effectively to surrounding stimuli. +Animals come to have definite "answers back," sometimes several, +sometimes only one, as in the case of the Slipper Animalcule, which +reverses its cilia when it comes within the sphere of some disturbing +influence, retreats, and, turning upon itself tentatively, sets off +again in the same general direction as before, but at an angle to the +previous line. If it misses the disturbing influence, well and good; if +it strikes it again, the tactics are repeated until a satisfactory way +out is discovered or the stimulation proves fatal. + +It may be said that the Slipper Animalcule has but one answer to every +question, but there are many Protozoa which have several enregistered +reactions. When there are alternative reactions which are tried one +after another, the animal is pursuing what is called the trial-and-error +method, and a higher note is struck. + +There is an endeavour after satisfaction, and a trial of answers. When +the creature profits by experience to the extent of giving the right +answer first, there is the beginning of learning. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF A SIMPLE REFLEX ARC IN A BACKBONELESS ANIMAL +LIKE AN EARTHWORM + +1. A sensory nerve-cell (S.C.) on the surface receives a stimulus. + +2. The stimulus travels along the sensatory nerve-fibre (S.F.) + +3. The sensory nerve-fibre branches in the nerve-cord. + +4. Its branches come into close contact (SY^{1}) with those of an +associative or communicating nerve-cell (A.C.). + +5. Other branches of the associative cell come into close contact +(SY^{2}) with the branches or dendrites of a motor nerve-cell (M.C.). + +6. An impulse or command travels along the motor nerve-fibre or axis +cylinder of the motor nerve-cell. + +7. The motor nerve-fibre ends on a muscle-fibre (M.F.) near the surface. +This moves and the reflex action is complete.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: British Museum_ (_Natural History_). + +THE YUCCA MOTH + +The Yucca Moth, emerging from her cocoon, flies at night to a Yucca +flower and collects pollen from the stamens, holding a little ball of it +in her mouth-parts. She then visits another flower and lays an egg in +the seed-box. After this she applies the pollen to the tip of the +pistil, thus securing the fertilisation of the flower and the growth of +the ovules in the pod. Yucca flowers in Britain do not produce seeds +because there are no Yucca Moths.] + +[Illustration: INCLINED PLANE OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR + +Diagram illustrating animal behaviour. The main line represents the +general life of the creature. On the upper side are activities implying +initiative; on the lower side actions which are almost automatic. + +_Upper Side._--I. Energetic actions. II. Simple tentatives. III. +Trial-and-error methods. IV. Non-intelligent experiments. V. +Experiential "learning." VI. Associative "learning." VII. Intelligent +behaviour. VIII. Rational conduct (man). + +_Lower Side._--1. Reactions to environment. 2. Enregistered reactions. +3. Simple reflex actions. 4. Compound reflex actions. 5. Tropisms. 6. +Enregistered rhythms. 7. Simple instincts. 8. Chain instincts. 9. +Instinctive activities influenced by intelligence. 10. Subconscious +cerebration at a high level (man).] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +VENUS' FLY-TRAP + +One of the most remarkable plants in the world, which captures its prey +by means of a trap formed from part of its leaf. It has been induced to +snap at and hold a bristle. If an insect lighting on the leaf touches +one of six very sensitive hairs, which pull the trigger of the movement, +the two halves of the leaf close rapidly and the fringing teeth on the +margin interlock, preventing the insect's escape. Then follows an +exudation of digestive juice.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission from "The Wonders of Instinct" +by J. H. Fabre._ + +A SPIDER SUNNING HER EGGS + +A kind of spider, called Lycosa, lying head downwards at the edge of her +nest, and holding her silken cocoon--the bag containing the eggs--up +towards the sun in her hindmost pair of legs. This extraordinary +proceeding is believed to assist in the hatching.] + + +Reflex Actions + +Among simple multicellular animals, such as sea-anemones, we find the +beginnings of reflex actions, and a considerable part of the behaviour +of the lower animals is reflex. That is to say, there are laid down in +the animal in the course of its development certain pre-arrangements of +nerve-cells and muscle-cells which secure that a fit and proper answer +is given to a frequently recurrent stimulus. An earthworm half out of +its burrow becomes aware of the light tread of a thrush's foot, and +jerks itself back into its hole before anyone can say "reflex action." +What is it that happens? + +Certain sensory nerve-cells in the earthworm's skin are stimulated by +vibrations in the earth; the message travels down a sensory nerve-fibre +from each of the stimulated cells and enters the nerve-cord. The sensory +fibres come into vital connection with branches of intermediary, +associative, or communicating cells, which are likewise connected with +motor nerve-cells. To these the message is thus shunted. From the motor +nerve-cells an impulse or command travels by motor nerve-fibres, one +from each cell, to the muscles, which contract. If this took as long to +happen as it takes to describe, even in outline, it would not be of much +use to the earthworm. But the motor answer follows the sensory stimulus +almost instantaneously. The great advantage of establishing or +enregistering these reflex chains is that the answers are practically +ready-made or inborn, not requiring to be learned. It is not necessary +that the brain should be stimulated if there is a brain; nor does the +animal will to act, though in certain cases it may by means of higher +controlling nerve-centres keep the natural reflex response from being +given, as happens, for instance, when we control a cough or a sneeze on +some solemn occasion. The evolutionary method, if we may use the +expression, has been to enregister ready-made responses; and as we +ascend the animal kingdom, we find reflex actions becoming complicated +and often linked together, so that the occurrence of one pulls the +trigger of another, and so on in a chain. The behaviour of the +insectivorous plant called Venus's fly-trap when it shuts on an insect +is like a reflex action in an animal, but plants have no definite +nervous system. + + +What are Called Tropisms + +A somewhat higher level on the inclined plane is illustrated by what are +called "tropisms," obligatory movements which the animal makes, +adjusting its whole body so that physiological equilibrium results in +relation to gravity, pressure, currents, moisture, heat, light, +electricity, and surfaces of contact. A moth is flying past a candle; +the eye next the light is more illumined than the other; a physiological +inequilibrium results, affecting nerve-cells and muscle-cells; the +outcome is that the moth automatically adjusts its flight so that both +eyes become equally illumined; in doing this it often flies into the +candle. + +It may seem bad business that the moth should fly into the candle, but +the flame is an utterly artificial item in its environment to which no +one can expect it to be adapted. These tropisms play an important rôle +in animal behaviour. + + +§ 2 + +Instinctive Behaviour + +On a higher level is instinctive behaviour, which reaches such +remarkable perfection in ants, bees, and wasps. In its typical +expression instinctive behaviour depends on inborn capacities; it does +not require to be learned; it is independent of practice or experience, +though it may be improved by both; it is shared equally by all members +of the species of the same sex (for the female's instincts are often +different from the male's); it refers to particular conditions of life +that are of vital importance, though they may occur only once in a +lifetime. The female Yucca Moth emerges from the cocoon when the Yucca +flower puts forth its bell-like blossoms. She flies to a flower, +collects some pollen from the stamens, kneads it into a pill-like ball, +and stows this away under her chin. She flies to an older Yucca flower +and lays her eggs in some of the ovules within the seed-box, but before +she does so she has to deposit on the stigma the ball of pollen. From +this the pollen-tubes grow down and the pollen-nucleus of a tube +fertilises the egg-cell in an ovule, so that the possible seeds become +real seeds, for it is only a fraction of them that the Yucca Moth has +destroyed by using them as cradles for her eggs. Now it is plain that +the Yucca Moth has no individual experience of Yucca flowers, yet she +secures the continuance of her race by a concatenation of actions which +form part of her instinctive repertory. + +From a physiological point of view instinctive behaviour is like a chain +of compound reflex actions, but in some cases, at least, there is reason +to believe that the behaviour is suffused with awareness and backed by +endeavour. This is suggested in exceptional cases where the stereotyped +routine is departed from to meet exceptional conditions. It should also +be noted that just as ants, hive bees, and wasps exhibit in most cases +purely instinctive behaviour, but move on occasion on the main line of +trial and error or of experimental initiative, so among birds and +mammals the intelligent behaviour is sometimes replaced by instinctive +routine. Perhaps there is no instinctive behaviour without a spice of +intelligence, and no intelligent behaviour without an instinctive +element. The old view that instinctive behaviour was originally +intelligent, and that instinct is "lapsed intelligence," is a tempting +one, and is suggested by the way in which habitual intelligent actions +cease in the individual to require intelligent control, but it rests on +the unproved hypothesis that the acquisitions of the individual can be +entailed on the race. It is almost certain that instinct is on a line of +evolution quite different from intelligence, and that it is nearer to +the inborn inspirations of the calculating boy or the musical genius +than to the plodding methods of intelligent learning. + + +Animal Intelligence + +The higher reaches of the inclined plane of behaviour show intelligence +in the strict sense. They include those kinds of behaviour which cannot +be described without the suggestion that the animal makes some sort of +perceptual inference, not only profiting by experience but learning by +ideas. Such intelligent actions show great individual variability; they +are plastic and adjustable in a manner rarely hinted at in connection +with instincts where routine cannot be departed from without the +creature being nonplussed; they are not bound up with particular +circumstances as instinctive actions are, but imply an appreciative +awareness of relations. + +When there is an experimenting with general ideas, when there is +_conceptual_ as contrasted with _perceptual_ inference, we speak of +Reason, but there is no evidence of this below the level of man. It is +not, indeed, always that we can credit man with rational conduct, but he +has the possibility of it ever within his reach. + +Animal instinct and intelligence will be illustrated in another part of +this work. We are here concerned simply with the general question of the +evolution of behaviour. There is a main line of tentative experimental +behaviour both below and above the level of intelligence, and it has +been part of the tactics of evolution to bring about the hereditary +enregistration of capacities of effective response, the advantages being +that the answers come more rapidly and that the creature is left free, +if it chooses, for higher adventures. + +There is no doubt as to the big fact that in the course of evolution +animals have shown an increasing complexity and masterfulness of +behaviour, that they have become at once more controlled and more +definitely free agents, and that the inner aspect of the +behaviour--experimenting, learning, thinking, feeling, and willing--has +come to count for more and more. + + +§ 3 + +Evolution of Parental Care + +Mammals furnish a crowning instance of a trend of evolution which +expresses itself at many levels--the tendency to bring forth the young +at a well-advanced stage and to an increase of parental care associated +with a decrease in the number of offspring. There is a British starfish +called _Luidia_ which has two hundred millions of eggs in a year, and +there are said to be several millions of eggs in conger-eels and some +other fishes. These illustrate the spawning method of solving the +problem of survival. Some animals are naturally prolific, and the number +of eggs which they sow broadcast in the waters allows for enormous +infantile mortality and obviates any necessity for parental care. + +But some other creatures, by nature less prolific, have found an +entirely different solution of the problem. They practise parental care +and they secure survival with greatly economised reproduction. This is a +trend of evolution particularly characteristic of the higher animals. So +much so that Herbert Spencer formulated the generalisation that the size +and frequency of the animal family is inverse ratio to the degree of +evolution to which the animal has attained. + +Now there are many different methods of parental care which secure the +safety of the young, and one of these is called viviparity. The young +ones are not liberated from the parent until they are relatively well +advanced and more or less able to look after themselves. This gives the +young a good send-off in life, and their chances of death are greatly +reduced. In other words, the animals that have varied in the direction +of economised reproduction may keep their foothold in the struggle for +existence if they have varied at the same time in the direction of +parental care. In other cases it may have worked the other way round. + +In the interesting archaic animal called _Peripatus_, which has to face +a modern world too severe for it, one of the methods of meeting the +environing difficulties is the retention of the offspring for many +months within the mother, so that it is born a fully-formed creature. +There are only a few offspring at a time, and, although there are +exceptional cases like the summer green-flies, which are very prolific +though viviparous, the general rule is that viviparity is associated +with a very small family. The case of flowering plants stands by itself, +for although they illustrate a kind of viviparity, the seed being +embryos, an individual plant may have a large number of flowers and +therefore a huge family. + +Viviparity naturally finds its best illustrations among terrestrial +animals, where the risks to the young life are many, and it finds its +climax among mammals. + +Now it is an interesting fact that the three lowest mammals, the +Duckmole and two Spiny Ant-eaters, lay eggs, i.e. are oviparous; that +the Marsupials, on the next grade, bring forth their young, as it were, +prematurely, and in most cases stow them away in an external pouch; +while all the others--the Placentals--show a more prolonged ante-natal +life and an intimate partnership between the mother and the unborn +young. + + +§ 4 + +There is another way of looking at the sublime process of evolution. It +has implied a mastery of all the possible haunts of life; it has been a +progressive conquest of the environment. + +1. It is highly probable that living organisms found their foothold in +the stimulating conditions of the shore of the sea--the shallow water, +brightly illumined, seaweed-growing shelf fringing the Continents. This +littoral zone was a propitious environment where sea and fresh water, +earth and air all meet, where there is stimulating change, abundant +oxygenation and a copious supply of nutritive material in what the +streams bring down and in the rich seaweed vegetation. + +[Illustration: THE HOATZIN INHABITS BRITISH GUIANA + +The newly hatched bird has claws on its thumb and first finger and so is +enabled to climb on the branches of trees with great dexterity until +such time as the wings are strong enough to sustain it in flight.] + +[Illustration: _Photograph, from the British Museum (Natural History), +of a drawing by Mr. E. Wilson._ + +PERIPATUS + +A widely distributed old-fashioned type of animal, somewhat like a +permanent caterpillar. It has affinities both with worms and with +insects. It has a velvety skin, minute diamond-like eyes, and short +stump-like legs. A defenceless, weaponless animal, it comes out at +night, and is said to capture small insects by squirting jets of slime +from its mouth.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S._ + +ROCK KANGAROO CARRYING ITS YOUNG IN A POUCH + +The young are born so helpless that they cannot even suck. The mother +places them in the external pouch, and fitting their mouths on the teats +injects the milk. After a time the young ones go out and in as they +please.] + +It is not an easy haunt of life, but none the worse for that, and it is +tenanted to-day by representatives of practically every class of animals +from infusorians to seashore birds and mammals. + + +The Cradle of the Open Sea + +2. The open-sea or pelagic haunt includes all the brightly illumined +surface waters beyond the shallow water of the shore area. + +It is perhaps the easiest of all the haunts of life, for there is no +crowding, there is considerable uniformity, and an abundance of food for +animals is afforded by the inexhaustible floating "sea-meadows" of +microscopic Algæ. These are reincarnated in minute animals like the +open-sea crustaceans, which again are utilised by fishes, these in turn +making life possible for higher forms like carnivorous turtles and +toothed whales. It is quite possible that the open sea was the original +cradle of life and perhaps Professor Church is right in picturing a long +period of pelagic life before there was any sufficiently shallow water +to allow the floating plants to anchor. It is rather in favour of this +view that many shore animals such as crabs and starfishes, spend their +youthful stages in the relatively safe cradle of the open sea, and only +return to the more strenuous conditions of their birthplace after they +have gained considerable strength of body. It is probably safe to say +that the honour of being the original cradle of life lies between the +shore of the sea and the open sea. + + +The Great Deeps + +3. A third haunt of life is the floor of the Deep Sea, the abyssal area, +which occupies more than a half of the surface of the globe. It is a +region of extreme cold--an eternal winter; of utter darkness--an eternal +night--relieved only by the fitful gleams of "phosphorescent" animals; +of enormous pressure--2-1/2 tons on the square inch at a depth of 2,500 +fathoms; of profound calm, unbroken silence, immense monotony. And as +there are no plants in the great abysses, the animals must live on one +another, and, in the long run, on the rain of moribund animalcules which +sink from the surface through the miles of water. It seems a very +unpromising haunt of life, but it is abundantly tenanted, and it gives +us a glimpse of the insurgent nature of the living creature that the +difficulties of the Deep Sea should have been so effectively conquered. +It is probable that the colonising of the great abysses took place in +relatively recent times, for the fauna does not include many very +antique types. It is practically certain that the colonisation was due +to littoral animals which followed the food-débris, millennium after +millennium, further and further down the long slope from the shore. + + +The Freshwaters + +4. A fourth haunt of life is that of the freshwaters, including river +and lake, pond and pool, swamp and marsh. It may have been colonised by +gradual migration up estuaries and rivers, or by more direct passage +from the seashore into the brackish swamp. Or it may have been in some +cases that partially landlocked corners of ancient seas became gradually +turned into freshwater basins. The animal population of the freshwaters +is very representative, and is diversely adapted to meet the +characteristic contingencies--the risk of being dried up, the risk of +being frozen hard in winter, and the risk of being left high and dry +after floods or of being swept down to the sea. + + +Conquest of the Dry Land + +5. The terrestrial haunt has been invaded age after age by contingents +from the sea or from the freshwaters. We must recognise the worm +invasion, which led eventually to the making of the fertile soil, the +invasion due to air-breathing Arthropods, which led eventually to the +important linkage between flowers and their insect visitors, and the +invasion due to air-breathing Amphibians, which led eventually to the +higher terrestrial animals and to the development of intelligence and +family affection. Besides these three great invasions, there were minor +ones such as that leading to land-snails, for there has been a +widespread and persistent tendency among aquatic animals to try to +possess the dry land. + +Getting on to dry land had a manifold significance. + +It implied getting into a medium with a much larger supply of oxygen +than there is dissolved in the water. But the oxygen of the air is more +difficult to capture, especially when the skin becomes hard or well +protected, as it is almost bound to become in animals living on dry +ground. Thus this leads to the development of _internal surfaces_, such +as those of lungs, where the oxygen taken into the body may be absorbed +by the blood. In most animals the blood goes to the surface of +oxygen-capture; but in insects and their relatives there is a different +idea--of taking the air to the blood or in greater part to the area of +oxygen-combustion, the living tissues. A system of branching air-tubes +takes air into every hole and corner of the insect's body, and this +thorough aeration is doubtless in part the secret of the insect's +intense activity. The blood never becomes impure. + +The conquest of the dry land also implied a predominance of that kind of +locomotion which may be compared to punting, when the body is pushed +along by pressing a lever against a hard substratum. And it also +followed that with few exceptions the body of the terrestrial animal +tended to be compact, readily lifted off the ground by the limbs or +adjusted in some other way so that there may not be too large a surface +trailing on the ground. An animal like a jellyfish, easily supported in +the water, would be impossible on land. Such apparent exceptions as +earthworms, centipedes, and snakes are not difficult to explain, for the +earthworm is a burrower which eats its way through the soil, the +centipede's long body is supported by numerous hard legs, and the snake +pushes itself along by means of the large ventral scales to which the +lower ends of very numerous ribs are attached. + + +Methods of Mastering the Difficulties of Terrestrial Life + +A great restriction attendant on the invasion of the dry land is that +locomotion becomes limited to one plane, namely, the surface of the +earth. This is in great contrast to what is true in the water, where the +animal can move up or down, to right or to left, at any angle and in +three dimensions. It surely follows from this that the movements of land +animals must be rapid and precise, unless, indeed, safety is secured in +some other way. Hence it is easy to understand why most land animals +have very finely developed striped muscles, and why a beetle running on +the ground has far more numerous muscles than a lobster swimming in the +sea. + +Land animals were also handicapped by the risks of drought and of frost, +but these were met by defences of the most diverse description, from the +hairs of woolly caterpillars to the fur of mammals, from the carapace of +tortoises to the armour of armadillos. In other cases, it is hardly +necessary to say, the difficulties may be met in other ways, as frogs +meet the winter by falling into a lethargic state in some secluded +retreat. + +Another consequence of getting on to dry land is that the eggs or young +can no longer be set free anyhow, as is possible when the animal is +surrounded by water, which is in itself more or less of a cradle. If the +eggs were laid or the young liberated on dry ground, the chances are +many that they would be dried up or devoured. So there are numerous ways +in which land animals secure the safety of their young, e.g. by burying +them in the ground, or by hiding them in nests, or by carrying them +about for a prolonged period either before or after birth. This may mean +great safety for the young, this may make it possible to have only a +small family, and this may tend to the evolution of parental care and +the kindly emotions. Thus it may be understood that from the conquest of +the land many far-reaching consequences have followed. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Rischgitz._ + +PROFESSOR THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY (1825-95) + +One of the most distinguished of zoologists, with unsurpassed gifts as a +teacher and expositor. He did great service in gaining a place for +science in ordinary education and in popular estimation. No one +championed Evolutionism with more courage and skill.] + +[Illustration: BARON CUVIER, 1769-1832 + +One of the founders of modern Comparative Anatomy. A man of gigantic +intellect, who came to Paris as a youth from the provinces, and became +the director of the higher education of France and a peer of the Empire. +He was opposed to Evolutionist ideas, but he had anatomical genius.] + +[Illustration: AN ILLUSTRATION SHOWING VARIOUS METHODS OF FLYING AND +SWOOPING + +Gull, with a feather-wing, a true flier. Fox-bat, with a skin-wing, a +true flier. Flying Squirrel, with a parachute of skin, able to swoop +from tree to tree, but not to fly. Flying Fish, with pectoral fins used +as volplanes in a great leap due to the tail. To some extent able to +sail in albatros fashion.] + +Finally, it is worth dwelling on the risks of terrestrial life, because +they enable us better to understand why so many land animals have become +burrowers and others climbers of trees, why some have returned to the +water and others have taken to the air. It may be asked, perhaps, why +the land should have been colonised at all when the risks and +difficulties are so great. The answer must be that necessity and +curiosity are the mother and father of invention. Animals left the water +because the pools dried up, or because they were overcrowded, or because +of inveterate enemies, but also because of that curiosity and spirit of +adventure which, from first to last, has been one of the spurs of +progress. + + +Conquering the Air + +6. The last great haunt of life is the air, a mastery of which must be +placed to the credit of insects, Pterodactyls, birds, and bats. These +have been the successes, but it should be noted that there have been +many brilliant failures, which have not attained to much more than +parachuting. These include the Flying Fishes, which take leaps from the +water and are carried for many yards and to considerable heights, +holding their enlarged pectoral fins taut or with little more than a +slight fluttering. There is a so-called Flying Frog (_Rhacophorus_) that +skims from branch to branch, and the much more effective Flying Dragon +(_Draco volans_) of the Far East, which has been mentioned already. +Among mammals there are Flying Phalangers, Flying Lemurs, and more +besides, all attaining to great skill as parachutists, and illustrating +the endeavour to master the air which man has realised in a way of his +own. + +The power of flight brings obvious advantages. A bird feeding on the +ground is able to evade the stalking carnivore by suddenly rising into +the air; food and water can be followed rapidly and to great distances; +the eggs or the young can be placed in safe situations; and birds in +their migrations have made a brilliant conquest both of time and space. +Many of them know no winter in their year, and the migratory flight of +the Pacific Golden Plover from Hawaii to Alaska and back again does not +stand alone. + + +THE PROCESSION OF LIFE THROUGH THE AGES + +§ 1 + +The Rock Record + +How do we know when the various classes of animals and plants were +established on the earth? How do we know the order of their appearance +and the succession of their advances? The answer is: by reading the Rock +Record. In the course of time the crust of the earth has been elevated +into continents and depressed into ocean-troughs, and the surface of the +land has been buckled up into mountain ranges and folded in gentler +hills and valleys. The high places of the land have been weathered by +air and water in many forms, and the results of the weathering have been +borne away by rivers and seas, to be laid down again elsewhere as +deposits which eventually formed sandstones, mudstones, and similar +sedimentary rocks. Much of the material of the original crust has thus +been broken down and worked up again many times over, and if the total +thickness of the sedimentary rocks is added up it amounts, according to +some geologists, to a total of 67 miles. In most cases, however, only a +small part of this thickness is to be seen in one place, for the +deposits were usually formed in limited areas at any one time. + + +The Use of Fossils + +When the sediments were accumulating age after age, it naturally came +about that remains of the plants and animals living at the time were +buried, and these formed the fossils by the aid of which it is possible +to read the story of the past. By careful piecing together of evidence +the geologist is able to determine the order in which the different +sedimentary rocks were laid down, and thus to say, for instance, that +the Devonian period was the time of the origin of Amphibians. In other +cases the geologist utilises the fossils in his attempt to work out the +order of the strata when these have been much disarranged. For the +simpler fossil forms of any type must be older than those that are more +complex. There is no vicious circle here, for the general succession of +strata is clear, and it is quite certain that there were fishes before +there were amphibians, and amphibians before there were reptiles, and +reptiles before there were birds and mammals. In certain cases, e.g. of +fossil horses and elephants, the actual historical succession has been +clearly worked out. + +If the successive strata contained good samples of all the plants and +animals living at the time when the beds were formed, then it would be +easy to read the record of the rocks, but many animals were too soft to +become satisfactory fossils, many were eaten or dissolved away, many +were destroyed by heat and pressure, so that the rock record is like a +library very much damaged by fire and looting and decay. + + +§ 2 + +The Geological Time-table + +The long history of the earth and its inhabitants is conveniently +divided into eras. Thus, just as we speak of the ancient, mediæval, and +modern history of mankind, so we may speak of Palæozoic, Mesozoic and +Cenozoic eras in the history of the earth as a whole. + +Geologists cannot tell us except in an approximate way how long the +process of evolution has taken. One of the methods is to estimate how +long has been required for the accumulation of the salts of the sea, +for all these have been dissolved out of the rocks since rain began to +fall on the earth. Dividing the total amount of saline matter by what is +contributed every year in modern times, we get about a hundred million +years as the age of the sea. But as the present rate of +salt-accumulation is probably much greater than it was during many of +the geological periods, the prodigious age just mentioned is in all +likelihood far below the mark. Another method is to calculate how long +it would take to form the sedimentary rocks, like sandstones and +mudstones, which have a _total_ thickness of over fifty miles, though +the _local_ thickness is rarely over a mile. As most of the materials +have come from the weathering of the earth's crust, and as the annual +amount of weathering now going on can be estimated, the time required +for the formation of the sedimentary rocks of the world can be +approximately calculated. There are some other ways of trying to tell +the earth's age and the length of the successive periods, but no +certainty has been reached. + +The eras marked on the table (page 92) as _before the Cambrian_ +correspond to about thirty-two miles of thickness of strata; and all the +subsequent eras with fossil-bearing rocks to a thickness of about +twenty-one miles--in itself an astounding fact. Perhaps thirty million +years must be allotted to the Pre-Cambrian eras, eighteen to the +Palæozoic, nine to the Mesozoic, three to the Cenozoic, making a grand +total of sixty millions. + + +The Establishment of Invertebrate Stocks + +It is an astounding fact that at least half of geological time (the +Archæozoic and Proterozoic eras) passed before there were living +creatures with parts sufficiently hard to form fossils. In the latter +part of the Proterozoic era there are traces of one-celled marine +animals (Radiolarians) with shells of flint, and of worms that wallowed +in the primal mud. It is plain that as regards the most primitive +creatures the rock record tells us little. + +[Illustration: _From Knipe's "Nebula to Man."_ + +ANIMALS OF THE CAMBRIAN PERIOD e.g. Sponges, Jellyfish, Starfish, +Sea-lilies, Water-fleas, and Trilobites] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +A TRILOBITE + +Trilobites were ancient seashore animals, abundant from the Upper +Cambrian to the Carboniferous eras. They have no direct descendants +to-day. They were jointed-footed animals, allied to Crustaceans and +perhaps also to King-crabs. They were able to roll themselves up in +their ring-armour.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: British Museum (Natural History)._ + +THE GAMBIAN MUD-FISH, PROTOPTERUS + +It can breathe oxygen dissolved in water by its gills; it can also +breathe dry air by means of its swim-bladder, which has become a lung. +It is a _double-breather_, showing evolution in process. For seven +months of the year, the dry season, it can remain inert in the mud, +getting air through an open pipe to the surface. When water fills the +pools it can use its gills again. Mud-nests or mud encasements with the +lung-fish inside have often been brought to Britain and the fish when +liberated were quite lively.] + +[Illustration: THE ARCHÆOPTERYX + +(_After William Leche of Stockholm._) + +A good restoration of the oldest known bird, Archæopteryx (Jurassic +Era). It was about the size of a crow; it had teeth on both jaws; it had +claws on the thumb and two fingers; and it had a long lizard-like tail. +But it had feathers, proving itself a true bird.] + +[Illustration: WING OF A BIRD, SHOWING THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE FEATHERS + +The longest feathers or primaries (PR) are borne by the two fingers (2 +and 3), and their palm-bones (CMC); the second longest or secondaries +are borne by the ulna bone (U) of the fore-arm; there is a separate tuft +(AS) on the thumb (TH).] + +The rarity of direct traces of life in the oldest rocks is partly due to +the fact that the primitive animals would be of delicate build, but it +must also be remembered that the ancient rocks have been profoundly and +repeatedly changed by pressure and heat, so that the traces which did +exist would be very liable to obliteration. And if it be asked what +right we have to suppose the presence of living creatures in the absence +or extreme rarity of fossils, we must point to great accumulations of +limestone which indicate the existence of calcareous algæ, and to +deposits of iron which probably indicate the activity of iron-forming +Bacteria. Ancient beds of graphite similarly suggest that green plants +flourished in these ancient days. + + +§ 3 + +The Era of Ancient Life (Palæozoic) + +The _Cambrian_ period was the time of the establishment of the chief +stocks of backboneless animals such as sponges, jellyfishes, worms, +sea-cucumbers, lamp-shells, trilobites, crustaceans, and molluscs. There +is something very eloquent in the broad fact that the peopling of the +seas had definitely begun some thirty million years ago, for Professor +H. F. Osborn points out that in the Cambrian period there was already a +colonisation of the shore of the sea, the open sea, and the deep waters. + +The _Ordovician_ period was marked by abundant representation of the +once very successful class of Trilobites--jointed-footed, +antenna-bearing, segmented marine animals, with numerous appendages and +a covering of chitin. They died away entirely with the end of the +Palæozoic era. Also very notable was the abundance of predatory +cuttlefishes, the bullies of the ancient seas. But it was in this period +that the first backboned animals made their appearance--an epoch-making +step in evolution. In other words, true fishes were evolved--destined in +the course of ages to replace the cuttlefishes (which are mere molluscs) +in dominating the seas. + + _______________________________________________________________________ + + _RECENT TIMES_ Human civilisation. + _______________________________________________________________________ + + {PLEISTOCENE OR GLACIAL TIME Last great Ice Age. + _CENOZOIC ERA_ {MIOCENE AND PLIOCENE TIMES Emergence of Man. + {EOCENE AND OLIGOCENE TIMES Rise of higher mammals. + _______________________________________________________________________ + + {CRETACEOUS PERIOD Rise of primitive mammals, + { flowering plants, + { and higher insects. + _MESOZOIC ERA_ {JURASSIC PERIOD Rise of birds and flying + { reptiles. + {TRIASSIC PERIOD Rise of dinosaur reptiles. + _______________________________________________________________________ + + {PERMIAN PERIOD Rise of reptiles. + {CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD Rise of insects. + {DEVONIAN PERIOD First amphibians. + _PALÆOZOIC ERA_ {SILURIAN PERIOD Land animals began. + {ORDOVICIAN PERIOD First fishes. + {CAMBRIAN PERIOD Peopling of the sea. + _______________________________________________________________________ + + _PROTEROZOIC AGES_ Many of the Backboneless stocks began. + _ARCHÆOZOIC AGES_ Living creatures began to be upon the earth. + _______________________________________________________________________ + + {Making of continents and ocean-basins. + {Beginnings of atmosphere and hydrosphere. + _FORMATIVE TIMES_ {Cooling of the earth. + {Establishment of the solar system. + _______________________________________________________________________ + +In the _Silurian_ period in which the peopling of the seas went on +apace, there was the first known attempt at colonising the dry land. For +in Silurian rocks there are fossil scorpions, and that implies ability +to breathe dry air--by means of internal surfaces, in this case known as +lungbooks. It was also towards the end of the Silurian, when a period of +great aridity set in, that fishes appeared related to our mud-fishes or +double-breathers (Dipnoi), which have lungs as well as gills. This, +again, meant utilising dry air, just as the present-day mud-fishes do +when the water disappears from the pools in hot weather. The lung-fishes +or mud-fishes of to-day are but three in number, one in Queensland, one +in South America, and one in Africa, but they are extremely +interesting "living fossils," binding the class of fishes to that of +amphibians. It is highly probable that the first invasion of the dry +land should be put to the credit of some adventurous worms, but the +second great invasion was certainly due to air-breathing Arthropods, +like the pioneer scorpion we mentioned. + +[Illustration: PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION OF THE SUCCESSIVE STRATA OF THE +EARTH'S CRUST, WITH SUGGESTIONS OF CHARACTERISTIC FOSSILS + +E.g. Fish and Trilobite in the Devonian (red), a large Amphibian in the +Carboniferous (blue), Reptiles in Permian (light red), the first Mammal +in the Triassic (blue), the first Bird in the Jurassic (yellow), Giant +Reptiles in the Cretaceous (white), then follow the Tertiary strata with +progressive mammals, and Quaternary at the top with man and mammoth.] + +The _Devonian_ period, including that of the Old Red Sandstone, was one +of the most significant periods in the earth's history. For it was the +time of the establishment of flowering plants upon the earth and of +terrestrial backboned animals. One would like to have been the +discoverer of the Devonian foot-print of _Thinopus_, the first known +Amphibian foot-print--an eloquent vestige of the third great invasion of +the dry land. It was probably from a stock of Devonian lung-fishes that +the first Amphibians sprang, but it was not till the next period that +they came to their own. While they were still feeling their way, there +was a remarkable exuberance of shark-like and heavily armoured fishes in +the Devonian seas. + + +EVOLUTION OF LAND ANIMALS + +§ 1 + +Giant Amphibians and Coal-measures + +The _Carboniferous_ period was marked by a mild moist climate and a +luxuriant vegetation in the swampy low grounds. It was a much less +strenuous time than the Devonian period; it was like a very long summer. +There were no trees of the type we see now, but there were forests of +club-mosses and horsetails which grew to a gigantic size compared with +their pigmy representatives of to-day. In these forests the +jointed-footed invaders of the dry land ran riot in the form of +centipedes, spiders, scorpions, and insects, and on these the primeval +Amphibians fed. The appearance of insects made possible a new linkage of +far-reaching importance, namely, the cross-fertilisation of flowering +plants by their insect visitors, and from this time onwards it may be +said that flowers and their visitors have evolved hand in hand. +Cross-fertilisation is much surer by insects than by the wind, and +cross-fertilisation is more advantageous than self-fertilisation because +it promotes both fertility and plasticity. It was probably in this +period that _coloured_ flowers--attractive to insect-visitors--began to +justify themselves as beauty became useful, and began to relieve the +monotonous green of the horsetail and club-moss forests, which covered +great tracts of the earth for millions of years. In the Carboniferous +forests there were also land-snails, representing one of the minor +invasions of the dry land, tending on the whole to check vegetation. +They, too, were probably preyed upon by the Amphibians, some of which +attained a large size. Each age has had its giants, and those of the +Carboniferous were Amphibians called Labyrinthodonts, some of which were +almost as big as donkeys. It need hardly be said that it was in this +period that most of the Coal-measures were laid down by the immense +accumulation of the spores and debris of the club-moss forests. Ages +afterwards, it was given to man to tap this great source of +energy--traceable back to the sunshine of millions of years ago. Even +then it was true that no plant or animal lives or dies to itself! + + +The Acquisitions of Amphibians. + +As Amphibians had their Golden Age in the Carboniferous period we may +fitly use this opportunity of indicating the advances in evolution which +the emergence of Amphibians implied. (1) In the first place the passage +from water to dry land was the beginning of a higher and more promiseful +life, taxed no doubt by increased difficulties. The natural question +rises why animals should have migrated from water to dry land at all +when great difficulties were involved in the transition. The answers +must be: (_a_) that local drying up of water-basins or elevations of the +land surface often made the old haunts untenable; (_b_) that there may +have been great congestion and competition in the old quarters; and +(_c_) that there has been an undeniable endeavour after well-being +throughout the history of animal life. In the same way with mankind, +migrations were prompted by the setting in of prolonged drought, by +over-population, and by the spirit of adventure. (2) In Amphibians for +the first time the non-digitate paired fins of fishes were replaced by +limbs with fingers and toes. This implied an advantageous power of +grasping, of holding firm, of putting food into the mouth, of feeling +things in three dimensions. (3) We cannot be positive in regard to the +soft parts of the ancient Amphibians known only as fossils, but if they +were in a general way like the frogs and toads, newts and salamanders of +the present day, we may say that they made among other acquisitions the +following: true ventral lungs, a three-chambered heart, a movable +tongue, a drum to the ear, and lids to the eyes. It is very interesting +to find that though the tongue of the tadpole has some muscle-fibres in +it, they are not strong enough to effect movement, recalling the tongue +of fishes, which has not any muscles at all. Gradually, as the tadpole +becomes a frog, the muscle-fibres grow in strength, and make it possible +for the full-grown creature to shoot out its tongue upon insects. This +is probably a recapitulation of what was accomplished in the course of +millennia in the history of the Amphibian race. (4) Another acquisition +made by Amphibians was a voice, due, as in ourselves, to the rapid +passage of air over taut membranes (vocal cords) stretched in the +larynx. It is an interesting fact that for millions of years there was +upon the earth no sound of life at all, only the noise of wind and wave, +thunder and avalanche. Apart from the instrumental music of some +insects, perhaps beginning in the Carboniferous, the first vital sounds +were due to Amphibians, and theirs certainly was the first voice--surely +one of the great steps in organic evolution. + +[Illustration: _Photo: British Museum (Natural History)._ + +FOSSIL OF A PTERODACTYL OR EXTINCT FLYING DRAGON + +The wing is made of a web of skin extended on the enormously elongated +outermost finger. The long tail served for balancing and steering. The +Pterodactyls varied from the size of sparrows to a wing-span of fifteen +feet--the largest flying creatures.] + +[Illustration: _From Knipe's "Nebula to Man."_ + +PARIASAURUS: AN EXTINCT VEGETARIAN TRIASSIC REPTILE + +Total length about 9 feet. (Remains found in Cape Colony, South +Africa.)] + +[Illustration: _From Knipe's "Nebula to Man."_ + +TRICERATOPS: A HUGE EXTINCT REPTILE + +(From remains found in Cretaceous strata of Wyoming, U.S.A.) + +This Dinosaur, about the size of a large rhinoceros, had a huge +three-horned skull with a remarkable bony collar over the neck. But, as +in many other cases, its brain was so small that it could have passed +down the spinal canal in which the spinal cord lies. Perhaps this partly +accounts for the extinction of giant reptiles.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: "Daily Mail."_ + +THE DUCKMOLE OR DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS OF AUSTRALIA + +The Duckmole or Duck-billed Platypus of Australia is a survivor of the +most primitive mammals. It harks back to reptiles, e.g. in being an +egg-layer, in having comparatively large eggs, and in being imperfectly +warm-blooded. It swims well and feeds on small water-animals. It can +also burrow.] + + +Evolution of the Voice + +The first use of the voice was probably that indicated by our frogs and +toads--it serves as a sex-call. That is the meaning of the trumpeting +with which frogs herald the spring, and it is often only in the males +that the voice is well developed. But if we look forward, past +Amphibians altogether, we find the voice becoming a maternal call +helping to secure the safety of the young--a use very obvious when young +birds squat motionless at the sound of the parent's danger-note. Later +on, probably, the voice became an infantile call, as when the unhatched +crocodile pipes from within the deeply buried egg, signalling to the +mother that it is time to be unearthed. Higher still the voice expresses +emotion, as in the song of birds, often outside the limits of the +breeding time. Later still, particular sounds become words, signifying +particular things or feelings, such as "food," "danger," "home," +"anger," and "joy." Finally words become a medium of social intercourse +and as symbols help to make it possible for man to reason. + + +§ 2 + +The Early Reptiles + +In the _Permian_ period reptiles appeared, or perhaps one should say, +began to assert themselves. That is to say, there was an emergence of +backboned animals which were free from water and relinquished the method +of breathing by gills, which Amphibians retained in their young stages +at least. The unhatched or unborn reptile breathes by means of a +vascular hood spread underneath the egg-shell and absorbing dry air from +without. It is an interesting point that this vascular hood, called the +allantois, is represented in the Amphibians by an unimportant bladder +growing out from the hind end of the food-canal. A great step in +evolution was implied in the origin of this ante-natal hood or foetal +membrane and another one--of protective significance--called the amnion, +which forms a water-bag over the delicate embryo. The step meant total +emancipation from the water and from gill-breathing, and the two +foetal membranes, the amnion and the allantois, persist not only in +all reptiles but in birds and mammals as well. These higher Vertebrates +are therefore called Amniota in contrast to the Lower Vertebrates or +Anamnia (the Amphibians, Fishes, and primitive types). + +It is a suggestive fact that the embryos of all reptiles, birds, and +mammals show gill-clefts--_a tell-tale evidence of their distant aquatic +ancestry_. But these embryonic gill-clefts are not used for respiration +and show no trace of gills except in a few embryonic reptiles and birds +where their dwindled vestiges have been recently discovered. As to the +gill-clefts, they are of no use in higher Vertebrates except that the +first becomes the Eustachian tube leading from the ear-passage to the +back of the mouth. The reason why they persist when only one is of any +use, and that in a transformed guise, would be difficult to interpret +except in terms of the Evolution theory. They illustrate the lingering +influence of a long pedigree, the living hand of the past, the tendency +that individual development has to recapitulate racial evolution. In a +condensed and telescoped manner, of course, for what took the race a +million years may be recapitulated by the individual in a week! + +In the Permian period the warm moist climate of most of the +Carboniferous period was replaced by severe conditions, culminating in +an Ice Age which spread from the Southern Hemisphere throughout the +world. With this was associated a waning of the Carboniferous flora, and +the appearance of a new one, consisting of ferns, conifers, ginkgos, and +cycads, which persisted until near the end of the Mesozoic era. The +Permian Ice Age lasted for millions of years, and was most severe in the +Far South. Of course, it was a very different world then, for North +Europe was joined to North America, Africa to South America, and +Australia to Asia. It was probably during the Permian Ice Age that many +of the insects divided their life-history into two main chapters--the +feeding, growing, moulting, immature, larval stages, e.g. caterpillars, +and the more ascetic, non-growing, non-moulting, winged phase, adapted +for reproduction. Between these there intervened the quiescent, +well-protected pupa stage or chrysalis, probably adapted to begin with +as a means of surviving the severe winter. For it is easier for an +animal to survive when the vital processes are more or less in abeyance. + + +Disappearance of many Ancient Types + +We cannot leave the last period of the Palæozoic era and its prolonged +ice age without noticing that it meant the entire cessation of a large +number of ancient types, especially among plants and backboneless +animals, which now disappear for ever. It is necessary to understand +that the animals of ancient days stand in three different relations to +those of to-day. (_a_) There are ancient types that have living +representatives, sometimes few and sometimes many, sometimes much +changed and sometimes but slightly changed. The lamp-shell, +_Lingulella_, of the Cambrian and Ordovician period has a very near +relative in the _Lingula_ of to-day. There are a few extremely +conservative animals. (_b_) There are ancient types which have no living +representatives, except in the guise of transformed descendants, as the +King-crab (_Limulus_) may be said to be a transformed descendant of the +otherwise quite extinct race to which Eurypterids or Sea-scorpions +belonged. (_c_) There are altogether extinct types--_lost races_--which +have left not a wrack behind. For there is not any representation to-day +of such races as Graptolites and Trilobites. + +Looking backwards over the many millions of years comprised in the +Palæozoic era, what may we emphasise as the most salient features? There +was in the _Cambrian_ the establishment of the chief classes of +backboneless animals; in the _Ordovician_ the first fishes and perhaps +the first terrestrial plants; in the _Silurian_ the emergence of +air-breathing Invertebrates and mud-fishes; in the _Devonian_ the +appearance of the first Amphibians, from which all higher land animals +are descended, and the establishment of a land flora; in the +_Carboniferous_ the great Club-moss forests and an exuberance of +air-breathing insects and their allies; in the _Permian_ the first +reptiles and a new flora. + + +THE GEOLOGICAL MIDDLE AGES + +§ 1 + +The Mesozoic Era + +In a broad way the Mesozoic era corresponds with the Golden Age of +reptiles, and with the climax of the Conifer and Cycad flora, which was +established in the Permian. But among the Conifers and Cycads our modern +flowering plants were beginning to show face tentatively, just like +birds and mammals among the great reptiles. + +In the _Triassic_ period the exuberance of reptilian life which marked +the Permian was continued. Besides Turtles which still persist, there +were Ichthyosaurs, Plesiosaurs, Dinosaurs, and Pterosaurs, none of which +lasted beyond the Mesozoic era. Of great importance was the rise of the +Dinosaurs in the Triassic, for it is highly probable that within the +limits of this vigorous and plastic stock--some of them bipeds--we must +look for the ancestors of both birds and mammals. Both land and water +were dominated by reptiles, some of which attained to gigantic size. Had +there been any zoologist in those days, he would have been very +sagacious indeed if he had suspected that reptiles did not represent the +climax of creation. + + +The Flying Dragons + +The _Jurassic_ period showed a continuance of the reptilian splendour. +They radiated in many directions, becoming adapted to many haunts. Thus +there were many Fish Lizards paddling in the seas, many types of +terrestrial dragons stalking about on land, many swiftly gliding +alligator-like forms, and the Flying Dragons which began in the Triassic +attained to remarkable success and variety. Their wing was formed by the +extension of a great fold of skin on the enormously elongated outermost +finger, and they varied from the size of a sparrow to a spread of over +five feet. A soldering of the dorsal vertebræ as in our Flying Birds was +an adaptation to striking the air with some force, but as there is not +more than a slight keel, if any, on the breast-bone, it is unlikely that +they could fly far. For we know from our modern birds that the power of +flight may be to some extent gauged from the degree of development of +the keel, which is simply a great ridge for the better insertion of the +muscles of flight. It is absent, of course, in the Running Birds, like +the ostrich, and it has degenerated in an interesting way in the +burrowing parrot (_Stringops_) and a few other birds that have "gone +back." + + +The First Known Bird + +But the Jurassic is particularly memorable because its strata have +yielded two fine specimens of the first known bird, _Archæopteryx_. +These were entombed in the deposits which formed the fine-grained +lithographic stones of Bavaria, and practically every bone in the body +is preserved except the breast-bone. Even the feathers have left their +marks with distinctness. This oldest known bird--too far advanced to be +the first bird--was about the size of a crow and was probably of +arboreal habits. Of great interest are its reptilian features, so +pronounced that one cannot evade the evolutionist suggestion. It had +teeth in both jaws, which no modern bird has; it had a long lizard-like +tail, which no modern bird has; it had claws on three fingers, and a +sort of half-made wing. That is to say, it does not show, what all +modern birds show, a fusion of half the wrist-bones with the whole of +the palm-bones, the well-known carpo-metacarpus bone which forms a basis +for the longest pinions. In many reptiles, such as Crocodiles, there are +peculiar bones running across the abdomen beneath the skin, the +so-called "abdominal ribs," and it seems an eloquent detail to find +these represented in _Archæopteryx_, the earliest known bird. No modern +bird shows any trace of them. [Illustration: SKELETON OF AN EXTINCT +FLIGHTLESS TOOTHED BIRD, HESPERORNIS + +(_After Marsh._) + +The bird was five or six feet high, something like a swimming ostrich, +with a very powerful leg but only a vestige of a wing. There were sharp +teeth in a groove. The modern divers come nearest to this ancient +type.] + +[Illustration: SIX STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE HORSE, SHOWING GRADUAL +INCREASE IN SIZE + +(_After Lull and Matthew._) + +1. Four-toed horse, Eohippus, about one foot high. Lower Eocene, N. +America. + +2. Another four-toed horse, Orohippus, a little over a foot high. Middle +Eocene, N. America. + +3. Three-toed horse, Mesohippus, about the size of a sheep. Middle +Oligocene, N. America. + +4. Three-toed horse, Merychippus, Miocene, N. America. Only one toe +reaches the ground on each foot, but the remains of two others are +prominent. + +5. The first one-toed horse, Pliohippus, about forty inches high at the +shoulder. Pliocene, N. America. + +6. The modern horse, running on the third digit of each foot.] + +There is no warrant for supposing that the flying reptiles or +Pterodactyls gave rise to birds, for the two groups are on different +lines, and the structure of the wings is entirely different. Thus the +long-fingered Pterodactyl wing was a parachute wing, while the secret of +the bird's wing has its centre in the feathers. It is highly probable +that birds evolved from certain Dinosaurs which had become bipeds, and +it is possible that they were for a time swift runners that took "flying +jumps" along the ground. Thereafter, perhaps, came a period of arboreal +apprenticeship during which there was much gliding from tree to tree +before true flight was achieved. It is an interesting fact that the +problem of flight has been solved four times among animals--by insects, +by Pterodactyls, by birds, and by bats; and that the four solutions are +on entirely different lines. + +In the _Cretaceous_ period the outstanding events included the waning of +giant reptiles, the modernising of the flowering plants, and the +multiplication of small mammals. Some of the Permian reptiles, such as +the dog-toothed Cynodonts, were extraordinarily mammal-like, and it was +probably from among them that definite mammals emerged in the Triassic. +Comparatively little is known of the early Triassic mammals save that +their back-teeth were marked by numerous tubercles on the crown, but +they were gaining strength in the late Triassic when small arboreal +insectivores, not very distant from the modern tree-shrews (_Tupaia_), +began to branch out in many directions indicative of the great divisions +of modern mammals, such as the clawed mammals, hoofed mammals, and the +race of monkeys or Primates. In the Upper Cretaceous there was an +exuberant "radiation" of mammals, adaptive to the conquest of all sorts +of haunts, and this was vigorously continued in Tertiary times. + +There is no difficulty in the fact that the earliest remains of definite +mammals in the Triassic precede the first-known bird in the Jurassic. +For although we usually rank mammals as higher than birds (being mammals +ourselves, how could we do otherwise?), there are many ways in which +birds are pre-eminent, e.g. in skeleton, musculature, integumentary +structures, and respiratory system. The fact is that birds and mammals +are on two quite different tacks of evolution, not related to one +another, save in having a common ancestry in extinct reptiles. Moreover, +there is no reason to believe that the Jurassic _Archæopteryx_ was the +first bird in any sense except that it is the first of which we have any +record. In any case it is safe to say that birds came to their own +before mammals did. + +Looking backwards, we may perhaps sum up what is most essential in the +Mesozoic era in Professor Schuchert's sentence: "The Mesozoic is the Age +of Reptiles, and yet the little mammals and the toothed birds are +storing up intelligence and strength to replace the reptiles when the +cycads and conifers shall give way to the higher flowering plants." + + +§ 2 + +The Cenozoic or Tertiary Era + +In the _Eocene_ period there was a replacement of the small-brained +archaic mammals by big-brained modernised types, and with this must be +associated the covering of the earth with a garment of grass and dry +pasture. Marshes were replaced by meadows and browsing by grazing +mammals. In the spreading meadows an opportunity was also offered for a +richer evolution of insects and birds. + +During the _Oligocene_ the elevation of the land continued, the climate +became much less moist, and the grazing herds extended their range. + +The _Miocene_ was the mammalian Golden Age and there were crowning +examples of what Osborn calls "adaptive radiation." That is to say, +mammals, like the reptiles before them, conquer every haunt of life. +There are flying bats, volplaning parachutists, climbers in trees like +sloths and squirrels, quickly moving hoofed mammals, burrowers like the +moles, freshwater mammals, like duckmole and beaver, shore-frequenting +seals and manatees, and open-sea cetaceans, some of which dive far more +than full fathoms five. It is important to realise the perennial +tendency of animals to conquer every corner and to fill every niche of +opportunity, and to notice that this has been done by successive sets of +animals in succeeding ages. _Most notably the mammals repeat all the +experiments of reptiles on a higher turn of the spiral._ Thus arises +what is called convergence, the superficial resemblance of unrelated +types, like whales and fishes, the resemblance being due to the fact +that the different types are similarly adapted to similar conditions of +life. Professor H. F. Osborn points out that mammals may seek any one of +the twelve different habitat-zones, and that in each of these there may +be six quite different kinds of food. Living creatures penetrate +everywhere like the overflowing waters of a great river in flood. + + +§ 3 + +The _Pliocene_ period was a more strenuous time, with less genial +climatic conditions, and with more intense competition. Old land bridges +were broken and new ones made, and the geographical distribution +underwent great changes. Professor R. S. Lull describes the _Pliocene_ +as "a period of great unrest." "Many migrations occurred the world over, +new competitions arose, and the weaker stocks began to show the effects +of the strenuous life. One momentous event seems to have occurred in the +Pliocene, and that was the transformation of the precursor of humanity +into man--the culmination of the highest line of evolution." + +The _Pleistocene_ period was a time of sifting. There was a continued +elevation of the continental masses, and Ice Ages set in, relieved by +less severe interglacial times when the ice-sheets retreated northwards +for a time. Many types, like the mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, the +sabre-toothed tiger, the cave-lion, and the cave-bear, became extinct. +Others which formerly had a wide range became restricted to the Far +North or were left isolated here and there on the high mountains, like +the Snow Mouse, which now occurs on isolated Alpine heights above the +snow-line. Perhaps it was during this period that many birds of the +Northern Hemisphere learned to evade the winter by the sublime device of +migration. + +Looking backwards we may quote Professor Schuchert again: + + "The lands in the Cenozoic began to bloom with more and more + flowering plants and grand hardwood forests, the atmosphere is + scented with sweet odours, a vast crowd of new kinds of insects + appear, and the places of the once dominant reptiles of the lands + and seas are taken by the mammals. Out of these struggles there + rises a greater intelligence, seen in nearly all of the mammal + stocks, but particularly in one, the monkey-ape-man. Brute man + appears on the scene with the introduction of the last glacial + climate, a most trying time for all things endowed with life, and + finally there results the dominance of reasoning man over all his + brute associates." + +In man and human society the story of evolution has its climax. + + +The Ascent of Man + +Man stands apart from animals in his power of building up general ideas +and of using these in the guidance of his behaviour and the control of +his conduct. This is essentially wrapped up with his development of +language as an instrument of thought. Some animals have words, but man +has language (Logos). Some animals show evidence of _perceptual_ +inference, but man often gets beyond this to _conceptual_ inference +(Reason). Many animals are affectionate and brave, self-forgetful and +industrious, but man "thinks the ought," definitely guiding his conduct +in the light of ideals, which in turn are wrapped up with the fact that +he is "a social person." + +Besides his big brain, which may be three times as heavy as that of a +gorilla, man has various physical peculiarities. He walks erect, he +plants the sole of his foot flat on the ground, he has a chin and a good +heel, a big forehead and a non-protrusive face, a relatively uniform set +of teeth without conspicuous canines, and a relatively naked body. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM SHOWING SEVEN STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE +FORE-LIMBS AND HIND-LIMBS OF THE ANCESTORS OF THE MODERN HORSE, +BEGINNING WITH THE EARLIEST KNOWN PREDECESSORS OF THE HORSE AND +CULMINATING WITH THE HORSE OF TO-DAY + +(_After Marsh and Lull._) + +1 and 1A, fore-limb and hind-limb of Eohippus; 2 and 2A, Orohippus; 3 +and 3A, Mesohippus; 4 and 4A, Hypohippus; 5 and 5A, Merychippus; 6 and +6A, Hipparion; 7 and 7A, the modern horse. Note how the toes shorten and +disappear.] + +[Illustration: A. Fore-limb of Monkey B. Fore-limb of Whale + +WHAT IS MEANT BY HOMOLOGY? ESSENTIAL SIMILARITY OF ARCHITECTURE, THOUGH +THE APPEARANCES MAY BE VERY DIFFERENT + +This is seen in comparing these two fore-limbs, A, of Monkey, B, of +Whale. They are as different as possible, yet they show the same bones, +e.g. SC, the scapula or shoulder-blade; H, the humerus or upper arm; R +and U, the radius and ulna of the fore-arm; CA, the wrist; MC, the palm; +and then the fingers.] + +But in spite of man's undeniable apartness, there is no doubt as to his +solidarity with the rest of creation. There is an "all-pervading +similitude of structure," between man and the Anthropoid Apes, though it +is certain that it is not from any living form that he took his origin. +None of the anatomical distinctions, except the heavy brain, could be +called momentous. Man's body is a veritable museum of relics (vestigial +structures) inherited from pre-human ancestors. In his everyday bodily +life and in some of its disturbances, man's pedigree is often revealed. +Even his facial expression, as Darwin showed, is not always human. Some +fossil remains bring modern man nearer the anthropoid type. + +It is difficult not to admit the ring of truth in the closing words of +Darwin's _Descent of Man_: + + "We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man, with + all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most + debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to + the humblest living creature, with his God-like intellect which has + penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar + system--with all these exalted powers--man still bears in his bodily + frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin." + + +THE EVOLVING SYSTEM OF NATURE + +There is another side of evolution so obvious that it is often +overlooked, the tendency to link lives together in vital +inter-relations. Thus flowers and their insect visitors are often +vitally interlinked in mutual dependence. Many birds feed on berries and +distribute the seeds. The tiny freshwater snail is the host of the +juvenile stages of the liver-fluke of the sheep. The mosquito is the +vehicle of malaria from man to man, and the tse-tse fly spreads sleeping +sickness. The freshwater mussel cannot continue its race without the +unconscious co-operation of the minnow, and the freshwater fish called +the bitterling cannot continue its race without the unconscious +co-operation of the mussel. There are numerous mutually beneficial +partnerships between different kinds of creatures, and other +inter-relations where the benefit is one-sided, as in the case of +insects that make galls on plants. There are also among kindred animals +many forms of colonies, communities, and societies. Nutritive chains +bind long series of animals together, the cod feeding on the whelk, the +whelk on the worm, the worm on the organic dust of the sea. There is a +system of successive incarnations and matter is continually passing from +one embodiment to another. These instances must suffice to illustrate +the central biological idea of the web of life, the interlinked System +of Animate Nature. Linnæus spoke of the Systema Naturæ, meaning the +orderly hierarchy of classes, orders, families, genera, and species; but +we owe to Darwin in particular some knowledge of a more dynamic Systema +Naturæ, the network of vital inter-relations. This has become more and +more complex as evolution has continued, and man's web is most complex +of all. It means making Animate Nature more of a unity; it means an +external method of registering steps of progress; it means an evolving +set of sieves by which new variations are sifted, and living creatures +are kept from slipping down the steep ladder of evolution. + + +Parasitism + +It sometimes happens that the inter-relation established between one +living creature and another works in a retrograde direction. This is the +case with many thoroughgoing internal parasites which have sunk into an +easygoing kind of life, utterly dependent on their host for food, +requiring no exertions, running no risks, and receiving no spur to +effort. Thus we see that evolution is not necessarily progressive; +everything depends on the conditions in reference to which the living +creatures have been evolved. When the conditions are too easygoing, the +animal may be thoroughly well adapted to them--as a tapeworm certainly +is--but it slips down the rungs of the ladder of evolution. + +This is an interesting minor chapter in the story of evolution--the +establishment of different kinds of parasites, casual and constant, +temporary and lifelong, external hangers-on and internal unpaying +boarders, those that live in the food-canal and depend on the host's +food and those that inhabit the blood or the tissues and find their food +there. It seems clear that ichneumon grubs and the like which hatch +inside a caterpillar and eat it alive are not so much parasites as +"beasts of prey" working from within. + +But there are two sides to this minor chapter: there is the evolution of +the parasite, and there is also the evolution of counteractive measures +on the part of the host. Thus there is the maintenance of a bodyguard of +wandering amoeboid cells, which tackle the microbes invading the body +and often succeed in overpowering and digesting them. Thus, again, there +is the protective capacity the blood has of making antagonistic +substances or "anti-bodies" which counteract poisons, including the +poisons which the intruding parasites often make. + + +THE EVIDENCES OF EVOLUTION--HOW IT CAME ABOUT + +§ 1 + +Progress in Evolution + +There has often been slipping back and degeneracy in the course of +evolution, but the big fact is that there has been progress. For +millions of years Life has been slowly creeping upwards, and if we +compare the highest animals--Birds and Mammals--with their predecessors, +we must admit that they are more controlled, more masters of their +fate, with more mentality. Evolution is on the whole _integrative_; that +is to say, it makes against instability and disorder, and towards +harmony and progress. Even in the rise of Birds and Mammals we can +discern that the evolutionary process was making towards a fuller +embodiment or expression of what Man values most--control, freedom, +understanding, and love. The advance of animal life through the ages has +been chequered, but on the whole it has been an advance towards +increasing fullness, freedom, and fitness of life. In the study of this +advance--the central fact of Organic Evolution--there is assuredly much +for Man's instruction and much for his encouragement. + + +Evidences of Evolution + +In all this, it may be said, the fact of evolution has been taken for +granted, but what are the evidences? Perhaps it should be frankly +answered that the idea of evolution, that the present is the child of +the past and the parent of the future, cannot be _proved_ as one may +prove the Law of Gravitation. All that can be done is to show that it is +a key--a way of looking at things--that fits the facts. There is no lock +that it does not open. + +But if the facts that the evolution theory vividly interprets be called +the evidences of its validity, there is no lack of them. There is +_historical_ evidence; and what is more eloquent than the general fact +that fishes emerge before amphibians, and these before reptiles, and +these before birds, and so on? There are wonderfully complete fossil +series, e.g. among cuttlefishes, in which we can almost see evolution in +process. The pedigree of horse and elephant and crocodile is in general +very convincing, though it is to be confessed that there are other cases +in regard to which we have no light. Who can tell, for instance, how +Vertebrates arose or from what origin? + +There is _embryological_ evidence, for the individual development often +reads like an abbreviated recapitulation of the presumed evolution of +the race. The mammal's visceral clefts are tell-tale evidence of remote +aquatic ancestors, breathing by gills. Something is known in regard to +the historical evolution of antlers in bygone ages; the Red Deer of +to-day recapitulates at least the general outlines of the history. The +individual development of an asymmetrical flat-fish, like a plaice or +sole, which rests and swims on one side, tells us plainly that its +ancestors were symmetrical fishes. + +There is what might be called _physiological_ evidence, for many plants +and animals are variable before our eyes, and evolution is going on +around us to-day. This is familiarly seen among domesticated animals and +cultivated plants, but there is abundant flux in Wild Nature. It need +hardly be said that some organisms are very conservative, and that +change need not be expected when a position of stable equilibrium has +been secured. + +There is also _anatomical_ evidence of a most convincing quality. In the +fore-limbs of backboned animals, say, the paddle of a turtle, the wing +of a bird, the flipper of a whale, the fore-leg of a horse, and the arm +of a man; the same essential bones and muscles are used to such diverse +results! What could it mean save blood relationship? And as to the two +sets of teeth in whalebone whales, which never even cut the gum, is +there any alternative but to regard them as relics of useful teeth which +ancestral forms possessed? In short, the evolution theory is justified +by the way in which it works. + + +§ 2 + +Factors in Evolution + +If it be said "So much for the _fact_ of evolution, but what of the +_factors_?" the answer is not easy. For not only is the problem the +greatest of all scientific problems, but the inquiry is still very +young. The scientific study of evolution practically dates from the +publication of _The Origin of Species_ in 1859. + +Heritable novelties or variations often crop up in living creatures, and +these form the raw material of evolution. These variations are the +outcome of expression of changes in the germ-cells that develop into +organisms. But why should there be changes in the constitution of the +germ-cells? Perhaps because the living material is very complex and +inherently liable to change; perhaps because it is the vehicle of a +multitude of hereditary items among which there are very likely to be +reshufflings or rearrangements; perhaps because the germ-cells have very +changeful surroundings (the blood, the body-cavity fluid, the +sea-water); perhaps because deeply saturating outside influences, such +as change of climate and habitat, penetrate through the body to its +germ-cells and provoke them to vary. But we must be patient with the +wearisome reiteration of "perhaps." Moreover, every many-celled organism +reproduced in the usual way, arises from an egg-cell fertilised by a +sperm-cell, and the changes involved in and preparatory to this +fertilisation may make new permutations and combinations of the living +items and hereditary qualities not only possible but necessary. It is +something like shuffling a pack of cards, but the cards are living. As +to the changes wrought on the body during its lifetime by peculiarities +in nurture, habits, and surroundings, these dents or modifications are +often very important for the individual, but it does not follow that +they are directly important for the race, since it is not certain that +they are transmissible. + +Given a crop of variations or new departures or mutations, whatever the +inborn novelties may be called, we have then to inquire how these are +sifted. The sifting, which means the elimination of the relatively less +fit variations and the selection of the relatively more fit, effected in +many different ways in the course of the struggle for existence. The +organism plays its new card in the game of life, and the consequences +may determine survival. The relatively less fit to given conditions +will tend to be eliminated, while the relatively more fit will tend to +survive. If the variations are hereditary and reappear, perhaps +increased in amount, generation after generation, and if the process of +sifting continue consistently, the result will be the evolution of the +species. The sifting process may be helped by various forms of +"isolation" which lessen the range of free intercrossing between members +of a species, e.g. by geographical barriers. Interbreeding of similar +forms tends to make a stable stock; out-breeding among dissimilars tends +to promote variability. But for an outline like this it is enough to +suggest the general method of organic evolution: Throughout the ages +organisms have been making tentatives--new departures of varying +magnitude--and these tentatives have been tested. The method is that of +testing all things and holding fast that which is good. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +(The following short list may be useful to readers who desire to have +further books recommended to them.) + + CLODD, _Story of Creation: A Plain Account of Evolution._ + DARWIN, _Origin of Species, Descent of Man._ + DEPERET, _Transformation of the Animal World_ (Internat. Sci. Series). + GEDDES AND THOMSON, _Evolution_ (Home University Library). + GOODRICH, _Evolution_ (The People's Books). + HEADLEY, _Life and Evolution._ + HUTCHINSON, H. NEVILLE, _Extinct Monsters_ (1892). + LULL, _Organic Evolution._ + MCCABE, _A B C of Evolution._ + METCALF, _Outline of the Theory of Organic Evolution._ + OSBORN, H. F., _The Evolution of Life_ (1921). + THOMSON, _Darwinism and Human Life._ + WALLACE, _Darwinism._ + + + + +III + +ADAPTATIONS TO ENVIRONMENT + + + + +ADAPTATIONS TO ENVIRONMENT + + +We saw in a previous chapter how the process of evolution led to a +mastery of all the haunts of life. But it is necessary to return to +these haunts or homes of animals in some detail, so as to understand the +peculiar circumstances of each, and to see how in the course of ages of +struggle all sorts of self-preserving and race-continuing adaptations or +fitnesses have been wrought out and firmly established. Living creatures +have spread over all the earth and in the waters under the earth; some +of them have conquered the underground world and others the air. It is +possible, however, as has been indicated, to distinguish six great +haunts of life, each tenanted by a distinctive fauna, namely, the shore +of the sea, the open sea, the depths of the sea, the freshwaters, the +dry land, and the air. In the deep sea there are no plants at all; in +the air the only plants are floating bacteria, though there is a sense +in which a tree is very aerial, and the orchid perched on its branches +still more so; in the other four haunts there is a flora as well as a +fauna--the two working into one another's hands in interesting and often +subtle inter-relations--the subject of a separate study. + + +I. THE SHORE OF THE SEA + +The Seaweed Area + +By the shore of the sea the zoologist means much more than the narrow +zone between tide-marks; he means the whole of the relatively shallow, +well-illumined, seaweed-growing shelf around the continents and +continental islands. Technically, this is called the littoral area, and +it is divisible into zones, each with its characteristic population. It +may be noted that the green seaweeds are highest up on the shore; the +brown ones come next; the beautiful red ones are lowest. All of them +have got green chlorophyll, which enables them to utilise the sun's rays +in photosynthesis (i.e. building up carbon compounds from air, water, +and salts), but in the brown and red seaweeds the green pigment is +masked by others. It is maintained by some botanists that these other +pigments enable their possessors to make more of the scantier light in +the deeper waters. However this may be, we must always think of the +shore-haunt as the seaweed-growing area. Directly and indirectly the +life of the shore animals is closely wrapped up with the seaweeds, which +afford food and foothold, and temper the force of the waves. The minute +fragments broken off from seaweeds and from the sea-grass (a flowering +plant called Zostera) form a sort of nutritive sea-dust which is swept +slowly down the slope from the shore, to form a very useful deposit in +the quietness of deepish water. It is often found in the stomachs of +marine animals living a long way offshore. + + +Conditions of Shore Life + +The littoral area as defined is not a large haunt of life; it occupies +only about 9 million square miles, a small fraction of the 197,000,000 +of the whole earth's surface. But it is a very long haunt, some 150,000 +miles, winding in and out by bay and fiord, estuary and creek. Where +deep water comes close to cliffs there may be no shore at all; in other +places the relatively shallow water, with seaweeds growing over the +bottom, may extend outwards for miles. The nature of the shore varies +greatly according to the nature of the rocks, according to what the +streams bring down from inland, and according to the jetsam that is +brought in by the tides. The shore is a changeful place; there is, in +the upper reaches, a striking difference between "tide in" and "tide +out"; there are vicissitudes due to storms, to freshwater floods, to +wind-blown sand, and to slow changes of level, up and down. The shore is +a very crowded haunt, for it is comparatively narrow, and every niche +among the rocks may be precious. + +[Illustration: AN EIGHT-ARMED CUTTLEFISH OR OCTOPUS ATTACKING A SMALL +CRAB + +These molluscs are particularly fond of crustaceans, which they crunch +with their parrot's beak-like jaws. Their salivary juice has a +paralysing effect on their prey. To one side, below the eye, may be seen +the funnel through which water is very forcibly ejected in the process +of locomotion.] + +[Illustration: A COMMON STARFISH, WHICH HAS LOST THREE ARMS AND IS +REGROWING THEM + +The lowest arm is being regrown double. + +(_After Professor W. C. McIntosh._)] + +[Illustration: A PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING A STARFISH (_Asterias Forreri_) +WHICH HAS CAPTURED A LARGE FISH + +The suctorial tube-feet are seen gripping the fish firmly. (After an +observation on the Californian coast.)] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +THE PAPER NAUTILUS (ARGONAUTA), AN ANIMAL OF THE OPEN SEA + +The delicate shell is made by the female only, and is used as a shelter +for the eggs and young ones. It is secreted by two of the arms, not by +the mantle as other mollusc shells are. It is a single-chambered shell, +very different from that of the Pearly Nautilus.] + + +Keen Struggle for Existence + +It follows that the shore must be the scene of a keen struggle for +existence--which includes all the answers-back that living creatures +make to environing difficulties and limitations. There is struggle for +food, accentuated by the fact that small items tend to be swept away by +the outgoing tide or to sink down the slope to deep water. Apart from +direct competition, e.g. between hungry hermit-crabs, it often involves +hard work to get a meal. This is true even of apparently sluggish +creatures. Thus the Crumb-of-Bread Sponge, or any other seashore sponge, +has to lash large quantities of water through the intricate canal system +of its body before it can get a sufficient supply of the microscopic +organisms and organic particles on which it feeds. An index of the +intensity of the struggle for food is afforded by the nutritive chains +which bind animals together. The shore is almost noisy with the +conjugation of the verb to eat in its many tenses. One pound of rock-cod +requires for its formation ten pounds of whelk; one pound of whelk +requires ten pounds of sea-worms; and one pound of worms requires ten +pounds of sea-dust. Such is the circulation of matter, ever passing from +one embodiment or incarnation to another. + +Besides struggle for food there is struggle for foothold and for fresh +air, struggle against the scouring tide and against the pounding +breakers. The risk of dislodgment is often great and the fracture of +limbs is a common accident. Of kinds of armour--the sea-urchin's +hedgehog-like test, the crab's shard, the limpet's shell--there is great +variety, surpassed only by that of weapons--the sea-anemone's +stinging-cells, the sea-urchin's snapping-blades, the hermit-crab's +forceps, the grappling tentacles and parrot's-beak jaws of the octopus. + + +Shifts for a Living + +We get another glimpse of the intensity of the seashore struggle for +existence in the frequency of "shifts for a living," adaptations of +structure or of behaviour which meet frequently recurrent vicissitudes. +The starfish is often in the dilemma of losing a limb or its life; by a +reflex action it jettisons the captured arm and escapes. And what is +lost is gradually regrown. The crab gets its leg broken past all +mending; it casts off the leg across a weak breakage plane near the +base, and within a preformed bandage which prevents bleeding a new leg +is formed in miniature. Such is the adaptive device--more reflex than +reflective--which is called self-mutilation or autotomy. + +In another part of this book there is a discussion of camouflaging and +protective resemblance; how abundantly these are illustrated on the +shore! But there are other "shifts for a living." Some of the +sand-hoppers and their relatives illustrate the puzzling phenomenon of +"feigning death," becoming suddenly so motionless that they escape the +eyes of their enemies. Cuttlefishes, by discharging sepia from their +ink-bags, are able to throw dust in the eyes of their enemies. Some +undisguised shore-animals, e.g. crabs, are adepts in a hide-and-seek +game; some fishes, like the butterfish or gunnel, escape between stones +where there seemed no opening and are almost uncatchable in their +slipperiness. Subtlest of all, perhaps, is the habit some hermit-crabs +have of entering into mutually beneficial partnership (commensalism) +with sea-anemones, which mask their bearers and also serve as mounted +batteries, getting transport as their reward and likewise crumbs from +the frequently spread table. But enough has been said to show that the +shore-haunt exhibits an extraordinary variety of shifts for a living. + + +Parental Care on the Shore + +According to Darwin, the struggle for existence, as a big fact in the +economy of Animate Nature, includes not only competition but all the +endeavours which secure the welfare of the offspring, and give them a +good send-off in life. So it is without a jolt that we pass from +struggle for food and foothold to parental care. The marine leech called +Pontobdella, an interesting greenish warty creature fond of fixing +itself to skate, places its egg-cocoons in the empty shell of a bivalve +mollusc, and guards them for weeks, removing any mud that might injure +their development. We have seen a British starfish with its fully-formed +young ones creeping about on its body, though the usual mode of +development for shore starfishes is that the young ones pass through a +free-swimming larval period in the open water. The father sea-spider +carries about the eggs attached to two of his limbs; the father +sea-horse puts his mate's eggs into his breast pocket and carries them +there in safety until they are hatched; the father stickleback of the +shore-pools makes a seaweed nest and guards the eggs which his wives are +induced to lay there; the father lumpsucker mounts guard over the bunch +of pinkish eggs which his mate has laid in a nook of a rocky shore-pool, +and drives off intruders with zest. He also aerates the developing eggs +by frequent paddling with his pectoral fins and tail, as the Scots name +Cock-paidle probably suggests. It is interesting that the salient +examples of parental care in the shore-haunt are mostly on the male +parent's side. But there is maternal virtue as well. + +[Illustration: TEN-ARMED CUTTLEFISH OR SQUID IN THE ACT OF CAPTURING A +FISH + +The arms bear numerous prehensile suckers, which grip the prey. In the +mouth there are strong jaws shaped like a parrot's beak. The +cuttlefishes are molluscs and may be regarded as the highest of the +backboneless or Invertebrate animals. Many occur near shore, others in +the open sea, and others in the great depths.] + +[Illustration: GREENLAND WHALE + +Showing the double blowhole or nostrils on the top of the head and the +whalebone plates hanging down from the roof of the mouth.] + +[Illustration: MINUTE TRANSPARENT EARLY STAGE OF A SEA-CUCUMBER + +It swims in the open sea by means of girdles of microscopic cilia shown +in the figure. After a period of free swimming and a remarkable +metamorphosis, the animal settles down on the floor of the sea in +relatively shallow water.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: British Museum (Natural History)_ + +AN INTRICATE COLONY OF OPEN-SEA ANIMALS (_Physophora Hydrostatica_) +RELATED TO THE PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR + +There is great division of labor in the colony. At the top are floating +and swimming "persons"; the long ones below are offensive "persons" +bearing batteries of stinging cells; in the middle zone there are +nutritive, reproductive, and other "persons." The color of the colony is +a fine translucent blue. Swimmers and bathers are often badly stung by +this strange animal and its relatives.] + +[Illustration: A SCENE IN THE GREAT DEPTHS + +Showing a deep-sea fish of large gape, two feather-stars on the end of +long stalks, a "sea-spider" (or Pycnogon) walking on lanky legs on the +treacherous ooze, likewise a brittle-star, and some deep-sea corals.] + +The fauna of the shore is remarkably _representative_--from unicellular +Protozoa to birds like the oyster-catcher and mammals like the seals. +Almost all the great groups of animals have apparently served an +apprenticeship in the shore-haunt, and since lessons learned for +millions of years sink in and become organically enregistered, it is +justifiable to look to the shore as a great school in which were gained +racial qualities of endurance, patience, and alertness. + + +II. THE OPEN SEA + +In great contrast to the narrow, crowded, difficult conditions of the +shore-haunt (littoral area) are the spacious, bountiful, and relatively +easygoing conditions of the open sea (pelagic area), which means the +well-lighted surface waters quite away from land. Many small organisms +have their maximum abundance at about fifty fathoms, so that the word +"surface" is to be taken generously. The light becomes very dim at 250 +fathoms, and the open sea, as a zoological haunt, stops with the light. +It is hardly necessary to say that the pelagic plants are more abundant +near the surface, and that below a certain depth the population consists +almost exclusively of animals. Not a few of the animals sink and rise in +the water periodically; there are some that come near the surface by +day, and others that come near the surface by night. Of great interest +is the habit of the extremely delicate Ctenophores or +"sea-gooseberries," which the splash of a wave would tear into shreds. +Whenever there is any hint of a storm they sink beyond its reach, and +the ocean's surface must have remained flat as a mirror for many hours +before they can be lured upwards from the calm of their deep retreat. + + +The Floating Sea-meadows + +To understand the vital economy of the open sea, we must recognise the +incalculable abundance of minute unicellular plants, for they form the +fundamental food-supply. Along with these must also be included numerous +microscopic animals which have got possession of chlorophyll, or have +entered into internal partnership with unicellular Algæ (symbiosis). +These green or greenish plants and animals are the _producers_, using +the energy of the sunlight to help them in building up carbon compounds +out of air, water, and salts. The animals which feed on the producers, +or on other animals, are the _consumers_. Between the two come those +open-sea bacteria that convert nitrogenous material, e.g. from dead +plants or animals that other bacteria have rotted, into forms, e.g. +nitrates, which plants can re-utilise. The importance of these +_middlemen_ is great in keeping "the circulation of matter" agoing. + +[Illustration: 1. SEA-HORSE IN SARGASSO WEED. In its frond-like tags of +skin and in its colouring this kind of sea-horse is well concealed among +the floating seaweed of the so-called Sargasso Sea. + +2. THE LARGE MARINE LAMPREYS (_PETROMYZON MARINUS_), WHICH MAY BE AS +LONG AS ONE'S ARM, SPAWN IN FRESH WATER. Stones and pebbles, gripped in +the suctorial mouth, are removed from a selected spot and piled around +the circumference, so that the eggs, which are laid within the circle, +are not easily washed away. + +3. THE DEEP-SEA FISH _CHIASMODON NIGER_ IS FAMOUS FOR ITS VORACITY. It +sometimes manages to swallow a fish larger than itself, which causes an +extraordinary protrusion of the stomach. + +4. DEEP-SEA FISHES. Two of them--_Melanocetus murrayi_ and _Melanocetus +indicus_--are related to the Angler of British coasts, but adapted to +life in the great abysses. They are very dark in colour, and delicately +built; they possess well-developed luminous organs. The third form is +called Chauliodus, a predatory animal with large gape and formidable +teeth.] + +[Illustration: FLINTY SKELETON OF VENUS FLOWER BASKET (EUPLECTELLA), A +JAPANESE DEEP-SEA SPONGE] + +[Illustration: EGG DEPOSITORY OF _Semotilus Atromaculatus_ + +In the building of this egg depository, the male fish takes stones from +the bottom of the stream, gripping them in his mouth, and heaps them up +into the dam. In the egg depository he arranges the stones so that when +the eggs are deposited in the interstices they are thoroughly protected, +and cannot be washed down-stream. + +1, dam of stones; 2, egg depository; 3, hillock of sand. The arrow shows +the direction of the stream. Upper fish, male; lower, female.] + +The "floating sea-meadows," as Sir John Murray called them, are always +receiving contributions from inshore waters, where the conditions are +favourable for the prolific multiplication of unicellular Algæ, and +there is also a certain amount of non-living sea-dust always being swept +out from the seaweed and sea-grass area. + + +Swimmers and Drifters + +The animals of the open sea are conveniently divided into the active +swimmers (Nekton) and the more passive drifters (Plankton). The swimmers +include whales great and small, such birds as the storm petrel, the +fish-eating turtles and sea-snakes, such fishes as mackerel and herring, +the winged snails or sea-butterflies on which whalebone whales largely +feed, some of the active cuttles or squids, various open-sea prawns and +their relatives, some worms like the transparent arrow-worm, and such +active Protozoa as Noctiluca, whose luminescence makes the waves sparkle +in the short summer darkness. Very striking as an instance of the +insurgence of life are the sea-skimmers (Halobatidæ), wingless insects +related to the water-measurers in the ditch. They are found hundreds of +miles from land, skimming on the surface of the open sea, and diving in +stormy weather. They feed on floating dead animals. + +The drifters or easygoing swimmers--for there is no hard and fast +line--are represented, for instance, by the flinty-shelled Radiolarians +and certain of the chalk-forming animals (Globigerinid Foraminifera); by +jellyfishes, swimming-bells, and Portuguese men-of-war; by the +comb-bearers or Ctenophores; by legions of minute Crustaceans; by +strange animals called Salps, related to the sedentary sea-squirts; and +by some sluggish fishes like globe-fishes, which often float idly on the +surface. + +Open-sea animals tend to be delicately built, with a specific gravity +near that of the sea-water, with adaptations, such as projecting +filaments, which help flotation, and with capacities of rising and +sinking according to the surrounding conditions. Many of them are +luminescent, and many of them are very inconspicuous in the water owing +to their transparency or their bluish colour. In both cases the +significance is obscure. + + +Hunger and Love + +Hunger is often very much in evidence in the open sea, especially in +areas where the Plankton is poor. For there is great diversity in this +respect, most of the Mediterranean, for instance, having a scanty +Plankton as compared with the North Sea. In the South Pacific, west of +Patagonia, there is said to be an immense "sea desert" where there is +little Plankton, and therefore little in the way of fishes. The success +of fisheries in the North, e.g. on the Atlantic cod-banks, is due to the +richness of the floating sea-meadows and the abundance of the smaller +constituents of the animal Plankton. + +Hunger is plain enough when the Baleen Whale rushes through the water +with open jaws, engulfing in the huge cavern of its mouth, where the +pendent whalebone plates form a huge sieve, incalculable millions of +small fry. + +But there is love as well as hunger in the open sea. The maternal care +exhibited by the whale reaches a very high level, and the delicate shell +of the female Paper Nautilus or Argonaut, in which the eggs and the +young ones are sheltered, may well be described as "the most beautiful +cradle in the world." + +Besides the permanent inhabitants of the open sea, there are the larval +stages of many shore-animals which are there only for a short time. For +there is an interesting give and take between the shore-haunt and the +open sea. From the shore come nutritive contributions and minute +organisms which multiply quickly in the open waters. But not less +important is the fact that the open waters afford a safe cradle or +nursery for many a delicate larva, e.g. of crab and starfish, +acorn-shell and sea-urchin, which could not survive for a day in the +rough-and-tumble conditions of the shore and the shallow water. After +undergoing radical changes and gaining strength, the young creatures +return to the shore in various ways. + + +III. THE DEEP SEA + +Very different from all the other haunts are the depths of the sea, +including the floor of the abysses and the zones of water near the +bottom. This haunt, forever unseen, occupies more than a third of the +earth's surface, and it is thickly peopled. It came into emphatic notice +in connection with the mending of telegraph cables, but the results of +the _Challenger_ expedition (1873-6) gave the first impressive picture +of what was practically a new world. + + +Physical Conditions + +The average depth of the ocean is about two and a half miles; therefore, +since many parts are relatively shallow, there must be enormous depths. +A few of these, technically called "deeps," are about six miles deep, in +which Mount Everest would be engulfed. There is enormous pressure in +such depths; even at 2,500 fathoms it is two and a half tons on the +square inch. The temperature is on and off the freezing-point of fresh +water (28°-34° Fahr.), due to the continual sinking down of cold water +from the Poles, especially from the South. Apart from the fitful gleams +of luminescent animals, there is utter darkness in the deep waters. The +rays of sunlight are practically extinguished at 250 fathoms, though +very sensitive bromogelatine plates exposed at 500 fathoms have shown +faint indications even at that depth. It is a world of absolute calm and +silence, and there is no scenery on the floor. A deep, cold, dark, +silent, monotonous world! + + +Biological Conditions + +While some parts of the floor of the abysses are more thickly peopled +than others, there is no depth limit to the distribution of life. +Wherever the long arm of the dredge has reached, animals have been +found, e.g. Protozoa, sponges, corals, worms, starfishes, sea-urchins, +sea-lilies, crustaceans, lamp-shells, molluscs, ascidians, and fishes--a +very representative fauna. In the absence of light there can be no +chlorophyll-possessing plants, and as the animals cannot all be eating +one another there must be an extraneous source of food-supply. This is +found in the sinking down of minute organisms which are killed on the +surface by changes of temperature and other causes. What is left of +them, before or after being swallowed, and of sea-dust and mineral +particles of various kinds forms the diversified "ooze" of the +sea-floor, a soft muddy precipitate, which is said to have in places the +consistence of butter in summer weather. + +There seems to be no bacteria in the abysses, so there can be no +rotting. Everything that sinks down, even the huge carcase of a whale, +must be nibbled away by hungry animals and digested, or else, in the +case of most bones, slowly dissolved away. Of the whale there are left +only the ear-bones, of the shark his teeth. + + +Adaptations to Deep-sea Life + +In adaptation to the great pressure the bodies of deep-sea animals are +usually very permeable, so that the water gets through and through them, +as in the case of Venus' Flower Basket, a flinty sponge which a child's +finger would shiver. But when the pressure inside is the same as that +outside nothing happens. In adaptation to the treacherous ooze, so apt +to smother, many of the active deep-sea animals have very long, +stilt-like legs, and many of the sedentary types are lifted into safety +on the end of long stalks which have their bases embedded in the mud. In +adaptation to the darkness, in which there is only luminescence that +eyes could use, there is a great development of tactility. The +interesting problem of luminescence will be discussed elsewhere. + +As to the origin of the deep-sea fauna, there seems no doubt that it +has arisen by many contributions from the various shore-haunts. +Following the down-drifting food, many shore-animals have in the course +of many generations reached the world of eternal night and winter, and +become adapted to its strange conditions. For the animals of the +deep-sea are as fit, beautiful, and vigorous as those elsewhere. There +are no slums in Nature. + +[Illustration: THE BITTERLING (_Rhodeus Amarus_) + +A Continental fish which lays its eggs by means of a long ovipositor +inside the freshwater mussel. The eggs develop inside the mollusc's +gill-plates.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge._ + +WOOLLY OPOSSUM CARRYING HER FAMILY + +One of the young ones is clinging to its mother and has its long +prehensile tail coiled round hers.] + +[Illustration: SURINAM TOAD (_Pipa Americana_) WITH YOUNG ONES HATCHING +OUT OF LITTLE POCKETS ON HER BACK] + +[Illustration: STORM PETREL OR MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKEN + +(_Procellaria Pelagica_) + +This characteristic bird of the open sea does not come to land at all +except to nest. It is the smallest web-footed bird, about four inches +long. The legs are long and often touch the water as the bird flies. The +storm petrel is at home in the Atlantic, and often nests on islands off +the west coast of Britain.] + + +IV. THE FRESH WATERS + +Of the whole earth's surface the freshwaters form a very small fraction, +about a hundredth, but they make up for their smallness by their +variety. We think of deep lake and shallow pond, of the great river and +the purling brook, of lagoon and swamp, and more besides. There is a +striking resemblance in the animal population of widely separated +freshwater basins: and this is partly because birds carry many small +creatures on their muddy feet from one water-shed to another; partly +because some of the freshwater animals are descended from types which +make their way from the sea and the seashore through estuaries and +marshes, and only certain kinds of constitution could survive the +migration; and partly because some lakes are landlocked dwindling relics +of ancient seas, and similar forms again would survive the change. + +A typical assemblage of freshwater animals would include many Protozoa, +like Amoebæ and the Bell-Animalcules, a representative of one family +of sponges (Spongillidæ), the common Hydra, many unsegmented worms +(notably Planarians and Nematodes), many Annelids related to the +earthworms, many crustaceans, insects, and mites, many bivalves and +snails, various fishes, a newt or two, perhaps a little mud-turtle or in +warm countries a huge Crocodilian, various interesting birds like the +water-ouzel or dipper, and mammals like the water-vole and the +water-shrew. + +Freshwater animals have to face certain difficulties, the greatest of +which are drought, frost, and being washed away in times of flood. +There is no more interesting study in the world than an inquiry into the +adaptations by which freshwater animals overcome the difficulties of the +situation. We cannot give more than a few illustrations. + +(1) Drought is circumvented by the capacity that many freshwater animals +have of lying low and saying nothing. Thus the African mudfish may spend +half the year encased in the mud, and many minute crustaceans can +survive being dried up for years. (2) Escape from the danger of being +frozen hard in the pool is largely due to the almost unique property of +water that it expands as it approaches the freezing-point. Thus the +colder water rises to the surface and forms or adds to the protecting +blanket of ice. The warmer water remains unfrozen at the bottom, and the +animals live on. (3) The risk of being washed away, e.g. to the sea, is +lessened by all sorts of gripping, grappling, and anchoring structures, +and by shortening the juvenile stages when the risks are greatest. + + +V. THE DRY LAND + +Over and over again in the history of animal life there have been +attempts to get out of the water on to terra firma, and many of these +have been successful, notably those made (1) by worms, (2) by +air-breathing Arthropods, and (3) by amphibians. + +In thinking of the conquest of the dry land by animals, we must +recognise the indispensable rôle of plants in preparing the way. The dry +ground would have proved too inhospitable had not terrestrial plants +begun to establish themselves, affording food, shelter, and humidity. +There had to be plants before there could be earthworms, which feed on +decaying leaves and the like, but how soon was the debt repaid when the +earthworms began their worldwide task of forming vegetable mould, +opening up the earth with their burrows, circulating the soil by means +of their castings, and bruising the particles in their +gizzard--certainly the most important mill in the world. + +Another important idea is that littoral haunts, both on the seashore and +in the freshwaters, afforded the necessary apprenticeship and +transitional experience for the more strenuous life on dry land. Much +that was perfected on land had its beginnings on the shore. Let us +inquire, however, what the passage from water to dry land actually +implied. This has been briefly discussed in a previous article (on +Evolution), but the subject is one of great interest and importance. + + +Difficulties and Results of the Transition from Water to Land + +Leaving the water for dry land implied a loss in freedom of movement, +for the terrestrial animal is primarily restricted to the surface of the +earth. Thus it became essential that movements should be very rapid and +very precise, needs with which we may associate the acquisition of fine +cross-striped, quickly contracting muscles, and also, in time, their +multiplication into very numerous separate engines. We exercise +fifty-four muscles in the half-second that elapses between raising the +heel of our foot in walking and planting it firmly on the ground again. +Moreover, the need for rapid precisely controlled movements implied an +improved nervous system, for the brain was a movement-controlling organ +for ages before it did much in the way of thinking. The transition to +terra firma also involved a greater compactness of body, so that there +should not be too great friction on the surface. An animal like the +jellyfish is unthinkable on land, and the elongated bodies of some land +animals like centipedes and snakes are specially adapted so that they do +not "sprawl." They are exceptions that prove the rule. + +Getting on to dry land meant entering a kingdom where the differences +between day and night, between summer and winter are more felt than in +the sea. This made it advantageous to have protections against +evaporation and loss of heat and other such dangers. Hence a variety of +ways in which the surface of the body acquired a thickened skin, or a +dead cuticle, or a shell, or a growth of hair, and so forth. In many +cases there is an increase of the protection before the winter sets in, +e.g. by growing thicker fur or by accumulating a layer of fat below the +skin. + +But the thickening or protection of the skin involved a partial or total +loss of the skin as a respiratory surface. There is more oxygen +available on dry land than in the water, but it is not so readily +captured. Thus we see the importance of moist internal surfaces for +capturing the oxygen which has been drawn into the interior of the body +into some sort of lung. A unique solution was offered by Tracheate +Arthropods, such as Peripatus, Centipedes, Millipedes, and Insects, +where the air is carried to every hole and corner of the body by a +ramifying system of air-tubes or tracheæ. In most animals the blood goes +to the air, in insects the air goes to the blood. In the Robber-Crab, +which has migrated from the shore inland, the dry air is absorbed by +vascular tufts growing under the shelter of the gill-cover. + +The problem of disposing of eggs or young ones is obviously much more +difficult on land than in the water. For the water offers an immediate +cradle, whereas on the dry land there were many dangers, e.g. of +drought, extremes of temperature, and hungry sharp-eyed enemies, which +had to be circumvented. So we find all manner of ways in which land +animals hide their eggs or their young ones in holes and nests, on herbs +and on trees. Some carry their young ones about after they are born, +like the Surinam toad and the kangaroo, while others have prolonged the +period of ante-natal life during which the young ones develop in safety +within their mother, and in very intimate partnership with her in the +case of the placental mammals. It is very interesting to find that the +pioneer animal called Peripatus, which bridges the gap between worms and +insects, carries its young for almost a year before birth. + +Enough has been said to show that the successive conquests of the dry +land had great evolutionary results. It is hardly too much to say that +the invasion which the Amphibians led was the beginning of better +brains, more controlled activities, and higher expressions of family +life. + +[Illustration: ALBATROSS: A CHARACTERISTIC PELAGIC BIRD OF THE SOUTHERN +SEA + +It may have a spread of wing of over 11 feet from tip to tip. It is +famous for its extraordinary power of "sailing" round the ship without +any apparent strokes of its wings.] + + +VI. THE AIR + +There are no animals thoroughly aerial, but many insects spend much of +their adult life in the free air, and the swift hardly pauses in its +flight from dawn to dusk of the long summer day, alighting only for +brief moments at the nest to deliver insects to the young. All the +active life of bats certainly deserves to be called aerial. + +The air was the last haunt of life to be conquered, and it is +interesting to inquire what the conquest implied. (1) It meant +transcending the radical difficulty of terrestrial life which confines +the creatures of the dry land to moving on one plane, the surface of the +earth. But the power of flight brought its possessors back to the +universal freedom of movement which water animals enjoy. When we watch a +sparrow rise into the air just as the cat has completed her stealthy +stalking, we see that flight implies an enormous increase of safety. (2) +The power of flight also opened up new possibilities of following the +prey, of exploring new territories, of prospecting for water. (3) Of +great importance too was the practicability of placing the eggs and the +young, perhaps in a nest, in some place inaccessible to most enemies. +When one thinks of it, the rooks' nests swaying on the tree-tops express +the climax of a brilliant experiment. (4) The crowning advantage was the +possibility of migrating, of conquering time (by circumventing the arid +summer and the severe winter) and of conquering space (by passing +quickly from one country to another and sometimes almost girdling the +globe). There are not many acquisitions that have meant more to their +possessors than the power of flight. It was a key opening the doors of a +new freedom. + +The problem of flight, as has been said in a previous chapter, has been +solved four times, and the solution has been different in each case. The +four solutions are those offered by insects, extinct Pterodactyls, +birds, and bats. Moreover, as has been pointed out, there have been +numerous attempts at flight which remain glorious failures, notably the +flying fishes, which take a great leap and hold their pectoral fins +taut; the Flying Tree-Toad, whose webbed fingers and toes form a +parachute; the Flying Lizard (_Draco volans_), which has its skin pushed +out on five or six greatly elongated mobile ribs; and various "flying" +mammals, e.g. Flying Phalangers and Flying Squirrels, which take great +swooping leaps from tree to tree. + +The wings of an insect are hollow flattened sacs which grow out from the +upper parts of the sides of the second and third rings of the region +called the thorax. They are worked by powerful muscles, and are +supported, like a fan, by ribs of chitin, which may be accompanied by +air-tubes, blood-channels, and nerves. The insect's body is lightly +built and very perfectly aerated, and the principle of the insect's +flight is the extremely rapid striking of the air by means of the +lightly built elastic wings. Many an insect has over two hundred strokes +of its wings in one _second_. Hence, in many cases, the familiar hum, +comparable on a small scale to that produced by the rapidly revolving +blades of an aeroplane's propeller. For a short distance a bee can +outfly a pigeon, but few insects can fly far, and they are easily blown +away or blown back by the wind. Dragon-flies and bees may be cited as +examples of insects that often fly for two or three miles. But this is +exceptional, and the usual shortness of insect flight is an important +fact for man since it limits the range of insects like house-flies and +mosquitoes which are vehicles of typhoid fever and malaria respectively. +The most primitive insects (spring-tails and bristle-tails) show no +trace of wings, while fleas and lice have become secondarily wingless. +It is interesting to notice that some insects only fly once in their +lifetime, namely, in connection with mating. The evolution of the +insect's wing remains quite obscure, but it is probable that insects +could run, leap, and parachute before they could actually fly. + +The extinct Flying Dragons or Pterodactyls had their golden age in the +Cretaceous era, after which they disappeared, leaving no descendants. A +fold of skin was spread out from the sides of the body by the enormously +elongated outermost finger (usually regarded as corresponding to our +little finger); it was continued to the hind-legs and thence to the +tail. + +It is unlikely that the Pterodactyls could fly far, for they have at +most a weak keel on their breast-bone; on the other hand, some of them +show a marked fusion of dorsal vertebræ, which, as in flying birds, must +have served as a firm fulcrum for the stroke of the wings. The quaint +creatures varied from the size of a sparrow up to a magnificent spread +of 15-20 feet from tip to tip of the wings. They were the largest of all +flying creatures. + +The bird's solution of the problem of flight, which will be discussed +separately, is centred in the feather, which forms a coherent vane for +striking the air. In Pterodactyl and bat the wing is a web-wing or +patagium, and a small web is to be seen on the front side of the bird's +wing. But the bird's patagium is unimportant, and the bird's wing is on +an evolutionary tack of its own--a fore-limb transformed for bearing the +feathers of flight. Feathers are in a general way comparable to the +scales of reptiles, but only in a general way, and no transition stage +is known between the two. Birds evolved from a bipedal Dinosaur stock, +as has been noticed already, and it is highly probable that they began +their ascent by taking running leaps along the ground, flapping their +scaly fore-limbs, and balancing themselves in kangaroo-like fashion with +an extended tail. A second chapter was probably an arboreal +apprenticeship, during which they made a fine art of parachuting--a +persistence of which is to be seen in the pigeon "gliding" from the +dovecot to the ground. It is in birds that the mastery of the air +reaches its climax, and the mysterious "sailing" of the albatross and +the vulture is surely the most remarkable locomotor triumph that has +ever been achieved. Without any apparent stroke of the wings, the bird +sails for half an hour at a time with the wind and against the wind, +around the ship and in majestic spirals in the sky, probably taking +advantage of currents of air of different velocities, and continually +changing energy of position into energy of motion as it sinks, and +energy of motion into energy of position as it rises. It is interesting +to know that some dragon-flies are also able to "sail." + +The web-wing of bats involves much more than the fore-arm. The double +fold of skin begins on the side of the neck, passes along the front of +the arm, skips the thumb, and is continued over the elongated palm-bones +and fingers to the sides of the body again, and to the hind-legs, and to +the tail if there is a tail. It is interesting to find that the bones of +the bat's skeleton tend to be lightly built as in birds, that the +breast-bone has likewise a keel for the better insertion of the pectoral +muscles, and that there is a solidifying of the vertebræ of the back, +affording as in birds a firm basis for the wing action. Such similar +adaptations to similar needs, occurring in animals not nearly related to +one another, are called "convergences," and form a very interesting +study. In addition to adaptations which the bat shares with the flying +bird, it has many of its own. There are so many nerve-endings on the +wing, and often also on special skin-leaves about the ears and nose, +that the bat flying in the dusk does not knock against branches or other +obstacles. Some say that it is helped by the echoes of its high-pitched +voice, but there is no doubt as to its exquisite tactility. That it +usually produces only a single young one at a time is a clear adaptation +to flight, and similarly the sharp, mountain-top-like cusps on the back +teeth are adapted in insectivorous bats for crunching insects. + +Whether we think of the triumphant flight of birds, reaching a climax in +migration, or of the marvel that a creature of the earth--as a mammal +essentially is--should evolve such a mastery of the air as we see in +bats, or even of the repeated but splendid failures which parachuting +animals illustrate, we gain an impression of the insurgence of living +creatures in their characteristic endeavour after fuller well-being. + +We have said enough to show how well adapted many animals are to meet +the particular difficulties of the haunt which they tenant. But +difficulties and limitations are ever arising afresh, and so one fitness +follows on another. It is natural, therefore, to pass to the frequent +occurrence of protective resemblance, camouflage, and mimicry--the +subject of the next article. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + ELMHIRST, R., _Animals of the Shore_. + FLATTELY AND WALTON, _The Biology of the Shore_ (1921). + FURNEAUX, _Life of Ponds and Streams_. + HICKSON, S. J., _Story of Life in the Seas_ and _Fauna of the Deep Sea_. + JOHNSTONE, J., _Life in the Sea_ (Cambridge Manual of Science). + MIALL, L. C., _Aquatic Insects_. + MURRAY, SIR JOHN, _The Ocean_ (Home University Library). + MURRAY, SIR JOHN AND HJORT, DR. J., _The Depths of the Ocean_. + NEWBIGIN, M. I., _Life by the Sea Shore_. + PYCRAFT, W. P., _History of Birds_. + SCHARFF, R. F., _History of the European Fauna_ (Contemp. Sci. Series). + THOMSON, J. ARTHUR, _The Wonder of Life_ (1914) and + _The Haunts of Life_ (1921). + + + + +IV + +THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE + + + + +ANIMAL AND BIRD MIMICRY AND DISGUISE + + +§ 1 + +For every animal one discovers when observing carefully, there must be +ten unseen. This is partly because many animals burrow in the ground or +get in underneath things and into dark corners, being what is called +cryptozoic or elusive. But it is partly because many animals put on +disguise or have in some way acquired a garment of invisibility. This is +very common among animals, and it occurs in many forms and degrees. The +reason why it is so common is because the struggle for existence is +often very keen, and the reasons why the struggle for existence is keen +are four. First, there is the tendency to over-population in many +animals, especially those of low degree. Second, there is the fact that +the scheme of nature involves nutritive chains or successive +incarnations, one animal depending upon another for food, and all in the +long run on plants; thirdly, every vigorous animal is a bit of a +hustler, given to insurgence and sticking out his elbows. There is a +fourth great reason for the struggle for existence, namely, the frequent +changefulness of the physical environment, which forces animals to +answer back or die; but the first three reasons have most to do with the +very common assumption of some sort of disguise. Even when an animal is +in no sense a weakling, it may be very advantageous for it to be +inconspicuous when it is resting or when it is taking care of its young. +Our problem is the evolution of elusiveness, so far at least as that +depends on likeness to surroundings, on protective resemblance to other +objects, and in its highest reaches on true mimicry. + + +Colour Permanently Like That of Surroundings + +Many animals living on sandy places have a light-brown colour, as is +seen in some lizards and snakes. The green lizard is like the grass and +the green tree-snake is inconspicuous among the branches. The spotted +leopard is suited to the interrupted light of the forest, and it is +sometimes hard to tell where the jungle ends and the striped tiger +begins. There is no better case than the hare or the partridge sitting a +few yards off on the ploughed field. Even a donkey grazing in the dusk +is much more readily heard than seen. + +The experiment has been made of tethering the green variety of Praying +Mantis on green herbage, fastening them with silk threads. They escape +the notice of birds. The same is true when the brown variety is tethered +on withered herbage. But if the green ones are put on brown plants, or +the brown ones on green plants, the birds pick them off. Similarly, out +of 300 chickens in a field, 240 white or black and therefore +conspicuous, 60 spotted and inconspicuous, 24 were soon picked off by +crows, but only one of these was spotted. This was not the proportion +that there should have been if the mortality had been fortuitous. There +is no doubt that it often pays an animal to be like its habitual +surroundings, like a little piece of scenery if the animal is not +moving. It is safe to say that in process of time wide departures from +the safest coloration will be wiped out in the course of Nature's +ceaseless sifting. + +But we must not be credulous, and there are three cautions to be borne +in mind. (1) An animal may be very like its surroundings without there +being any protection implied. The arrow-worms in the sea are as clear as +glass, and so are many open-sea animals. But this is because their +tissues are so watery, with a specific gravity near that of the salt +water. And the invisibility does not save them, always or often, from +being swallowed by larger animals that gather the harvest of the sea. +(2) Among the cleverer animals it looks as if the creature sometimes +sought out a spot where it was most inconspicuous. A spider may place +itself in the middle of a little patch of lichen, where its +self-effacement is complete. Perhaps it is more comfortable as well as +safer to rest in surroundings the general colour of which is like that +of the animal's body. (3) The fishes that live among the coral-reefs are +startling in their brilliant coloration, and there are many different +patterns. To explain this it has been suggested that these fishes are so +safe among the mazy passages and endless nooks of the reefs, that they +can well afford to wear any colour that suits their constitution. In +some cases this may be true, but naturalists who have put on a diving +suit and walked about among the coral have told us that each kind of +fish is particularly suited to some particular place, and that some are +suited for midday work and others for evening work. Sometimes there is a +sort of Box and Cox arrangement by which two different fishes utilise +the same corner at different times. + +[Illustration: THE PRAYING MANTIS (_Mantis Religiosa_) + +A very voracious insect with a quiet, unobtrusive appearance. It holds +its formidable forelegs as if in the attitude of prayer; its movements +are very slow and stealthy; and there is a suggestion of a leaf in the +forewing. But there is no reason to credit the creature with conscious +guile!] + +[Illustration: PROTECTIVE COLORATION: A WINTER SCENE IN NORTH +SCANDINAVIA + +Showing Variable Hare, Willow Grouse, and Arctic Fox, all white in +winter and inconspicuous against the snow. But the white dress is also +the dress that is physiologically best, for it loses least of the animal +heat.] + +[Illustration: THE VARIABLE MONITOR (_Varanus_) + +The monitors are the largest of existing lizards, the Australian species +represented in the photograph attaining a length of four feet. It has a +brown colour with yellow spots, and in spite of its size it is not +conspicuous against certain backgrounds, such as the bark of a tree.] + + +§ 2 + +Gradual Change of Colour + +The common shore-crab shows many different colours and mottlings, +especially when it is young. It may be green or grey, red or brown, and +so forth, and it is often in admirable adjustment to the colour of the +rock-pool where it is living. Experiments, which require extension, have +shown that when the crab has moulted, which it has to do very often when +it is young, the colour of the new shell tends to harmonise with the +general colour of the rocks and seaweed. How this is brought about, we +do not know. The colour does not seem to change till the next moult, and +not then unless there is some reason for it. A full-grown shore-crab is +well able to look after itself, and it is of interest to notice, +therefore, that the variety of coloration is mainly among the small +individuals, who have, of course, a much less secure position. It is +possible, moreover, that the resemblance to the surroundings admits of +more successful hunting, enabling the small crab to take its victim +unawares. + +Professor Poulton's experiments with the caterpillars of the small +tortoise-shell butterfly showed that in black surroundings the pupæ tend +to be darker, in white surroundings lighter, in gilded boxes golden; and +the same is true in other cases. It appears that the surrounding colour +affects the caterpillars through the skin during a sensitive period--the +twenty hours immediately preceding the last twelve hours of the larval +state. The result will tend to make the quiescent pupæ less conspicuous +during the critical time of metamorphosis. The physiology of this +sympathetic colouring remains obscure. + + +Seasonal Change of Colouring + +The ptarmigan moults three times in the year. Its summer plumage is +rather grouselike above, with a good deal of rufous brown; the back +becomes much more grey in autumn; almost all the feathers of the winter +plumage are white. That is to say, they develop without any pigment and +with numerous gas-bubbles in their cells. Now there can be no doubt that +this white winter plumage makes the ptarmigan very inconspicuous amidst +the snow. Sometimes one comes within a few feet of the crouching bird +without seeing it, and this garment of invisibility may save it from the +hungry eyes of golden eagles. + +Similarly the brown stoat becomes the white ermine, mainly by the +growth, of a new suit of white fur, and the same is true of the mountain +hare. The ermine is all white except the black tip of its tail; the +mountain hare in its winter dress is all white save the black tips of +its ears. In some cases, especially in the mountain hare, it seems that +individual hairs may turn white, by a loss of pigment, as may occur in +man. According to Metchnikoff, the wandering amoeboid cells of the +body, called phagocytes, may creep up into the hairs and come back again +with microscopic burdens of pigment. The place of the pigment is taken +by gas-bubbles, and that is what causes the whiteness. In no animals is +there any white _pigment_; the white _colour_ is like that of snow or +foam, it is due to the complete reflection of the light from innumerable +minute surfaces of crystals or bubbles. + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S._ + +BANDED KRAIT: A VERY POISONOUS SNAKE WITH ALTERNATING YELLOW AND DARK +BANDS + +It is very conspicuous and may serve as an illustration of warning +coloration. Perhaps, that is to say, its striking coloration serves as +an advertisement, impressing other creatures with the fact that the +Banded Krait should be left alone. It is very unprofitable for a snake +to waste its venom on creatures it does not want.] + +[Illustration: _Photos: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S._ + +THE WARTY CHAMELEON + +The upper photograph shows the Warty Chameleon inflated and conspicuous. +At another time, however, with compressed body and adjusted coloration, +the animal is very inconspicuous. The lower photograph shows the sudden +protrusion of the very long tongue on a fly.] + +[Illustration: SEASONAL COLOUR-CHANGE: A SUMMER SCENE IN NORTH +SCANDINAVIA + +Showing a brown Variable Hare, Willow Grouse, and Arctic Fox, all +inconspicuous in their coloration when seen in their natural +surroundings.] + +The mountain hare may escape the fox the more readily because its +whiteness makes it so inconspicuous against a background of snow; and +yet, at other times, we have seen the creature standing out like a +target on the dark moorland. So it cuts both ways. The ermine has almost +no enemies except the gamekeeper, but its winter whiteness may help it +to sneak upon its victims, such as grouse or rabbit, when there is snow +upon the ground. In both cases, however, the probability is that the +constitutional rhythm which leads to white hair in winter has been +fostered and fixed for a reason quite apart from protection. The fact is +that for a warm-blooded creature, whether bird or mammal, the +physiologically best dress is a white one, for there is less radiation +of the precious animal heat from white plumage or white pelage than from +any other colour. The quality of warm-bloodedness is a prerogative of +birds and mammals, and it means that the body keeps an almost constant +temperature, day and night, year in and year out. This is effected by +automatic internal adjustments which regulate the supply of heat, +chiefly from the muscles, to the loss of heat, chiefly through the skin +and from the lungs. The chief importance of this internal heat is that +it facilitates the smooth continuance of the chemical processes on which +life depends. If the temperature falls, as in hibernating mammals (whose +warm-bloodedness is imperfect), the rate of the vital process is slowed +down--sometimes dangerously. Thus we see how the white coat helps the +life of the creature. + + +§ 3 + +Rapid Colour-change + +Bony flat-fishes, like plaice and sole, have a remarkable power of +adjusting their hue and pattern to the surrounding gravel and sand, so +that it is difficult to find them even when we know that they are there. +It must be admitted that they are also very quick to get a sprinkling +of sand over their upturned side, so that only the eyes are left +showing. But there is no doubt as to the exactness with which they often +adjust themselves to be like a little piece of the substratum on which +they lie; they will do this within limits in experimental conditions +when they are placed on a quite artificial floor. As these fishes are +very palatable and are much sought after by such enemies as cormorants +and otters, it is highly probably that their power of self-effacement +often saves their life. And it may be effected within a few minutes, in +some cases within a minute. + +In these self-effacing flat-fishes we know with some precision what +happens. The adjustment of colour and pattern is due to changes in the +size, shape, and position of mobile pigment-cells (chromatophores) and +the skin. But what makes the pigment-cells change? The fact that a blind +flat-fish does not change its colour gives us the first part of the +answer. The colour and the pattern of the surroundings must affect the +eye. The message travels by the optic nerve to the brain; from the +brain, instead of passing down the spinal cord, the message travels down +the chain of sympathetic ganglia. From these it passes along the nerves +which comes out of the spinal cord and control the skin. Thus the +message reaches the colour-cells in the skin, and before you have +carefully read these lines the flat-fish has slipped on its Gyges ring +and become invisible. + +The same power of rapid colour-change is seen in cuttlefishes, where it +is often an expression of nervous excitement, though it sometimes helps +to conceal. It occurs with much subtlety in the Æsop prawn, Hippolyte, +which may be brown on a brown seaweed, green on sea-lettuce or +sea-grass, red on red seaweed, and so on through an extensive repertory. + + According to the nature of the background, [Professor Gamble writes] + so is the mixture of the pigments compounded so as to form a close + reproduction both of its colour and its pattern. A sweep of the + shrimp net detaches a battalion of these sleeping prawns, and if + we turn the motley into a dish and give a choice of seaweed, each + variety after its kind will select the one with which it agrees in + colour, and vanish. Both when young and when full-grown, the Æsop + prawn takes on the colour of its immediate surroundings. At + nightfall Hippolyte, of whatever colour, changes to a transparent + azure blue: its stolidity gives place to a nervous restlessness; at + the least tremor it leaps violently, and often swims actively from + one food-plant to another. This blue fit lasts till daybreak, and is + then succeeded by the prawn's diurnal tint. + +Thus, Professor Gamble continues, the colour of an animal may express a +nervous rhythm. + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE + +Hawk Moth, settled down on a branch, and very difficult to detect as +long as it remains stationary. Note its remarkable sucking tongue, which +is about twice the length of its body. The tongue can be quickly coiled +up and put safely away beneath the lower part of the head.] + +[Illustration: WHEN ONLY A FEW DAYS OLD, YOUNG BITTERN BEGIN TO STRIKE +THE SAME ATTITUDE AS THEIR PARENTS THRUSTING THEIR BILLS UPWARDS AND +DRAWING THEIR BODIES UP SO THAT THEY RESEMBLE A BUNCH OF REEDS + +The soft browns and blue-greens harmonise with the dull sheaths of the +young reeds; the nestling bittern is thus completely camouflaged.] + + +The Case of Chameleons + +The highest level at which rapid colour-change occurs is among lizards, +and the finest exhibition of it is among the chameleons. These quaint +creatures are characteristic of Africa; but they occur also in +Andalusia, Arabia, Ceylon, and Southern India. They are adapted for life +on trees, where they hunt insects with great deliberateness and success. +The protrusible tongue, ending in a sticky club, can be shot out for +about seven inches in the common chameleon. Their hands and feet are +split so that they grip the branches firmly, and the prehensile tail +rivals a monkey's. When they wish they can make themselves very slim, +contracting the body from side to side, so that they are not very +readily seen. In other circumstances, however, they do not practise +self-effacement, but the very reverse. They inflate their bodies, having +not only large lungs, but air-sacs in connection with them. The throat +bulges; the body sways from side to side; and the creature expresses its +sentiments in a hiss. The power of colour-change is very remarkable, and +depends partly on the contraction and expansion of the colour-cells +(chromatophores) in the under-skin (or dermis) and partly on +close-packed refractive granules and crystals of a waste-product called +guanin. The repertory of possible colours in the common chameleon is +greater than in any other animal except the Æsop prawn. There is a +legend of a chameleon which was brown in a brown box, green in a green +box, and blue in a blue box, and died when put into one lined with +tartan; and there is no doubt that one and the same animal has a wide +range of colours. The so-called "chameleon" (_Anolis_) of North America +is so sensitive that a passing cloud makes it change its emerald hue. + +There is no doubt that a chameleon may make itself more inconspicuous by +changing its colour, being affected by the play of light on its eyes. A +bright-green hue is often seen on those that are sitting among strongly +illumined green leaves. But the colour also changes with the time of day +and with the animal's moods. A sudden irritation may bring about a rapid +change; in other cases the transformation comes about very gradually. +When the colour-change expresses the chameleon's feelings it might be +compared to blushing, but that is due to an expansion of the arteries of +the face, allowing more blood to get into the capillaries of the +under-skin. The case of the chameleon is peculiarly interesting because +the animal has two kinds of tactics--self-effacement on the one hand and +bluffing on the other. There can be little doubt that the power of +colour-change sometimes justifies itself by driving off intruders. Dr. +Cyril Crossland observed that a chameleon attacked by a fox-terrier +"turned round and opened its great pink mouth in the face of the +advancing dog, at the same time rapidly changing colour, becoming almost +black. This ruse succeeded every time, the dog turning off at once." In +natural leafy surroundings the startling effect would be much greater--a +sudden throwing off of the mantle of invisibility and the exposure of a +conspicuous black body with a large red mouth. + + +§ 4 + +Likeness to Other Things + +Dr. H. O. Forbes tells of a flat spider which presents a striking +resemblance to a bird's dropping on a leaf. Years after he first +found it he was watching in a forest in the Far East when his eye fell +on a leaf before him which had been blotched by a bird. He wondered idly +why he had not seen for so long another specimen of the bird-dropping +spider (_Ornithoscatoides decipiens_), and drew the leaf towards him. +Instantaneously he got a characteristic sharp nip; it was the spider +after all! Here the colour-resemblance was enhanced by a +form-resemblance. + +[Illustration: A. PROTECTIVE COLORATION OR CAMOUFLAGING, GIVING ANIMALS +A GARMENT OF INVISIBILITY + +At the foot of the plate is a Nightjar, with plumage like bark and +withering leaves; to the right, resting on a branch, is shown a +Chameleon in a green phase amid green surroundings; the insects on the +reeds are Locusts; while a green Frog, merged into its surroundings, +rests on a leaf near the centre at the top of the picture. + +B. ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF PROTECTIVE COLORATION OR CAMOUFLAGE + +A shore scene showing Trout in the pool almost invisible against their +background. The Stone Curlews, both adult and young, are very +inconspicuous among the stones on the beach.] + +But why should it profit a spider to be like a bird-dropping? Perhaps +because it thereby escapes attention; but there is another possibility. +It seems that some butterflies, allied to our Blues, are often attracted +to excrementitious material, and the spider Dr. Forbes observed had +actually caught its victim. This is borne out by a recent observation by +Dr. D. G. H. Carpenter, who found a Uganda bug closely resembling a +bird-dropping on sand. The bug actually settled down on a bird-dropping +on sand, and caught a blue butterfly which came to feed there! + +Some of the walking-stick insects, belonging to the order of crickets +and grasshoppers (Orthoptera), have their body elongated and narrow, +like a thin dry branch, and they have a way of sticking out their limbs +at abrupt and diverse angles, which makes the resemblance to twigs very +close indeed. Some of these quaint insects rest through the day and have +the remarkable habit of putting themselves into a sort of kataleptic +state. Many creatures turn stiff when they get a shock, or pass suddenly +into new surroundings, like some of the sand-hoppers when we lay them on +the palm of our hand; but these twig-insects put themselves into this +strange state. The body is rocked from side to side for a short time, +and then it stiffens. An advantage may be that even if they were +surprised by a bird or a lizard, they will not be able to betray +themselves by even a tremor. Disguise is perfected by a remarkable +habit, a habit which leads us to think of a whole series of different +ways of lying low and saying nothing which are often of life-preserving +value. The top end of the series is seen when a fox plays 'possum. + +The leaf-butterfly _Kallima_, conspicuously coloured on its upper +surface, is like a withered leaf when it settles down and shows the +under side of its wings. Here, again, there is precise form-resemblance, +for the nervures on the wings are like the mid-rib and side veins on a +leaf, and the touch of perfection is given in the presence of whitish +spots which look exactly like the discolorations produced by lichens on +leaves. An old entomologist, Mr. Jenner Weir, confessed that he +repeatedly pruned off a caterpillar on a bush in mistake for a +superfluous twig, for many brownish caterpillars fasten themselves by +their posterior claspers and by an invisible thread of silk from their +mouth, and project from the branch at a twig-like angle. An insect may +be the very image of a sharp prickle or a piece of soft moss; a spider +may look precisely like a tiny knob on a branch or a fragment of lichen; +one of the sea-horses (_Phyllopteryx_) has frond-like tassels on various +parts of its body, so that it looks extraordinarily like the seaweeds +among which it lives. In a few cases, e.g. among spiders, it has been +shown that animals with a special protective resemblance to something +else seek out a position where this resemblance tells, and there is +urgent need for observations bearing on this selection of environment. + + +§ 5 + +Mimicry in the True Sense + +It sometimes happens that in one and the same place there are two groups +of animals not very nearly related which are "doubles" of one another. +Investigation shows that the members of the one group, _always in the +majority_, are in some way specially protected, e.g. by being +unpalatable. They are the "mimicked." The members of the other group, +_always in the minority_, have not got the special protection possessed +by the others. They are the "mimickers," though the resemblance is not, +of course, associated with any conscious imitation. The theory is that +the mimickers live on the reputation of the mimicked. If the mimicked +are left alone by birds because they have a reputation for +unpalatability, or because they are able to sting, the mimickers +survive--although they are palatable and stingless. They succeed, not +through any virtue of their own, but because of their resemblance to the +mimicked, for whom they are mistaken. There are many cases of mimetic +resemblance so striking and so subtle that it seems impossible to doubt +that the thing works; there are other cases which are rather +far-fetched, and may be somewhat of the nature of coincidences. Thus +although Mr. Bates tells us that he repeatedly shot humming-bird moths +in mistake for humming-birds, we cannot think that this is a good +illustration of mimicry. What is needed for many cases is what is +forthcoming for some, namely, experimental evidence, e.g. that the +unpalatable mimicked butterflies are left in relative peace while +similar palatable butterflies are persecuted. It is also necessary to +show that the mimickers do actually consort with the mimicked. Some +beetles and moths are curiously wasplike, which may be a great +advantage; the common drone-fly is superficially like a small bee; some +harmless snakes are very like poisonous species; and Mr. Wallace +maintained that the powerful "friar-birds" of the Far East are mimicked +by the weak and timid orioles. When the model is unpalatable or +repulsive or dangerous, and the mimic the reverse, the mimicry is called +"Batesian" (after Mr. Bates), but there is another kind of mimicry +called Müllerian (after Fritz Müller) where the mimic is also +unpalatable. The theory in this case is that the mimicry serves as +mutual assurance, the members of the ring getting on better by +consistently presenting the same appearance, which has come to mean to +possible enemies a signal, _Noli me tangere_ ("Leave me alone"). There +is nothing out of the question in this theory, but it requires to be +taken in a critical spirit. It leads us to think of "warning colours," +which are the very opposite of the disguises which we are now studying. +Some creatures like skunks, magpies, coral-snakes, cobras, brightly +coloured tree-frogs are obtrusive rather than elusive, and the theory +of Alfred Russel Wallace was that the flaunting conspicuousness serves +as a useful advertisement, impressing itself on the memories of +inexperienced enemies, who soon learn to leave creatures with "warning +colours" alone. In any case it is plain that an animal which is as safe +as a wasp or a coral-snake can afford to wear any suit of clothes it +likes. + +[Illustration: DEAD-LEAF BUTTERFLY (_Kallima Inachis_) FROM INDIA + +It is conspicuous on its upper surface, but when it settles down on a +twig and shows the underside of its wings it is practically invisible. +The colouring of the under surface of the wings is like that of the +withering leaf; there are spots like fungas spots; and the venation of +the wings suggests the mid-rib and veins of the leaf. A, showing upper +surface; B, showing under surface; C, a leaf.] + +[Illustration: PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN A SMALL SPIDER (_to the +left_) AND AN ANT (_to the right_) + +As ants are much dreaded, it is probably profitable to the spider to be +like an ant. It will be noted that the spider has four pairs of legs and +no feelers, whereas the ant has three pairs of legs and a pair of +feelers.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +THE WASP BEETLE, WHICH, WHEN MOVING AMONGST THE BRANCHES GIVES A +WASP-LIKE IMPRESSION] + +[Illustration: HERMIT-CRAB WITH PARTNER SEA-ANEMONES + +Hermit-crabs hide their soft tail in the shell of a whelk or some other +sea-snail. But some hermit-crabs place sea-anemones on the back of their +borrowed shell. The sea-anemones mask the hermit-crab and their +tentacles can sting. As for the sea-anemones, they are carried about by +the hermit-crab and they get crumbs from its table. This kind of +mutually beneficial external partnership is called commensalism, i.e. +eating at the same table.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: G. P. Duffus._ + +CUCKOO-SPIT + +The white mass in the centre of the picture is a soapy froth which the +young frog-hopper makes, and within which it lies safe both from the +heat of the sun and almost all enemies. After sojourning for a time in +the cuckoo-spit, the frog-hopper becomes a winged insect.] + + +Masking + +The episode in Scottish history called "The Walking Wood of Birnam," +when the advancing troop masked their approach by cutting down branches +of the trees, has had its counterpart in many countries. But it is also +enacted on the seashore. There are many kinds of crabs that put on +disguise with what looks like deliberateness. The sand-crab takes a +piece of seaweed, nibbles at the end of it, and then rubs it on the back +of the carapace or on the legs so that it fixes to the bristles. As the +seaweed continues to live, the crab soon has a little garden on its back +which masks the crab's real nature. It is most effective camouflaging, +but if the crab continues to grow it has to moult, and that means losing +the disguise. It is then necessary to make a new one. The crab must have +on the shore something corresponding to a reputation; that is to say, +other animals are clearly or dimly aware that the crab is a voracious +and combative creature. How useful to the crab, then, to have its +appearance cloaked by a growth of innocent seaweed, or sponge, or +zoophyte. It will enable the creature to sneak upon its victims or to +escape the attention of its own enemies. + +If a narrow-beaked crab is cleaned artificially it will proceed to +clothe itself again, the habit has become instinctive; and it must be +admitted that while a particular crab prefers a particular kind of +seaweed for its dress, it will cover itself with unsuitable and even +conspicuous material, such as pieces of coloured cloth, if nothing +better is available. The disguise differs greatly, for one crab is +masked by a brightly coloured and unpalatable sponge densely packed +with flinty needles; another cuts off the tunic of a sea-squirt and +throws it over its shoulders; another trundles about a bivalve shell. +The facts recall the familiar case of the hermit-crab, which protects +its soft tail by tucking it into the empty shell of a periwinkle or a +whelk or some other sea-snail, and that case leads on to the elaboration +known as commensalism, where the hermit-crab fixes sea-anemones on the +back of its borrowed house. The advantage here is beyond that of +masking, for the sea-anemone can sting, which is a useful quality in a +partner. That this second advantage may become the main one is evident +in several cases where the sea-anemone is borne, just like a weapon, on +each of the crustacean's great claws. Moreover, as the term commensalism +(eating at the same table) suggests, the partnership is _mutually_ +beneficial. For the sea-anemone is carried about by the hermit-crab, and +it doubtless gets its share of crumbs from its partner's frequent meals. +There is a very interesting sidelight on the mutual benefit in the case +of a dislodged sea-anemone which sulked for a while and then waited in a +state of preparedness until a hermit-crab passed by and touched it. +Whereupon the sea-anemone gripped and slowly worked itself up on to the +back of the shell. + + +§ 6 + +Other Kinds of Elusiveness + +There are various kinds of disguise which are not readily classified. A +troop of cuttlefish swimming in the sea is a beautiful sight. They keep +time with one another in their movements and they show the same change +of colour almost at the same moment. They are suddenly attacked, +however, by a small shark, and then comes a simultaneous discharge of +sepia from their ink-bags. There are clouds of ink in the clear water, +for, as Professor Hickson puts it, the cuttlefishes have thrown dust in +the eyes of their enemies. One can see a newborn cuttlefish do this a +minute after it escapes from the egg. + +Very beautiful is the way in which many birds, like our common +chaffinch, disguise the outside of their nest with moss and lichen and +other trifles felted together, so that the cradle is as inconspicuous as +possible. There seems to be a touch of art in fastening pieces of +spider's web on the outside of a nest! + +How curious is the case of the tree-sloth of South American forests, +that walks slowly, back downwards, along the undersides of the branches, +hanging on by its long, curved fingers and toes. It is a nocturnal +animal, and therefore not in special danger, but when resting during the +day it is almost invisible because its shaggy hair is so like certain +lichens and other growths on the branches. But the protective +resemblance is enhanced by the presence of a green alga, which actually +lives on the surface of the sloth's hairs--an alga like the one that +makes tree-stems and gate-posts green in damp weather. + +There is no commoner sight in the early summer than the cuckoo-spit on +the grasses and herbage by the wayside. It is conspicuous and yet it is +said to be left severely alone by almost all creatures. In some way it +must be a disguise. It is a sort of soap made by the activity of small +frog-hoppers while they are still in the wingless larval stage, before +they begin to hop. The insect pierces with its sharp mouth-parts the +skin of the plant and sucks in sweet sap which by and by overflows over +its body. It works its body up and down many times, whipping in air, +which mixes with the sugary sap, reminding one of how "whipped egg" is +made. But along with the sugary sap and the air, there is a little +ferment from the food-canal and a little wax from glands on the skin, +and the four things mixed together make a kind of soap which lasts +through the heat of the day. + +There are many other modes of disguise besides those which we have been +able to illustrate. Indeed, the biggest fact is that there are so many, +for it brings us back to the idea that life is not an easy business. It +is true, as Walt Whitman says, that animals do not sweat and whine about +their condition; perhaps it is true, as he says, that not one is +unhappy over the whole earth. But there is another truth, that this +world is not a place for the unlit lamp and the ungirt loin, and that +when a creature has not armour or weapons or cleverness it must find +some path of safety or go back. One of these paths of safety is +disguise, and we have illustrated its evolution. + + + + +V + +THE ASCENT OF MAN + + + + +THE ASCENT OF MAN + + +§ 1 + +No one thinks less of Sir Isaac Newton because he was born as a very +puny infant, and no one should think less of the human race because it +sprang from a stock of arboreal mammals. There is no doubt as to man's +apartness from the rest of creation when he is seen at his best--"a +little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honour." "What a +piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! in +form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! +in apprehension so like a God." Nevertheless, all the facts point to his +affiliation to the stock to which monkeys and apes also belong. Not, +indeed, that man is descended from any living ape or monkey; it is +rather that he and they have sprung from a common ancestry--are branches +of the same stem. This conclusion is so momentous that the reasons for +accepting it must be carefully considered. They were expounded with +masterly skill in Darwin's _Descent of Man_ in 1871--a book which was +but an expansion of a chapter in _The Origin of Species_ (1859). + + +Anatomical Proof of Man's Relationship with a Simian Stock + +The anatomical structure of man is closely similar to that of the +anthropoid apes--the gorilla, the orang, the chimpanzee, and the gibbon. +Bone for bone, muscle for muscle, blood-vessel for blood-vessel, nerve +for nerve, man and ape agree. As the conservative anatomist, Sir +Richard Owen, said, there is between them "an all-pervading similitude +of structure." Differences, of course, there are, but they are not +momentous except man's big brain, which may be three times as heavy as +that of a gorilla. The average human brain weighs about 48 ounces; the +gorilla brain does not exceed 20 ounces at its best. The capacity of the +human skull is never less than 55 cubic inches; in the orang and the +chimpanzee the figures are 26 and 27-1/2 respectively. We are not +suggesting that the most distinctive features of man are such as can be +measured and weighed, but it is important to notice that the main seat +of his mental powers is physically far ahead of that of the highest of +the anthropoid apes. + +Man alone is thoroughly erect after his infancy is past; his head +weighted with the heavy brain does not droop forward as the ape's does; +with his erect attitude there is perhaps to be associated his more +highly developed vocal organs. Compared with an anthropoid ape, man has +a bigger and more upright forehead, a less protrusive face region, +smaller cheek-bones and eyebrow ridges, and more uniform teeth. He is +almost unique in having a chin. Man plants the sole of his foot flat on +the ground, his big toe is usually in a line with the other toes, and he +has a better heel than any monkey has. The change in the shape of the +head is to be thought of in connection with the enlargement of the +brain, and also in connection with the natural reduction of the muzzle +region when the hand was freed from being an organ of support and became +suited for grasping the food and conveying it to the mouth. + +Everyone is familiar in man's clothing with traces of the past +persisting in the present, though their use has long since disappeared. +There are buttons on the back of the waist of the morning coat to which +the tails of the coat used to be fastened up, and there are buttons, +occasionally with buttonholes, at the wrist which were once useful in +turning up the sleeve. The same is true of man's body, which is a +veritable museum of relics. Some anatomists have made out a list of +over a hundred of these _vestigial_ structures, and though this number +is perhaps too high, there is no doubt that the list is long. In the +inner upper corner of the eye there is a minute tag--but larger in some +races than in others--which is the last dwindling relic of the third +eyelid, used in cleaning the front of the eye, which most mammals +possess in a large and well-developed form. It can be easily seen, for +instance, in ox and rabbit. In man and in monkeys it has become a +useless vestige, and the dwindling must be associated with the fact that +the upper eyelid is much more mobile in man and monkeys than in the +other mammals. The vestigial third eyelid in man is enough of itself to +prove his relationship with the mammals, but it is only one example out +of many. Some of these are discussed in the article dealing with the +human body, but we may mention the vestigial muscles going to the +ear-trumpet, man's dwindling counterpart of the skin-twitching muscle +which we see a horse use when he jerks a fly off his flanks, and the +short tail which in the seven-weeks-old human embryo is actually longer +than the leg. Without committing ourselves to a belief in the entire +uselessness of the vermiform appendix, which grows out as a blind alley +at the junction of the small intestine with the large, we are safe in +saying that it is a dwindling structure--the remains of a blind gut +which must have been capacious and useful in ancestral forms. In some +mammals, like the rabbit, the blind gut is the bulkiest structure in the +body, and bears the vermiform appendix at its far end. In man the +appendix alone is left, and it tells its tale. It is interesting to +notice that it is usually longer in the orang than in man, and that it +is very variable, as dwindling structures tend to be. One of the +unpleasant expressions of this variability is the liability to go wrong: +hence appendicitis. Now these vestigial structures are, as Darwin said, +like the unsounded, i.e. functionless, letters in words, such as the _o_ +in "leopard," the _b_ in "doubt," the _g_ in "reign." They are of no +use, but they tell us something of the history of the words. So do man's +vestigial structures reveal his pedigree. They must have an historical +or evolutionary significance. No other interpretation is possible. + +[Illustration: _Photo: New York Zoological Park._ + +CHIMPANZEE, SITTING + +The head shows certain facial characteristics, e.g. the beetling eyebrow +ridges, which were marked in the Neanderthal race of men. Note the +shortening of the thumb and the enlargement of the big toe.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: New York Zoological Park._ + +CHIMPANZEE, ILLUSTRATING WALKING POWERS + +Note the great length of the arms and the relative shortness of the +legs.] + +[Illustration: SURFACE VIEW OF THE BRAINS OF MAN (1) AND CHIMPANZEE (2) + +The human brain is much larger and heavier, more dome-like, and with +much more numerous and complicated convolutions.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: New York Zoological Park._ + +SIDE-VIEW OF CHIMPANZEE'S HEAD. + +(Compare with opposite picture.)] + +[Illustration: _After a model by J. H. McGregor._ + +PROFILE VIEW OF HEAD OF PITHECANTHROPUS, THE JAVA APE MAN, RECONSTRUCTED +FROM THE SKULL-CAP.] + +[Illustration: THE FLIPPER OF A WHALE AND THE HAND OF A MAN + +In the bones and in their arrangement there is a close resemblance in +the two cases, yet the outcome is very different. The multiplication of +finger joints in the whale is a striking feature.] + +Some men, oftener than women, show on the inturned margin of the +ear-trumpet or pinna, a little conical projection of great interest. It +is a vestige of the tip of the pointed ear of lower mammals, and it is +well named _Darwin's point_. It was he who described it as a "surviving +symbol of the stirring times and dangerous days of man's animal youth." + + +§ 2 + +Physiological Proof of Man's Relationship with a Simian Stock + +The everyday functions of the human body are practically the same as +those of the anthropoid ape, and similar disorders are common to both. +Monkeys may be infected with certain microbes to which man is peculiarly +liable, such as the bacillus of tuberculosis. Darwin showed that various +human gestures and facial expressions have their counterparts in +monkeys. The sneering curl of the upper lip, which tends to expose the +canine tooth, is a case in point, though it may be seen in many other +mammals besides monkeys--in dogs, for instance, which are at some +considerable distance from the simian branch to which man's ancestors +belonged. + +When human blood is transfused into a dog or even a monkey, it behaves +in a hostile way to the other blood, bringing about a destruction of the +red blood corpuscles. But when it is transfused into a chimpanzee there +is an harmonious mingling of the two. This is a very literal +demonstration of man's blood-relationship with the higher apes. But +there is a finer form of the same experiment. When the blood-fluid (or +serum) of a rabbit, which has had human blood injected into it, is +mingled with human blood, it forms a cloudy precipitate. It forms almost +as marked a precipitate when it is mingled with the blood of an +anthropoid ape. But when it is mingled with the blood of an American +monkey there is only a slight clouding after a considerable time and +no actual precipitate. When it is added to the blood of one of the +distantly related "half-monkeys" or lemurs there is no reaction or only +a very weak one. With the blood of mammals off the simian line +altogether there is no reaction at all. Thus, as a distinguished +anthropologist, Professor Schwalbe, has said: "We have in this not only +a proof of the literal blood-relationship between man and apes, but the +degree of relationship with the different main groups of apes can be +determined beyond possibility of mistake." We can imagine how this +modern line of experiment would have delighted Darwin. + +[Illustration: THE GORILLA, INHABITING THE FOREST TRACT OF THE GABOON IN +AFRICA + +A full-grown individual stands about 5 feet high. The gait is shuffling, +the strength enormous, the diet mainly vegetarian, the temper rather +ferocious.] + + +Embryological Proof of Man's Relationship with a Simian Stock + +In his individual development, man does in some measure climb up his own +genealogical tree. Stages in the development of the body during its nine +months of ante-natal life are closely similar to stages in the +development of the anthropoid embryo. Babies born in times of famine or +siege are sometimes, as it were, imperfectly finished, and sometimes +have what may be described as monkeyish features and ways. A visit to an +institution for the care of children who show arrested, defective, or +disturbed development leaves one sadly impressed with the risk of +slipping down the rungs of the steep ladder of evolution; and even in +adults the occurrence of serious nervous disturbance, such as +"shell-shock," is sometimes marked by relapses to animal ways. It is a +familiar fact that a normal baby reveals the past in its surprising +power of grip, and the careful experiments of Dr. Louis Robinson showed +that an infant three weeks old could support its own weight for over two +minutes, holding on to a horizontal bar. "In many cases no sign of +distress is evinced and no cry uttered, until the grasp begins to give +way." This persistent grasp probably points back to the time when the +baby had to cling to its arboreal mother. The human tail is represented +in the adult by a fusion of four or five vertebræ forming the "coccyx" +at the end of the backbone, and is normally concealed beneath the +flesh, but in the embryo the tail projects freely and is movable. Up to +the sixth month of the ante-natal sleep the body is covered, all but the +palms and soles, with longish hair (the lanugo), which usually +disappears before birth. This is a stage in the normal development, +which is reasonably interpreted as a recapitulation of a stage in the +racial evolution. We draw this inference when we find that the unborn +offspring of an almost hairless whale has an abundant representation of +hairs; we must draw a similar inference in the case of man. + +It must be noticed that there are two serious errors in the careless +statement often made that man in his development is at one time like a +little fish, at a later stage like a little reptile, at a later stage +like a little primitive mammal, and eventually like a little monkey. The +first error here is that the comparison should be made with +_embryo_-fish, _embryo_-reptile, _embryo_-mammal, and so on. It is in +the making of the embryos that the great resemblance lies. When the +human embryo shows the laying down of the essential vertebrate +characters, such as brain and spinal cord, then it is closely comparable +to the embryo of a lower vertebrate at a similar stage. When, at a +subsequent stage, its heart, for instance, is about to become a +four-chambered mammalian heart, it is closely comparable to the heart +of, let us say, a turtle, which never becomes more than three-chambered. +The point is that in the making of the organs of the body, say brain and +kidneys, the embryo of man pursues a path closely corresponding to the +path followed by the embryos of other backboned animals lower in the +scale, but at successive stages it parts company with these, with the +lowest first and so on in succession. A human embryo is never like a +little reptile, but the developing organs pass through stages which very +closely resemble the corresponding stages in lower types which are in a +general way ancestral. + +The second error is that every kind of animal, man included, has from +the first a certain individuality, with peculiar characteristics which +are all its own. This is expressed by the somewhat difficult word +_specificity_, which just means that every species is itself and no +other. So in the development of the human embryo, while there are close +resemblances to the embryos of apes, monkeys, other mammals, and even, +at earlier stages still, to the embryos of reptile and fish, it has to +be admitted that we are dealing from first to last with a human embryo +with peculiarities of its own. + +[Illustration: "DARWIN'S POINT" ON HUMAN EAR (MARKED D.P.) + +It corresponds to the tip (T) of the ear of an ordinary mammal, as shown +in the hare's ear below. In the young orang the part corresponding to +Darwin's point is still at the tip of the ear.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. Russell & Sons._ + +PROFESSOR SIR ARTHUR KEITH, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S. + +Conservator of the Museum and Hunterian Professor, Royal College of +Surgeons of England. One of the foremost living anthropologists and a +leading authority on the antiquity of man.] + +[Illustration: _After T. H. Huxley (by permission of Messrs. +Macmillan)._ + +SKELETONS OF THE GIBBON, ORANG, CHIMPANZEE, GORILLA, MAN + +Photographically reduced from diagrams of the natural size (except that +of the gibbon, which was twice as large as nature) drawn by Mr. +Waterhouse Hawkins from specimens in the Museum of the Royal College of +Surgeons.] + +Every human being begins his or her life as a single cell--a fertilised +egg-cell, a treasure-house of all the ages. For in this living +microcosm, only a small fraction (1/125) of an inch in diameter, there +is condensed--who can imagine how?--all the natural inheritance of man, +all the legacy of his parentage, of his ancestry, of his long pre-human +pedigree. Darwin called the pinhead brain of the ant the most marvellous +atom of matter in the world, but the human ovum is more marvellous +still. It has more possibilities in it than any other thing, yet without +fertilisation it will die. The fertilised ovum divides and redivides; +there results a ball of cells and a sack of cells; gradually division of +labour becomes the rule; there is a laying down of nervous system and +food-canal, muscular system and skeleton, and so proceeds what is +learnedly called differentiation. Out of the apparently simple there +emerges the obviously complex. As Aristotle observed more than two +thousand years ago, in the developing egg of the hen there soon appears +the beating heart! There is nothing like this in the non-living world. +But to return to the developing human embryo, there is formed from and +above the embryonic food-canal a skeletal rod, which is called the +notochord. It thrills the imagination to learn that this is the only +supporting axis that the lower orders of the backboned race possess. The +curious thing is that it does not become the backbone, which is +certainly one of the essential features of the vertebrate race. The +notochord is the supporting axis of the pioneer backboned animals, +namely the Lancelets and the Round-mouths (Cyclostomes), such as the +Lamprey. They have no backbone in the strict sense, but they have this +notochord. It can easily be dissected out in the lamprey--a long gristly +rod. It is surrounded by a sheath which becomes the backbone of most +fishes and of all higher animals. The interesting point is that although +the notochord is only a vestige in the adults of these types, it is +never absent from the embryo. It occurs even in man, a short-lived relic +of the primeval supporting axis of the body. It comes and then it goes, +leaving only minute traces in the adult. We cannot say that it is of any +use, unless it serves as a stimulus to the development of its +substitute, the backbone. It is only a piece of preliminary scaffolding, +but there is no more eloquent instance of the living hand of the past. + +One other instance must suffice of what Professor Lull calls the +wonderful changes wrought in the dark of the ante-natal period, which +recapitulate in rapid abbreviation the great evolutionary steps which +were taken by man's ancestors "during the long night of the geological +past." On the sides of the neck of the human embryo there are four pairs +of slits, the "visceral clefts," openings from the beginning of the +food-canals to the surface. There is no doubt as to their significance. +They correspond to the gill-slits of fishes and tadpoles. Yet in +reptiles, birds, and mammals they have no connection with breathing, +which is their function in fishes and amphibians. Indeed, they are not +of any use at all, except that the first becomes the Eustachian tube +bringing the ear-passage into connection with the back of the mouth, and +that the second and third have to do with the development of a curious +organ called the thymus gland. Persistent, nevertheless, these +gill-slits are, recalling even in man an aquatic ancestry of many +millions of years ago. + +When all these lines of evidence are considered, they are seen to +converge in the conclusion that man is derived from a simian stock of +mammals. He is solidary with the rest of creation. To quote the closing +words of Darwin's _Descent of Man_: + + We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all + his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, + with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the + humblest living creature, with his God-like intellect, which has + penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar + system--with all these exalted powers--man still bears in his bodily + frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin. + +We should be clear that this view does not say more than that man sprang +from a stock common to him and to the higher apes. Those who are +repelled by the idea of man's derivation from a simian type should +remember that the theory implies rather more than this, namely, that man +is the outcome of a genealogy which has implied many millions of years +of experimenting and sifting--the groaning and travailing of a whole +creation. Speaking of man's mental qualities, Sir Ray Lankester says: +"They justify the view that man forms a new departure in the gradual +unfolding of Nature's predestined plan." In any case, we have to try to +square our views with the facts, not the facts with our views, and while +one of the facts is that man stands unique and apart, the other is that +man is a scion of a progressive simian stock. Naturalists have exposed +the pit whence man has been digged and the rock whence he has been hewn, +but it is surely a heartening encouragement to know that it is an +ascent, not a descent, that we have behind us. There is wisdom in +Pascal's maxim: + + It is dangerous to show man too plainly how like he is to the + animals, without, at the same time, reminding him of his greatness. + It is equally unwise to impress him with his greatness and not with + his lowliness. It is worse to leave him in ignorance of both. But it + is very profitable to recognise the two facts. + + +§ 3 + +Man's Pedigree + +The facts of anatomy, physiology, and embryology, of which we have given +illustrations, all point to man's affiliation with the order of monkeys +and apes. To this order is given the name Primates, and our first and +second question must be when and whence the Primates began. The rock +record answers the first question: the Primates emerged about the dawn +of the Eocene era, when grass was beginning to cover the earth with a +garment. Their ancestral home was in the north in both hemispheres, and +then they migrated to Africa, India, Malay, and South America. In North +America the Primates soon became extinct, and the same thing happened +later on in Europe. In this case, however, there was a repeopling from +the South (in the Lower Miocene) and then a second extinction (in the +Upper Pliocene) before man appeared. There is considerable evidence in +support of Professor R. S. Lull's conclusion, that in Southern Asia, +Africa, and South America the evolution of Primates was continuous since +the first great southward migration, and there is, of course, an +abundant modern representation of Primates in these regions to-day. + +As to the second question: Whence the Primates sprang, the answer must +be more conjectural. But it is a reasonable view that Carnivores and +Primates sprang from a common Insectivore stock, the one order diverging +towards flesh-eating and hunting on the ground, the other order +diverging towards fruit-eating and arboreal habits. There is no doubt +that the Insectivores (including shrews, tree-shrews, hedgehog, mole, +and the like) were very plastic and progressive mammals. + +What followed in the course of ages was the divergence of branch after +branch from the main Primate stem. First there diverged the South +American monkeys on a line of their own, and then the Old World monkeys, +such as the macaques and baboons. Ages passed and the main stems gave +off (in the Oligocene period) the branch now represented by the small +anthropoid apes--the gibbon and the siamang. Distinctly later there +diverged the branch of the large anthropoid apes--the gorilla, the +chimpanzee, and the orang. That left a generalised humanoid stock +separated off from all monkeys and apes, and including the immediate +precursors of man. When this sifting out of a generalised humanoid stock +took place remains very uncertain, some authorities referring it to the +Miocene, others to the early Pliocene. Some would estimate its date at +half a million years ago, others at two millions! The fact is that +questions of chronology do not as yet admit of scientific statement. + +[Illustration: SIDE-VIEW OF SKULL OF MAN (M) AND GORILLA (G) + +Notice in the gorilla's skull the protrusive face region, the big +eyebrow ridges, the much less domed cranial cavity, the massive lower +jaw, the big canine teeth. Notice in man's skull the well-developed +forehead, the domed and spacious cranial cavity, the absence of any +snout, the chin process, and many other marked differences separating +the human skull from the ape's.] + +[Illustration: THE SKULL AND BRAIN-CASE OF PITHECANTHROPUS, THE JAVA +APE-MAN, AS RESTORED. BY J. H. McGREGOR FROM THE SCANTY REMAINS + +The restoration shows the low, retreating forehead and the prominent +eyebrow ridges.] + +[Illustration: SUGGESTED GENEALOGICAL TREE OF MAN AND ANTHROPOID APES + +From Sir Arthur Keith; the lettering to the right has been slightly +simplified.] + +We are on firmer, though still uncertain, ground when we state the +probability that it was in Asia that the precursors of man were +separated off from monkeys and apes, and began to be terrestrial rather +than arboreal. Professor Lull points out that Asia is nearest to the +oldest known human remains (in Java), and that Asia was the seat of the +most ancient civilisations and the original home of many domesticated +animals and cultivated plants. The probability is that the cradle of the +human race was in Asia. + + +Man's Arboreal Apprenticeship + +At this point it will be useful to consider man's arboreal +apprenticeship and how he became a terrestrial journeyman. Professor +Wood Jones has worked out very convincingly the thesis that man had no +direct four-footed ancestry, but that the Primate stock to which he +belongs was from its first divergence arboreal. He maintains that the +leading peculiarities of the immediate precursors of man were wrought +out during a long arboreal apprenticeship. The first great gain of +arboreal life on bipedal erect lines (not after the quadrupedal fashion +of tree-sloths, for instance) was the emancipation of the hand. The +foot became the supporting and branch-gripping member, and the hand was +set free to reach upward, to hang on by, to seize the fruit, to lift it +and hold it to the mouth, and to hug the young one close to the breast. +The hand thus set free has remained plastic--a generalised, not a +specialised member. Much has followed from man's "handiness." + +The arboreal life had many other consequences. It led to an increased +freedom of movement of the thigh on the hip joint, to muscular +arrangements for balancing the body on the leg, to making the backbone a +supple yet stable curved pillar, to a strongly developed collar-bone +which is only found well-formed when the fore-limb is used for more than +support, and to a power of "opposing" the thumb and the big toe to the +other digits of the hand and foot--an obvious advantage for +branch-gripping. But the evolution of a free hand made it possible to +dispense with protrusive lips and gripping teeth. Thus began the +recession of the snout region, the associated enlargement of the +brain-box, and the bringing of the eyes to the front. The overcrowding +of the teeth that followed the shortening of the snout was one of the +taxes on progress of which modern man is often reminded in his dental +troubles. + +Another acquisition associated with arboreal life was a greatly +increased power of turning the head from side to side--a mobility very +important in locating sounds and in exploring with the eyes. +Furthermore, there came about a flattening of the chest and of the back, +and the movements of the midriff (or diaphragm) came to count for more +in respiration than the movements of the ribs. The sense of touch came +to be of more importance and the sense of smell of less; the part of the +brain receiving tidings from hand and eye and ear came to predominate +over the part for receiving olfactory messages. Finally, the need for +carrying the infant about among the branches must surely have implied an +intensification of family relations, and favoured the evolution of +gentleness. + +[Illustration: _Photo: New York Zoological Park._ + +THE GIBBON IS LOWER THAN THE OTHER APES AS REGARDS ITS SKULL AND +DENTITION, BUT IT IS HIGHLY SPECIALIZED IN THE ADAPTATION OF ITS LIMBS +TO ARBOREAL LIFE] + +[Illustration: _Photo: New York Zoological Park._ + +THE ORANG HAS A HIGH ROUNDED SKULL AND A LONG FACE] + +[Illustration: _Photo: British Museum (Natural History)._ + +COMPARISONS OF THE SKELETONS OF HORSE AND MAN + +Bone for bone, the two skeletons are like one another, though man is a +biped and the horse a quadruped. The backbone in man is mainly vertical; +the backbone in the horse is horizontal except in the neck and the tail. +Man's skull is mainly in a line with the backbone; the horse's at an +angle to it. Both man and horse have seven neck vertebræ. Man has five +digits on each limb; the horse has only one digit well developed on each +limb.] + +It may be urged that we are attaching too much importance to the +arboreal apprenticeship, since many tree-loving animals remain to-day +very innocent creatures. To this reasonable objection there are two +answers, first that in its many acquisitions the arboreal evolution of +the _humanoid_ precursors of man prepared the way for the survival of a +_human_ type marked by a great step in brain-development; and second +that the passage from the humanoid to the human was probably associated +with _a return to mother earth_. + +According to Professor Lull, to whose fine textbook, _Organic Evolution_ +(1917), we are much indebted, "climatic conditions in Asia in the +Miocene or early Pliocene were such as to compel the descent of the +pre-human ancestor from the trees, a step which was absolutely essential +to further human development." Continental elevation and consequent +aridity led to a dwindling of the forests, and forced the ape-man to +come to earth. "And at the last arose the man." + +According to Lull, the descent from the trees was associated with the +assumption of a more erect posture, with increased liberation and +plasticity of the hand, with becoming a hunter, with experiments towards +clothing and shelter, with an exploring habit, and with the beginning of +communal life. + +It is a plausible view that the transition from the humanoid to the +human was effected by a discontinuous variation of considerable +magnitude, what is nowadays called a _mutation_, and that it had mainly +to do with the brain and the vocal organs. But given the gains of the +arboreal apprenticeship, the stimulus of an enforced descent to terra +firma, and an evolving brain and voice, we can recognise accessory +factors which helped success to succeed. Perhaps the absence of great +physical strength prompted reliance on wits; the prolongation of infancy +would help to educate the parents in gentleness; the strengthening of +the feeling of kinship would favour the evolution of family and social +life--of which there are many anticipations at lower levels. There is +much truth in the saying: "Man did not make society, society made man." + +A continuation of the story will deal with the emergence of the +primitive types of man and the gradual ascent of the modern species. + + +§ 4 + +Tentative Men + +So far the story has been that of the sifting out of a humanoid stock +and of the transition to human kind, from the ancestors of apes and men +to the man-ape, and from the man-ape to man. It looks as if the +sifting-out process had proceeded further, for there were several human +branches that did not lead on to the modern type of man. + +1. The first of these is represented by the scanty fossil remains known +as _Pithecanthropus erectus_, found in Java in fossiliferous beds which +date from the end of the Pliocene or the beginning of the Pleistocene +era. Perhaps this means half a million years ago, and the remains +occurred along with those of some mammals which are now extinct. +Unfortunately the remains of Pithecanthropus the Erect consisted only of +a skull-cap, a thigh-bone, and two back teeth, so it is not surprising +that experts should differ considerably in their interpretation of what +was found. Some have regarded the remains as those of a large gibbon, +others as those of a pre-human ape-man, and others as those of a +primitive man off the main line of ascent. According to Sir Arthur +Keith, Pithecanthropus was "a being human in stature, human in gait, +human in all its parts, save its brain." The thigh-bone indicates a +height of about 5 feet 7 inches, one inch less than the average height +of the men of to-day. The skull-cap indicates a low, flat forehead, +beetling brows, and a capacity about two-thirds of the modern size. The +remains were found by Dubois, in 1894, in Trinil in Central Java. + +2. The next offshoot is represented by the Heidelberg man (_Homo +heidelbergensis_), discovered near Heidelberg in 1907 by Dr. +Schoetensack. But the remains consisted only of a lower jaw and its +teeth. Along with this relic were bones of various mammals, including +some long since extinct in Europe, such as elephant, rhinoceros, bison, +and lion. The circumstances indicate an age of perhaps 300,000 years +ago. There were also very crude flint implements (or eoliths). But the +teeth are human teeth, and the jaw seems transitional between that of an +anthropoid ape and that of man. Thus there was no chin. According to +most authorities the lower jaw from the Heidelberg sand-pit must be +regarded as a relic of a primitive type off the main line of human +ascent. + +[Illustration: A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE JAVA MAN + +(_Pithecanthropus erectus._)] + +3. It was in all probability in the Pliocene that there took origin the +Neanderthal species of man, _Homo neanderthalensis_, first known from +remains found in 1856 in the Neanderthal ravine near Düsseldorf. +According to some authorities Neanderthal man was living in Europe a +quarter of a million years ago. Other specimens were afterwards found +elsewhere, e.g. in Belgium ("the men of Spy"), in France, in Croatia, +and at Gibraltar, so that a good deal is known of Neanderthal man. He +was a loose-limbed fellow, short of stature and of slouching gait, but a +skilful artificer, fashioning beautifully worked flints with a +characteristic style. He used fire; he buried his dead reverently and +furnished them with an outfit for a long journey; and he had a big +brain. But he had great beetling, ape-like eyebrow ridges and massive +jaws, and he showed "simian characters swarming in the details of his +structure." In most of the points in which he differs from modern man he +approaches the anthropoid apes, and he must be regarded as a low type of +man off the main line. Huxley regarded the Neanderthal man as a low form +of the modern type, but expert opinion seems to agree rather with the +view maintained in 1864 by Professor William King of Galway, that the +Neanderthal man represents a distinct species off the main line of +ascent. He disappeared with apparent suddenness (like some aboriginal +races to-day) about the end of the Fourth Great Ice Age; but there is +evidence that before he ceased to be there had emerged a successor +rather than a descendant--the modern man. + +4. Another offshoot from the main line is probably represented by the +Piltdown man, found in Sussex in 1912. The remains consisted of the +walls of the skull, which indicate a large brain, and a high forehead +without the beetling eyebrows of the Neanderthal man and +Pithecanthropus. The "find" included a tooth and part of a lower jaw, +but these perhaps belong to some ape, for they are very discrepant. The +Piltdown skull represents the most ancient human remains as yet found in +Britain, and Dr. Smith Woodward's establishment of a separate genus +Eoanthropus expresses his conviction that the Piltdown man was off the +line of the evolution of the modern type. If the tooth and piece of +lower jaw belong to the Piltdown skull, then there was a remarkable +combination of ape-like and human characters. As regards the brain, +_inferred_ from the skull-walls, Sir Arthur Keith says: + + All the essential features of the brain of modern man are to be seen + in the brain cast. There are some which must be regarded as + primitive. There can be no doubt that it is built on exactly the + same lines as our modern brains. A few minor alterations would make + it in all respects a modern brain.... Although our knowledge of the + human brain is limited--there are large areas to which we can assign + no definite function--we may rest assured that a brain which was + shaped in a mould so similar to our own was one which responded to + the outside world as ours does. Piltdown man saw, heard, felt, + thought, and dreamt much as we do still. + +And this was 150,000 years ago at a modern estimate, and some would say +half a million. + +There is neither agreement nor certainty as to the antiquity of man, +except that the modern type was distinguishable from its collaterals +hundreds of thousands of years ago. The general impression left is very +grand. In remote antiquity the Primate stem diverged from the other +orders of mammals; it sent forth its tentative branches, and the result +was a tangle of monkeys; ages passed and the monkeys were left behind, +while the main stem, still probing its way, gave off the Anthropoid +apes, both small and large. But they too were left behind, and the main +line gave off other experiments--indications of which we know in Java, +at Heidelberg, in the Neanderthal, and at Piltdown. None of these lasted +or was made perfect. They represent _tentative_ men who had their day +and ceased to be, our predecessors rather than our ancestors. Still, the +main stem goes on evolving, and who will be bold enough to say what +fruit it has yet to bear! + +[Illustration: _After a model by J. H. McGregor._ + +PROFILE VIEW OF THE HEAD OF PITHECANTHROPUS, THE JAVA APE-MAN--AN EARLY +OFFSHOOT FROM THE MAIN LINE OF MAN'S ASCENT + +The animal remains found along with the skull-cap, thigh-bone, and two +teeth of Pithecanthropus seem to indicate the lowest Pleistocene period, +perhaps 500,000 years ago.] + +[Illustration: _From the reconstruction by J. H. McGregor._ + +PILTDOWN SKULL. THE DARK PARTS ONLY ARE PRESERVED, NAMELY PORTIONS OF +THE CRANIAL WALLS AND THE NASAL BONES + +Some authorities include a canine tooth and part of the lower jaw which +were found close by. The remains were found in 1912 in Thames gravels in +Sussex, and are usually regarded as vastly more ancient than those of +Neanderthal Man. It has been suggested that Piltdown Man lived 100,000 +to 150,000 years ago, in the Third Interglacial period.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission from Osborn's "Men of the Old +Stone Age."_ + +SAND-PIT AT MAUER, NEAR HEIDELBERG: DISCOVERY SITE OF THE JAW OF +HEIDELBERG MAN + + _a-b._ "Newer loess," either of Third Interglacial or of Postglacial + times. + _b-c._ "Older loess" (sandy loess), of the close of Second Interglacial + times. + _c-f._ The "sands of Mauer." + _d-e._ An intermediate layer of clay. + +The white cross (X) indicates the spot at the base of the "sands of +Mauer" at which the jaw of Heidelberg was discovered.] + + +Primitive Men + +Ancient skeletons of men of the modern type have been found in many +places, e.g. Combe Capelle in Dordogne, Galley Hill in Kent, Cro-Magnon +in Périgord, Mentone on the Riviera; and they are often referred to as +"Cave-men" or "men of the Early Stone Age." They had large skulls, high +foreheads, well-marked chins, and other features such as modern man +possesses. They were true men at last--that is to say, like ourselves! +The spirited pictures they made on the walls of caves in France and +Spain show artistic sense and skill. Well-finished statuettes +representing nude female figures are also known. The elaborate burial +customs point to a belief in life after death. They made stone +implements--knives, scrapers, gravers, and the like, of the type known +as Palæolithic, and these show interesting gradations of skill and +peculiarities of style. The "Cave-men" lived between the third and +fourth Ice Ages, along with cave-bear, cave-lion, cave-hyæna, mammoth, +woolly rhinoceros, Irish elk, and other mammals now extinct--taking us +back to 30,000-50,000 years ago, and many would say much more. Some of +the big-brained skulls of these Palæolithic cave-men show not a single +feature that could be called primitive. They show teeth which in size +and form are exactly the same as those of a thousand generations +afterwards--and suffering from gumboil too! There seems little doubt +that these vigorous Palæolithic Cave-men of Europe were living for a +while contemporaneously with the men of Neanderthal, and it is possible +that they directly or indirectly hastened the disappearance of their +more primitive collaterals. Curiously enough, however, they had not +themselves adequate lasting power in Europe, for they seem for the most +part to have dwindled away, leaving perhaps stray present-day survivors +in isolated districts. The probability is that after their decline +Europe was repeopled by immigrants from Asia. It cannot be said that +there is any inherent biological necessity for the decline of a vigorous +race--many animal races go back for millions of years--but in mankind +the historical fact is that a period of great racial vigour and success +is often followed by a period of decline, sometimes leading to practical +disappearance as a definite race. The causes of this waning remain very +obscure--sometimes environmental, sometimes constitutional, sometimes +competitive. Sometimes the introduction of a new parasite, like the +malaria organism, may have been to blame. + +After the Ice Ages had passed, perhaps 25,000 years ago, the Palæolithic +culture gave place to the Neolithic. The men who made rudely dressed but +often beautiful stone implements were succeeded or replaced by men who +made polished stone implements. The earliest inhabitants of Scotland +were of this Neolithic culture, migrating from the Continent when the +ice-fields of the Great Glaciation had disappeared. Their remains are +often associated with the "Fifty-foot Beach" which, though now high and +dry, was the seashore in early Neolithic days. Much is known about these +men of the polished stones. They were hunters, fowlers, and fishermen; +without domesticated animals or agriculture; short folk, two or three +inches below the present standard; living an active strenuous life. +Similarly, for the south, Sir Arthur Keith pictures for us a Neolithic +community at Coldrum in Kent, dating from about 4,000 years ago--a few +ticks of the geological clock. It consisted, in this case, of +agricultural pioneers, men with large heads and big brains, about two +inches shorter in stature than the modern British average (5 ft. 8 in.), +with better teeth and broader palates than men have in these days of +soft food, with beliefs concerning life and death similar to those that +swayed their contemporaries in Western and Southern Europe. Very +interesting is the manipulative skill they showed on a large scale in +erecting standing stones (probably connected with calendar-keeping and +with worship), and on a small scale in making daring operations on the +skull. Four thousand years ago is given as a probable date for that +early community in Kent, but evidences of Neolithic man occur in +situations which demand a much greater antiquity--perhaps 30,000 years. +And man was not young then! + +[Illustration: PAINTINGS ON THE ROOF OF THE ALTAMIRA CAVE IN NORTHERN +SPAIN, SHOWING A BISON ABOVE AND A GALLOPING BOAR BELOW + +The artistic drawings, over 2 feet in length, were made by the Reindeer +Men or "Cromagnards" in the time of the Upper or Post-Glacial +Pleistocene, before the appearance of the Neolithic men.] + +We must open one more chapter in the thrilling story of the Ascent of +Man--the Metal Ages, which are in a sense still continuing. Metals began +to be used in the late Polished Stone (Neolithic) times, for there were +always overlappings. Copper came first, Bronze second, and Iron last. +The working of copper in the East has been traced back to the fourth +millennium B.C., and there was also a very ancient Copper Age in the New +World. It need hardly be said that where copper is scarce, as in +Britain, we cannot expect to find much trace of a Copper Age. + +The ores of different metals seem to have been smelted together in an +experimental way by many prehistoric metallurgists, and bronze was the +alloy that rewarded the combination of tin with copper. There is +evidence of a more or less definite Bronze Age in Egypt and Babylonia, +Greece and Europe. + +It is not clear why iron should not have been the earliest metal to be +used by man, but the Iron Age dates from about the middle of the second +millennium B.C. From Egypt the usage spread through the Mediterranean +region to North Europe, or it may have been that discoveries made in +Central Europe, so rich in iron-mines, saturated southwards, following +for instance, the route of the amber trade from the Baltic. Compared +with stone, the metals afforded much greater possibilities of +implements, instruments, and weapons, and their discovery and usage had +undoubtedly great influence on the Ascent of Man. Occasionally, however, +on his descent. + + +Retrospect + +Looking backwards, we discern the following stages: (1) The setting +apart of a Primate stock, marked off from other mammals by a tendency to +big brains, a free hand, gregariousness, and good-humoured +talkativeness. (2) The divergence of marmosets and New World monkeys and +Old World monkeys, leaving a stock--an anthropoid stock--common to the +present-day and extinct apes and to mankind. (3) From this common stock +the Anthropoid apes diverged, far from ignoble creatures, and a humanoid +stock was set apart. (4) From the latter (we follow Sir Arthur Keith and +other authorities) there arose what may be called, without +disparagement, tentative or experimental men, indicated by +Pithecanthropus "the Erect," the Heidelberg man, the Neanderthalers, +and, best of all, the early men of the Sussex Weald--hinted at by the +Piltdown skull. It matters little whether particular items are +corroborated or disproved--e.g. whether the Heidelberg man came before +or after the Neanderthalers--the general trend of evolution remains +clear. (5) In any case, the result was the evolution of _Homo sapiens, +the man we are_--a quite different fellow from the Neanderthaler. (6) +Then arose various stocks of primitive men, proving everything and +holding fast to that which is good. There were the Palæolithic peoples, +with rude stone implements, a strong vigorous race, but probably, in +most cases, supplanted by fresh experiments. These may have arisen as +shoots from the growing point of the old race, or as a fresh offshoot +from more generalised members at a lower level. This is the eternal +possible victory alike of aristocracy and democracy. (7) Palæolithic men +were involved in the succession of four Great Ice Ages or +Glaciations, and it may be that the human race owes much to the +alternation of hard times and easy times--glacial and interglacial. When +the ice-fields cleared off Neolithic man had his innings. (8) And we +have closed the story, in the meantime, with the Metal Ages. + +[Illustration: _After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor._ + +PILTDOWN MAN, PRECEDING NEANDERTHAL MAN, PERHAPS 100,000 TO 150,000 +YEARS AGO] + +[Illustration: _After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor._ + +THE NEANDERTHAL MAN OF LA CHAPELLE-AUX-SAINTS + +The men of this race lived in Europe from the Third Interglacial period +through the Fourth Glacial. They disappeared somewhat suddenly, being +replaced by the Modern Man type, such as the Cromagnards. Many regard +the Neanderthal Men as a distinct species.] + +It seems not unfitting that we should at this point sound another +note--that of the man of feeling. It is clear in William James's words: + + Bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, are these half-brutish + prehistoric brothers. Girdled about with the immense darkness of + this mysterious universe even as we are, they were born and died, + suffered and struggled. Given over to fearful crime and passion, + plunged in the blackest ignorance, preyed upon by hideous and + grotesque delusions, yet steadfastly serving the profoundest of + ideals in their fixed faith that existence in any form is better + than non-existence, they ever rescued triumphantly from the jaws of + ever imminent destruction the torch of life which, thanks to them, + now lights the world for us. + + +Races of Mankind + +Given a variable stock spreading over diverse territory, we expect to +find it splitting up into varieties which may become steadied into races +or incipient species. Thus we have races of hive-bees, "Italians," +"Punics," and so forth; and thus there arose races of men. Certain types +suited certain areas, and periods of in-breeding tended to make the +distinctive peculiarities of each incipient race well-defined and +stable. When the original peculiarities, say, of negro and Mongol, +Australian and Caucasian, arose as brusque variations or "mutations," +then they would have great staying power from generation to generation. +They would not be readily swamped by intercrossing or averaged off. +Peculiarities and changes of climate and surroundings, not to speak of +other change-producing factors, would provoke new departures from age to +age, and so fresh racial ventures were made. Moreover, the occurrence +of out-breeding when two races met, in peace or in war, would certainly +serve to induce fresh starts. Very important in the evolution of human +races must have been the alternating occurrence of periods of +in-breeding (endogamy), tending to stability and sameness, and periods +of out-breeding (exogamy), tending to changefulness and diversity. + +Thus we may distinguish several more or less clearly defined primitive +races of mankind--notably the African, the Australian, the Mongolian, +and the Caucasian. The woolly-haired African race includes the negroes +and the very primitive bushmen. The wavy-to curly-haired Australian race +includes the Jungle Tribes of the Deccan, the Vedda of Ceylon, the +Jungle Folk or Semang, and the natives of unsettled parts of +Australia--all sometimes slumped together as "Pre-Dravidians." The +straight-haired Mongols include those of Tibet, Indo-China, China, and +Formosa, those of many oceanic islands, and of the north from Japan to +Lapland. The Caucasians include Mediterraneans, Semites, Nordics, +Afghans, Alpines, and many more. + +There are very few corners of knowledge more difficult than that of the +Races of Men, the chief reason being that there has been so much +movement and migration in the course of the ages. One physical type has +mingled with another, inducing strange amalgams and novelties. If we +start with what might be called "zoological" races or strains differing, +for instance, in their hair (woolly-haired Africans, straight-haired +Mongols, curly-or wavy-haired Pre-Dravidians and Caucasians), we find +these replaced by _peoples_ who are mixtures of various races, "brethren +by civilisation more than by blood." As Professor Flinders Petrie has +said, the only meaning the term "race" now can have is that of a group +of human beings whose type has been unified by their rate of +assimilation exceeding the rate of change produced by the infiltration +of foreign elements. It is probable, however, that the progress of +precise anthropology will make it possible to distinguish the various +racial "strains" that make up any people. For the human sense of race +is so strong that it convinces us of reality even when scientific +definition is impossible. It was this the British sailor expressed in +his answer to the question "What is a Dago?" "Dagoes," he replied, "is +anything wot isn't our sort of chaps." + +[Illustration: RESTORATION BY A. FORESTIER OF THE RHODESIAN MAN WHOSE +SKULL WAS DISCOVERED IN 1921 + +Attention may be drawn to the beetling eyebrow ridges, the projecting +upper lip, the large eye-sockets, the well-poised head, the strong +shoulders. + +The squatting figure is crushing seeds with a stone, and a crusher is +lying on the rock to his right.] + +[Illustration: RESTORATION BY A. FORESTIER OF THE RHODESIAN MAN WHOSE +SKULL WAS DISCOVERED IN 1921 + +The figure in the foreground, holding a staff, shows the erect attitude +and the straight legs. His left hand holds a flint implement. + +On the left, behind the sitting figure, is seen the entrance to the +cave. This new Rhodesian cave-man may be regarded as a southern +representative of a Neanderthal race, or as an extinct type intermediate +between the Neanderthal Men and the Modern Man type.] + + +Steps in Human Evolution + +Real men arose, we believe, by variational uplifts of considerable +magnitude which led to big and complex brains and to the power of +reasoned discourse. In some other lines of mammalian evolution there +were from time to time great advances in the size and complexity of the +brain, as is clear, for instance, in the case of horses and elephants. +The same is true of birds as compared with reptiles, and everyone +recognises the high level of excellence that has been attained by their +vocal powers. How these great cerebral advances came about we do not +know, but it has been one of the main trends of animal evolution to +improve the nervous system. Two suggestions may be made. First, the +prolongation of the period of ante-natal life, in intimate physiological +partnership with the mother, may have made it practicable to start the +higher mammal with a much better brain than in the lower orders, like +Insectivores and Rodents, and still more Marsupials, where the period +before birth (gestation) is short. Second, we know that the individual +development of the brain is profoundly influenced by the internal +secretions of certain ductless glands notably the thyroid. When this +organ is not functioning properly the child's brain development is +arrested. It may be that increased production of certain +hormones--itself, of course, to be accounted for--may have stimulated +brain development in man's remote ancestors. + +Given variability along the line of better brains and given a process of +discriminate sifting which would consistently offer rewards to alertness +and foresight, to kin-sympathy and parental care, there seems no great +difficulty in imagining how Man would evolve. We must not think of an +Aristotle or a Newton except as fine results which justify all the +groaning and travailing; we must think of average men, of primitive +peoples to-day, and of our forbears long ago. We must remember how much +of man's advance is dependent on the external registration of the social +heritage, not on the slowly changing natural inheritance. + +Looking backwards it is impossible, we think, to fail to recognise +progress. There is a ring of truth in the fine description Æschylus gave +of primitive men that-- + + first, beholding they beheld in vain, and, hearing, heard not, but, + like shapes in dreams, mixed all things wildly down the tedious + time, nor knew to build a house against the sun with wicketed sides, + nor any woodwork knew, but lived like silly ants, beneath the + ground, in hollow caves unsunned. There came to them no steadfast + sign of winter, nor of spring flower-perfumed, nor of summer full of + fruit, but blindly and lawlessly they did all things. + +Contrast this picture with the position of man to-day. He has mastered +the forces of Nature and is learning to use their resources more and +more economically; he has harnessed electricity to his chariot and he +has made the ether carry his messages. He tapped supplies of material +which seemed for centuries unavailable, having learned, for instance, +how to capture and utilise the free nitrogen of the air. With his +telegraph and "wireless" he has annihilated distance, and he has added +to his navigable kingdom the depths of the sea and the heights of the +air. He has conquered one disease after another, and the young science +of heredity is showing him how to control in his domesticated animals +and cultivated plants the nature of the generations yet unborn. With all +his faults he has his ethical face set in the right direction. The main +line of movement is towards the fuller embodiment of the true, the +beautiful, and the good in healthy lives which are increasingly a +satisfaction in themselves. + +[Illustration: _Photo: British Museum (Natural History)._ + +SIDE-VIEW OF A PREHISTORIC HUMAN SKULL DISCOVERED IN 1921 IN BROKEN HILL +CAVE, NORTHERN RHODESIA + +Very striking are the prominent eyebrow ridges and the broad massive +face. The skull looks less domed than that of modern man, but its +cranial capacity is far above the lowest human limit. The teeth are +interesting in showing marked rotting or "caries," hitherto unknown in +prehistoric skulls. In all probability the Rhodesian man was an African +representative of the extinct Neanderthal species hitherto known only +from Europe.] + +[Illustration: _After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor._ + +A CROMAGNON MAN OR CROMAGNARD, REPRESENTATIVE OF A STRONG ARTISTIC RACE +LIVING IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE IN THE UPPER PLEISTOCENE, PERHAPS 25,000 +YEARS AGO + +They seemed to have lived for a while contemporaneously with the +Neanderthal Men, and there may have been interbreeding. Some Cromagnards +probably survive, but the race as a whole declined, and there was +repopulation of Europe from the East.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission from Osborn's "Men of the Old +Stone Age."_ + +PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING A NARROW PASSAGE IN THE CAVERN OF FONT-DE-GAUME ON +THE BEUNE + +Throughout the cavern the walls are crowded with engravings; on the left +wall, shown in the photograph, are two painted bison. In the great +gallery there may be found not less than eighty figures--bison, +reindeer, and mammoths. A specimen of the last is reproduced below.] + +[Illustration: A MAMMOTH DRAWN ON THE WALL OF THE FONT-DE-GAUME CAVERN + +The mammoth age was in the Middle Pleistocene, while Neanderthal Men +still flourished, probably far over 30,000 years ago.] + +[Illustration: A GRAZING BISON, DELICATELY AND CAREFULLY DRAWN, ENGRAVED +ON A WALL OF THE ALTAMIRA CAVE, NORTHERN SPAIN + +This was the work of a Reindeer Man or Cromagnard, in the Upper or +Post-Glacial Pleistocene, perhaps 25,000 years ago. Firelight must have +been used in making these cave drawings and engravings.] + + +Factors in Human Progress + +Many, we believe, were the gains that rewarded the arboreal +apprenticeship of man's ancestors. Many, likewise, were the results of +leaving the trees and coming down to the solid earth--a transition which +marked the emergence of more than tentative men. What great steps +followed? + +Some of the greatest were--the working out of a spoken language and of +external methods of registration; the invention of tools; the discovery +of the use of fire; the utilisation of iron and other metals; the taming +of wild animals such as dog and sheep, horses and cattle; the +cultivation of wild plants such as wheat and rice; and the irrigation of +fields. All through the ages necessity has been the mother of invention +and curiosity its father; but perhaps we miss the heart of the matter if +we forget the importance of some leisure time--wherein to observe and +think. If our earth had been so clouded that the stars were hidden from +men's eyes the whole history of our race would have been different. For +it was through his leisure-time observations of the stars that early man +discovered the regularity of the year and got his fundamental +impressions of the order of Nature--on which all his science is founded. + +If we are to think clearly of the factors of human progress we must +recall the three great biological ideas--the living organism, its +environment, and its functioning. For man these mean (1) the living +creature, the outcome of parents and ancestors, a fresh expression of a +bodily and mental inheritance; (2) the surroundings, including climate +and soil, the plants and animals these allow; and (3) the activities of +all sorts, occupations and habits, all the actions and reactions between +man and his milieu. In short, we have to deal with FOLK, PLACE, WORK; +the _Famille_, _Lieu_, _Travail_ of the LePlay school. + +As to FOLK, human progress depends on intrinsic racial +qualities--notably health and vigour of body, clearness and alertness of +mind, and an indispensable sociality. The most powerful factors in the +world are clear ideas in the minds of energetic men of good will. The +differences in bodily and mental health which mark races, and stocks +within a people, just as they mark individuals, are themselves traceable +back to germinal variations or mutations, and to the kind of sifting to +which the race or stock has been subjected. Easygoing conditions are not +only without stimulus to new departures, they are without the sifting +which progress demands. + +As to PLACE, it is plain that different areas differ greatly in their +material resources and in the availability of these. Moreover, even when +abundant material resources are present, they will not make for much +progress unless the climate is such that they can be readily utilised. +Indeed, climate has been one of the great factors in civilisation, here +stimulating and there depressing energy, in one place favouring certain +plants and animals important to man, in another place preventing their +presence. Moreover, climate has slowly changed from age to age. + +As to WORK, the form of a civilisation is in some measure dependent on +the primary occupations, whether hunting or fishing, farming or +shepherding; and on the industries of later ages which have a profound +moulding effect on the individual at least. We cannot, however, say more +than that the factors of human progress have always had these three +aspects, Folk, Place, Work, and that if progress is to continue on +stable lines it must always recognise the essential correlation of +fitter folk in body and mind: improved habits and functions, alike in +work and leisure; and bettered surroundings in the widest and deepest +sense. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + DARWIN, CHARLES, _Descent of Man_. + HADDON, A. C., _Races of Men_. + HADDON, A. C., _History of Anthropology_. + KEANE, A. H., _Man Past and Present_. + KEITH, ARTHUR, _Antiquity of Man_. + LULL, R. S., _Organic Evolution_. + MCCABE, JOSEPH, _Evolution of Civilization_. + MARETT, R. R., _Anthropology_ (Home University Library). + OSBORN, H. F., _Men of the Early Stone Age_. + SOLLAS, W. J., _Ancient Hunters and their Modern Representatives_. + TYLOR, E. B., _Anthropology and Primitive Culture_. + + + + +VI + +EVOLUTION GOING ON + + + + +EVOLUTION GOING ON + + +Evolution, as we have seen in a previous chapter, is another word for +race-history. It means the ceaseless process of Becoming, linking +generation to generation of living creatures. The Doctrine of Evolution +states the fact that the present is the child of the past and the parent +of the future. It comes to this, that the living plants and animals we +know are descended from ancestors on the whole simpler, and these from +others likewise simpler, and so on, back and back--till we reach the +first living creatures, of which, unfortunately, we know nothing. +Evolution is a process of racial change in a definite direction, whereby +new forms arise, take root, and flourish, alongside of or in the place +of their ancestors, which were in most cases rather simpler in structure +and behaviour. + +The rock-record, which cannot be wrong, though we may read it wrongly, +shows clearly that there was once a time in the history of the Earth +when the only backboned animals were Fishes. Ages passed, and there +evolved Amphibians, with fingers and toes, scrambling on to dry land. +Ages passed, and there evolved Reptiles, in bewildering profusion. There +were fish-lizards and sea-serpents, terrestrial dragons and flying +dragons, a prolific and varied stock. From the terrestrial Dinosaurs it +seems that Birds and Mammals arose. In succeeding ages there evolved all +the variety of Birds and all the variety of Mammals. Until at last arose +the Man. The question is whether similar processes of evolution are +still going on. + +We are so keenly aware of rapid changes in mankind, though these +concern the social heritage much more than the flesh-and-blood natural +inheritance, that we find no difficulty in the idea that evolution is +going on in mankind. We know the contrast between modern man and +primitive man, and we are convinced that in the past, at least, progress +has been a reality. That degeneration may set in is an awful +possibility--involution rather than evolution--but even if going back +became for a time the rule, we cannot give up the hope that the race +would recover itself and begin afresh to go forward. For although there +have been retrogressions in the history of life, continued through +unthinkably long ages, and although great races, the Flying Dragons for +instance, have become utterly extinct, leaving no successors whatsoever, +we feel sure that there has been on the whole a progress towards nobler, +more masterful, more emancipated, more intelligent, and _better_ forms +of life--a progress towards what mankind at its best has always regarded +as best, i.e. affording most enduring satisfaction. So we think of +evolution going on in mankind, evolution chequered by involution, but on +the whole _progressive evolution_. + + +Evolutionary Prospect for Man + +It is not likely that man's body will admit of _great_ change, but there +is room for some improvement, e.g. in the superfluous length of the +food-canal and the overcrowding of the teeth. It is likely, however, +that there will be constitutional changes, e.g. of prolonged +youthfulness, a higher standard of healthfulness, and a greater +resistance to disease. It is justifiable to look forward to great +improvements in intelligence and in control. The potentialities of the +human brain, as it is, are far from being utilised to the full, and new +departures of promise are of continual occurrence. What is of great +importance is that the new departures or variations which emerge in fine +children should be fostered, not nipped in the bud, by the social +environment, education included. The evolutionary prospect for man is +promising. + +[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH OF A MEDIAN SECTION THROUGH THE SHELL OF THE +PEARLY NAUTILUS + +It is only the large terminal chamber that is occupied by the animal.] + +[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ENTIRE SHELL OF THE PEARLY NAUTILUS + +The headquarters of the Nautilus are in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. +They sometimes swim at the surface of the sea, but they usually creep +slowly about on the floor of comparatively shallow water.] + +[Illustration: NAUTILUS + +A section through the Pearly Nautilus, _Nautilus pompilius_, common from +Malay to Fiji. The shell is often about 9 inches long. The animal lives +in the last chamber only, but a tube (S) runs through the empty +chambers, perforating the partitions (SE). The bulk of the animal is +marked VM; the eye is shown at E; a hood is marked H; round the mouth +there are numerous lobes (L) bearing protrusible tentacles, some of +which are shown. When the animal is swimming near the surface the +tentacles radiate out in all directions, and it has been described as "a +shell with something like a cauliflower sticking out of it." The Pearly +Nautilus is a good example of a conservative type, for it began in the +Triassic Era. But the family of Nautiloids to which it belongs +illustrates very vividly what is meant by a dwindling race. The +Nautiloids began in the Cambrian, reached their golden age in the +Silurian, and began to decline markedly in the Carboniferous. There are +2,500 extinct or fossil species of Nautiloids, and only 4 living +to-day.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge._ + +SHOEBILL + +A bird of a savage nature, never mixing with other marsh birds. +According to Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, it shows affinities to herons, +storks, pelicans, and gannets, and is a representative of a type equal +to both herons and storks and falling between the two.] + +But it is very important to realise that among plant and animals +likewise, _Evolution is going on_. + + +The Fountain of Change: Variability + +On an ordinary big clock we do not readily see that even the minute hand +is moving, and if the clock struck only once in a hundred years we can +conceive of people arguing whether the hands did really move at all. So +it often is with the changes that go on from generation to generation in +living creatures. The flux is so slow, like the flowing of a glacier, +that some people fail to be convinced of its reality. And it must, of +course, be admitted that some kinds of living creatures, like the +Lamp-shell _Ligula_ or the Pearly Nautilus, hardly change from age to +age, whereas others, like some of the birds and butterflies, are always +giving rise to something new. The Evening Primrose among plants, and the +Fruit-fly, Drosophila, among animals, are well-known examples of +organisms which are at present in a sporting or mutating mood. + +Certain dark varieties of moth, e.g. of the Peppered Moth, are taking +the place of the paler type in some parts of England, and the same is +true of some dark forms of Sugar-bird in the West Indian islands. Very +important is the piece of statistics worked out by Professor R. C. +Punnett, that "if a population contains .001 per cent of a new variety, +and if that variety has even a 5 per cent selection advantage over the +original form, the latter will almost completely disappear in less than +a hundred generations." This sort of thing has been going on all over +the world for untold ages, and the face of animate nature has +consequently changed. + +We are impressed by striking novelties that crop up--a clever dwarf, a +musical genius, a calculating boy, a cock with a 10 ft. tail, a +"wonder-horse" with a mane reaching to the ground, a tailless cat, a +white blackbird, a copper beech, a Greater Celandine with much cut up +leaves; but this sort of mutation is common, and smaller, less brusque +variations are commoner still. _They form the raw materials of possible +evolution._ We are actually standing before an apparently inexhaustible +fountain of change. This is evolution going on. + + +The Sporting Jellyfish + +It is of interest to consider a common animal like the jellyfish +Aurelia. It is admirably suited for a leisurely life in the open sea, +where it swims about by contracting its saucer-shaped body, thus driving +water out from its concavity. By means of millions of stinging cells on +its four frilled lips and on its marginal tentacles it is able to +paralyse and lasso minute crustaceans and the like, which it then wafts +into its mouth. It has a very eventful life-history, for it has in its +early youth to pass through a fixed stage, fastened to rock or seaweed, +but it is a successful animal, well suited for its habitat, and +practically cosmopolitan in its distribution. It is certainly an +old-established creature. Yet it is very variable in colour and in size, +and even in internal structure. Very often it is the size of a saucer or +a soup-plate, but giants over two feet in diameter are well known. Much +more important, however, than variation in colour and size are the +inborn changes in structure. Normally a jellyfish has its parts in four +or multiples of four. Thus it has four frilled lips, four tufts of +digestive filaments in its stomach, and four brightly coloured +reproductive organs. It has eight sense-organs round the margin of its +disc, eight branched and eight unbranched radial canals running from the +central stomach to a canal round the circumference. The point of giving +these details is just this, that every now and then we find a jellyfish +with its parts in sixes, fives, or threes, and with a multitude of minor +idiosyncrasies. _Even in the well-established jellyfish there is a +fountain of change._ + + +§ 1 + +Evolution of Plants + +It is instructive to look at the various kinds of cabbages, such as +cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, kale and curly greens, and remember +that they are all scions of the not very promising wild cabbage found on +our shores. And are not all the aristocrat apple-trees of our orchards +descended from the plebeian crab-apple of the roadside? We know far too +little about the precise origin of our cultivated plants, but there is +no doubt that after man got a hold of them he took advantage of their +variability to establish race after race, say, of rose and +chrysanthemum, of potato and cereal. The evolution of cultivated plants +is continuing before our eyes, and the creations of Mr. Luther Burbank, +such as the stoneless plum and the primus berry, the spineless cactus +and the Shasta daisy, are merely striking instances of what is always +going on. + +There is reason to believe that the domestic dog has risen three times, +from three distinct ancestors--a wolf, a jackal, and a coyote. So a +multiple pedigree must be allowed for in the case of the dog, and the +same is true in regard to some other domesticated animals. But the big +fact is the great variety of breeds that man has been able to fix, after +he once got started with a domesticated type. There are over 200 +well-marked breeds of domestic pigeons, and there is very strong +evidence that all are descended from the wild rock-dove, just as the +numerous kinds of poultry are descended from the jungle-fowl of some +parts of India and the Malay Islands. Even more familiar is the way in +which man has, so to speak, unpacked the complex fur of the wild rabbit, +and established all the numerous colour-varieties which we see among +domestic rabbits. And apart from colour-varieties there are long-haired +Angoras and quaint lop-eared forms, and many more besides. All this +points to evolution going on. + + +The Romance of the Wheat + +It is well-known that Neolithic man grew wheat, and some authorities +have put the date of the first wheat harvest at between fifteen thousand +and ten thousand years ago. The ancient civilisations of Babylonia, +Egypt, Crete, Greece, and Rome were largely based on wheat, and it is +highly probable that the first great wheatfields were in the fertile +land between the Tigris and the Euphrates. The oldest Egyptian tombs +that contain wheat, which, by the way, never germinates after its +millennia of rest, belong to the First Dynasty, and are about six +thousand years old. But there must have been a long history of wheat +before that. + +Now it is a very interesting fact that the almost certain ancestor of +the cultivated wheat is at present living on the arid and rocky slopes +of Mount Hermon. It is called _Triticum hermonis_, and it is varying +notably to-day, as it did long ago when it gave rise to the emmer, which +was cultivated in the Neolithic Age and is the ancestor of all our +ordinary wheats. We must think of Neolithic man noticing the big seeds +of this Hermon grass, gathering some of the heads, breaking the brittle +spikelet-bearing axis in his fingers, knocking off the rough awns or +bruising the spikelets in his hand till the glumes or chaff separated +off and could be blown away, chewing a mouthful of the seeds--and +resolving to sow and sow again. + +That was the beginning of a long story, in the course of which man took +advantage of the numerous variations that cropped up in this sporting +stock and established one successful race after another on his fields. +Virgil refers in the "Georgics" to the gathering of the largest and +fullest ears of wheat in order to get good seed for another sowing, but +it was not till the first quarter of the nineteenth century that the +great step was taken, by men like Patrick Sheriff of Haddington, of +deliberately selecting individual ears of great excellence and +segregating their progeny from mingling with mediocre stock. This is the +method which has been followed with remarkable success in modern times. + +One of the factors that assisted the Allies in overcoming the food +crisis in the darkest period of the war was the virtue of Marquis Wheat, +a very prolific, early ripening, hard red spring wheat with excellent +milling and baking qualities. It is now the dominant spring wheat in +Canada and the United States, and it has enormously increased the real +wealth of the world in the last ten years (1921). Now our point is +simply that this Marquis Wheat is a fine example of evolution going on. +In 1917 upwards of 250,000,000 bushels of this wheat were raised in +North America, and in 1918 upwards of 300,000,000 bushels; yet the whole +originated from a single grain planted in an experimental plot at Ottawa +by Dr. Charles E. Saunders so recently as the spring of 1903. + +[Illustration: THE WALKING-FISH OR MUD-SKIPPER (PERIOPHTHALMUS), COMMON +AT THE MOUTHS OF RIVERS IN TROPICAL AFRICA, ASIA, AND NORTH-WEST +AUSTRALIA + +It skips about by means of its strong pectoral fins on the mud-flats; it +jumps from stone to stone hunting small shore-animals; it climbs up the +roots of the mangrove-trees. The close-set eyes protrude greatly and are +very mobile. The tail seems to help in respiration.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: "The Times."_ + +THE AUSTRALIAN MORE-PORK OR PODARGUS + +A bird with a frog-like mouth, allied to the British Nightjar. Now in +the London Zoological Gardens. + +The capacious mouth is well suited for engulfing large insects such as +locusts and mantises, which are mostly caught on the trees. During the +day the More-pork or Frog-mouth sleeps upright on a branch, and its +mottled brown plumage makes it almost invisible.] + +[Illustration: PELICAN'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR CATCHING AND STORING FISHES + +There is an enormous dilatable sac beneath the lower jaw.] + +[Illustration: HORNBILL'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR EXCAVATING A NEST IN A TREE, +AND ALSO FOR SEIZING AND BREAKING DIVERSE FORMS OF FOOD, FROM MAMMALS TO +TORTOISES, FROM ROOTS TO FRUITS + +The use of the helmet or casque is obscure.] + +[Illustration: SPOONBILL'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR SIFTING THE MUD AND +CATCHING THE SMALL ANIMALS, E.G. FISHES, CRUSTACEANS, INSECT LARVÆ, +WHICH LIVE THERE] + +[Illustration: FALCON'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR SEIZING, KILLING, AND TEARING +SMALL MAMMALS AND BIRDS] + +[Illustration: AVOCET'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR A CURIOUS SIDEWAYS SCOOPING IN +THE SHORE-POOLS AND CATCHING SMALL ANIMALS] + +[Illustration: PUFFIN'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR CATCHING SMALL FISHES NEAR THE +SURFACE OF THE SEA, AND FOR HOLDING THEM WHEN CAUGHT AND CARRYING THEM +TO THE NEST + +The scaly covering is moulted in the autumn.] + +We must not dwell too long on this particular instance of evolution, +though it has meant much to our race. We wish, however, following +Professor Buller's _Essays on Wheat_ (1919), to explain the method by +which this good seed was discovered. From one we may learn all. The +parent of Marquis Wheat on the male side was the mid-Europe Red Fife--a +first-class cereal. The parent on the female side was less promising, a +rather nondescript, not pure-bred wheat, called Red Calcutta, which was +imported from India into Canada about thirty years ago. The father was +part of a cargo that came from the Baltic to Glasgow, and was happily +included in a sample sent on to David Fife in Ontario about 1842. From +one kernel of this sample David Fife started his stock of Red Fife, +which was crossed by Dr. Saunders with Hard Red Calcutta. The result of +the cross was a medley of types, nearly a hundred varieties altogether, +and it was in scrutinising these that Dr. Saunders hit upon Marquis. He +worked steadily through the material, studying head after head of what +resulted from sowing, and selecting out those that gave most promise. +Each of the heads selected was propagated; most of the results were +rejected; the elect were sifted again and yet again, and finally Marquis +Wheat emerged, rich in constructive possibilities, probably the most +valuable food-plant in the world. It is like a romance to read that "the +first crop of the wheat that was destined within a dozen years to +overtax the mightiest elevators in the land was stored away in the +winter of 1904-5 in a paper packet no larger than an envelope." + +Thus from the Wild Wheat of Mount Hermon there evolved one of the most +important food-plants of the world. This surely is _Evolution going on_. + + +§ 2 + +Changes in the Animal Life of a Country + +Nothing gives us a more convincing impression of evolution in being than +a succession of pictures of the animal life of a country in different +ages. Dr. James Ritchie, a naturalist of distinction, has written a +masterly book, _The Influence of Man on Animal Life in Scotland_ (1920), +in which we get this succession of pictures. "Within itself," he says, +"a fauna is in a constant state of uneasy restlessness, an assemblage of +creatures which in its parts ebbs and flows as one local influence or +another plays upon it." There are temporary and local changes, endless +disturbances and readjustments of the "balance of nature." One year +there is a plague of field-voles, perhaps next year "grouse disease" is +rife; in one place there is huge increase of starlings, in another place +of rabbits; here cockchafers are in the ascendant, and there the moles +are spoiling the pasture. "But while the parts fluctuate, the fauna as a +whole follows a path of its own. As well as internal tides which swing +to and fro about an average level, there is a drift which carries the +fauna bodily along an 'irretraceable course.'" This is partly due to +considerable changes of climate, for climate calls the tune to which +living creatures dance, but it is also due to new departures among the +animals themselves. We need not go back to the extinct animals and lost +faunas of past ages--for Britain has plenty of relics of these--which +"illustrate the reality of the faunal drift," but it may be very useful, +in illustration of evolution in being, to notice what has happened in +Scotland since the end of the Great Ice Age. + +Some nine thousand years ago or more, certain long-headed, +square-jawed, short-limbed, but agile hunters and fishermen, whom we +call Neolithic Man, established themselves in Scotland. What was the +state of the country then? + + It was a country of swamps, low forests of birch, alder, and willow, + fertile meadows, and snow-capped mountains. Its estuaries penetrated + further inland than they now do, and the sea stood at the level of + the Fifty-Foot Beach. On its plains and in its forests roamed many + creatures which are strange to the fauna of to-day--the Elk and the + Reindeer, Wild Cattle, the Wild Boar and perhaps Wild Horses, a + fauna of large animals which paid toll to the European Lynx, the + Brown Bear and the Wolf. In all likelihood, the marshes resounded to + the boom of the Bittern and the plains to the breeding calls of the + Crane and the Great Bustard. + +Such is Dr. Ritchie's initial picture. + +[Illustration: LIFE-HISTORY OF A FROG + +1, Before hatching; 2, newly hatched larvæ hanging on to water-weed; 3, +with external gills; 4, external gills are covered over and are +absorbed; 5, limbless larva about a month old with internal gills; 6, +tadpole with hind-legs, about two months old; 7, with the fore-limbs +emerging; 8, with all four legs free; 9, a young frog, about three +months old, showing the almost complete absorption of the tail and the +change of the tadpole mouth into a frog mouth.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward. F.E.S._ + +HIND-LEG OF WHIRLIGIG BEETLE WHICH HAS BECOME BEAUTIFULLY MODIFIED FOR +AQUATIC LOCOMOTION + +The flattened tips form an expanding "fan" or paddle, which opens and +closes with astonishing rapidity. The closing of the "fan," like the +"feathering" of an oar, reduces friction when the leg is being moved +forwards for the next stroke.] + +[Illustration: THE BIG ROBBER-CRAB (_Birgus Latro_), THAT CLIMBS THE +COCO-NUT PALM AND BREAKS OFF THE NUTS + +It occurs on islands in the Indian Ocean and Pacific, and is often found +far above sea-level. It is able to breathe dry air. One is seen emerging +from its burrow, which is often lined with coco-nut fibre. The empty +coco-nut shell is sometimes used by the Robber-Crab for the protection +of its tail.] + +Now what happened in this kingdom of Caledonia which Neolithic Man had +found? He began to introduce domesticated animals, and that meant a +thinning of the ranks of predacious creatures. "Safety first" was the +dangerous motto in obedience to which man exterminated the lynx, the +brown bear, and the wolf. Other creatures, such as the great auk, were +destroyed for food, and others like the marten for their furs. Small +pests were destroyed to protect the beginnings of agriculture; larger +animals like the boar were hunted out of existence; others, like the +pearl-bearing river-mussels, yielded to subtler demands. No doubt there +was protection also--protection for sport, for utility, for æsthetic +reasons, and because of humane sentiments; even wholesome superstitions +have safeguarded the robin redbreast and the wren. There were +introductions too--the rabbit for utility, the pheasant for sport, and +the peacock for amenity. And every introduction, every protection, every +killing out had its far-reaching influences. + +But if we are to picture the evolution going on, we must think also of +man's indirect interference with animal life. He destroyed the forests, +he cultivated the wild, he made bridges, he allowed aliens, like rats +and cockroaches, to get in unawares. Of course, he often did good, as +when he drained swamps and got rid of the mosquitoes which once made +malaria rife in Scotland. + +What has been the net result? Not, as one might think for a moment, a +reduction in the _number_ of different kinds of animals. Fourteen or so +species of birds and beasts have been banished from Scotland since man +interfered, but as far as numbers go they have been more than replaced +by deliberate introductions like fallow deer, rabbit, squirrel, and +pheasant, and by accidental introductions like rats and cockroaches. But +the change is rather in _quality_ than in quantity; the smaller have +taken the place of the larger, rather paltry pigmies of noble giants. +Thus we get a vivid idea that evolution, especially when man interferes, +is not necessarily progressive. That depends on the nature of the sieves +with which the living materials are sifted. As Dr. Ritchie well says, +the standard of the wild fauna as regards size has fallen and is +falling, and it is not in size only that there is loss, there is a +deterioration of quality. "For how can the increase of Rabbits and +Sparrows and Earthworms and Caterpillars, and the addition of millions +of Rats and Cochroaches and Crickets and Bugs, ever take the place of +those fine creatures round the memories of which the glamour of +Scotland's past still plays--the Reindeer and the Elk, the Wolf, the +Brown Bear, the Lynx, and the Beaver, the Bustard, the Crane, the +Bumbling Bittern, and many another, lost or disappearing." Thus we see +again that evolution is going on. + + +§ 3 + +The Adventurers + +All through the millions of years during which animals have tenanted the +earth and the waters under the earth, there has been a search for new +kingdoms to conquer, for new corners in which to make a home. And this +still goes on. _It has been and is one of the methods of evolution to +fill every niche of opportunity._ There is a spider that lives inside a +pitcher-plant, catching some of the inquisitive insects which slip down +the treacherous internal surface of the trap. There is another that +makes its home in crevices among the rocks on the shore of the +Mediterranean, or even in empty tubular shells, keeping the water out, +more or less successfully, by spinning threads of silk across the +entrance to its retreat. The beautiful brine-shrimp, _Artemia salina_, +that used to occur in British salterns has found a home in the dense +waters of the Great Salt Lake of Utah. Several kinds of earthworms have +been found up trees, and there is a fish, Arges, that climbs on the +stones of steep mountain torrents of the Andes. The intrepid explorers +of the _Scotia_ voyage found quite a number of Arctic terns spending our +winter within the summer of the Antarctic Circle--which means girdling +the globe from pole to pole; and every now and then there are incursions +of rare birds, like Pallas's Sand-grouse, into Britain, just as if they +were prospecting in search of a promised land. Twice or thrice the +distinctively North American Killdeer Plover has been found in Britain, +having somehow or other got across the Atlantic. We miss part of the +meaning of evolution if we do not catch this note of insurgence and +adventure, which some animal or other never ceases to sound, though many +establish themselves in a security not easily disturbed, and though a +small minority give up the struggle against the stream and are content +to acquiesce, as parasites or rottenness eaters, in a drifting life of +ease. + +More important than very peculiar cases is the broad fact that over and +over again in different groups of animals there have been attempts to +master different kinds of haunts--such as the underground world, the +trees, the freshwaters, and the air. There are burrowing amphibians, +burrowing reptiles, burrowing birds, and burrowing mammals; there are +tree-toads, tree-snakes, tree-lizards, tree-kangaroos, tree-sloths, +tree-shrews, tree-mice, tree-porcupines, and so on; enough of a list to +show, without mentioning birds, how many different kinds of animals +have entered upon an arboreal apprenticeship--an apprenticeship often +with far-reaching consequences. What the freeing of the hand from being +an organ of terrestrial support has meant in the evolution of monkeys is +a question that gives a spur to our imagination. + + +The Case of the Robber Crab + +On some of the coral islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans there +lives a land-crab, Birgus, which has learned to breathe on land. It +breathes dry air by means of curious blood-containing tufts in the upper +part of its gill-cavity, and it has also rudimentary gills. It is often +about a foot long, and it has very heavy great claws, especially on the +left-hand side. With this great claw it hammers on the "eye-hole" of a +coconut, from which it has torn off the fibrous husk. It hammers until a +hole is made by which it can get at the pulp. Part of the shell is +sometimes used as a protection for the soft abdomen--for the +robber-crab, as it is called, is an offshoot from the hermit-crab stock. +Every year this quaint explorer, which may go far up the hills and climb +the coco-palms, has to go back to the sea to spawn. The young ones are +hatched in the same state as in our common shore-crab. That is to say, +they are free-swimming larvæ which pass through an open-water period +before they settle down on the shore, and eventually creep up on to dry +land. Just as open-water turtles lay their eggs on sandy shores, going +back to their old terrestrial haunt, so the robber-crab, which has +almost conquered the dry land, has to return to the seashore to breed. +There is a peculiar interest in the association of the robber-crab with +the coco-palm, for that tree is not a native of these coral islands, but +has been introduced, perhaps from Mexico, by the Polynesian mariners +before the discovery of America by Columbus. So the learning to deal +with coconuts is a recent achievement, and we are face to face with a +very good example of evolution going on. + +[Illustration: EARLY LIFE-HISTORY OF THE SALMON + +1. The fertilised egg, shed in the gravelly bed of the river. + +2. The embryo within the egg, just before hatching. The embryo has been +constricted off from the yolk-laden portion of the egg. + +3. The newly hatched salmon, or alevin, encumbered with its legacy of +yolk (Y.S.). + +4 and 5. The larval salmon, still being nourished from the yolk-sac +(Y.S.), which is diminishing in size as the fish grows larger. + +6. The salmon fry about six weeks old, with the yolk fully absorbed, so +that the young fish has now to feed for itself. The fry become parr, +which go to the sea as smolts, and return as grilse. + +In all cases the small figures to the right indicate the natural size.] + +[Illustration: THE SALMON LEAPING AT THE FALL IS A MOST FASCINATING +SPECTACLE + +Again and again we see them jumping out of the seething foam beneath the +fall, casting themselves into the curtain of the down-rushing water, +only to be carried back by it into the depths whence they have risen. +One here and another there makes its effort good, touches the upper lip +of the cataract, gives a swift stroke of its tail, and rushes on towards +those upper reaches which are the immemorial spawning beds of its +race.] + + +The Story of the Salmon + +In late autumn or in winter the salmon spawn in the rivers. The female +makes a shallow trough in the gravel by moving her tail from side to +side, and therein lays many eggs. The male, who is in attendance, +fertilises these with the milt, and then the female covers them deeply +with gravel. The process is repeated over and over again for a week or +more till all the eggs are shed. For three to four months the eggs +develop, and eventually there emerge the larvæ or _alevins_, which lurk +among the pebbles. They cannot swim much, for they are encumbered by a +big legacy of yolk. In a few weeks, perhaps eight, the protruding bag of +yolk has disappeared and the _fry_, about an inch long, begin to move +about more actively and to fend for themselves. By the end of the year +they have grown to be rather trout-like _parr_, about four inches long. +In two years these are double that length. Usually in the second year, +but it may be earlier or later, the parr become silvery _smolts_, which +go out to sea, usually about the month of May. They feed on young +herring and the like and grow large and strong. When they are about +three and a half years old they come up the rivers as _grilse_ and may +spawn. Or they may pass through the whole grilse stage in the sea and +come up the rivers with all the characters of the full-grown fish. In +many cases the salmon spawn only once, and some (they are called _kelts_ +after spawning) are so much exhausted by starting a new generation that +they die or fall a victim to otters and other enemies. In the case of +the salmon of the North Pacific (in the genus _Oncorhynchus_, not +_Salmo_) all the individuals die after spawning, none being able to +return to the sea. It must be remembered that full-grown salmon do not +as a rule feed in fresh water, though they may be unable to resist +snapping at the angler's strange creations. A very interesting fact is +that the salmon keeps as it were a diary of its movements, which vary a +good deal in different rivers. This diary is written in the scales, and +a careful reading of the concentric lines on the scales shows the age of +the fish, and when it went out to sea, and whether it has spawned or +not, and more besides. + + +Interpretation of the Salmon's Story + +When an animal frequents two different haunts, in one of which it +breeds, it is very often safe to say that the breeding-place represents +the original home. The flounder is quite comfortable far up the rivers, +but it has to go to the shore-waters to spawn, and there is no doubt +that the flounder is a marine fish which has recently learned to +colonise the fresh waters. Its relatives, like plaice and sole, are +strictly marine. But it is impossible to make a dogma of the rule that +the breeding-place corresponds to the original home. Thus some kinds of +bass, which belong to the marine family of sea-perches, live in the sea +or in estuaries, while two have become permanent residents in fresh +water. Or, again, the members of the herring family are very +distinctively marine, but the shad, which belong to this family, spawn +in rivers and may spend their lives there. + +So there are two different ways of interpreting the life-history of the +salmon. Some authorities regard the salmon as a marine fish which is +establishing itself in fresh water. But others read the story the other +way and regard the salmon as a member of a freshwater race, that has +taken to the sea for feeding purposes. In regard to trout, we know that +the ranks of those in rivers and lakes are continually being reinforced +by migrants from the sea, and that some trout go down to the sea while +others remain in the freshwater. We know also in regard to a related +fish, the char, that while the great majority of kinds are now permanent +residents in cold and deep, isolated northern lakes, there are Arctic +forms which live in the sea but enter the rivers to spawn. These facts +favour the view that the salmon was originally a marine fish. But there +are arguments on both sides, and, for our present purpose, the important +fact is that the salmon is conquering _two_ haunts. Its evolution is +going on. + + +The Romance of the Eel + +Early in summer, at dates varying with the distance of the rivers from +the open Atlantic, crowds of young eels or elvers come up-stream. +Sometimes the procession or eel-fare includes thousands of individuals, +each about the length of our first finger, and as thick as a stout +knitting needle. They obey an inborn impulse to swim against the stream, +seeking automatically to have both sides of their body equally +stimulated by the current. So they go straight ahead. The obligation +works only during the day, for when the sun goes down behind the hills +the elvers snuggle under stones or beneath the bank and rest till dawn. +In the course of time they reach the quiet upper reaches of the river or +go up rivulets and drainpipes to the isolated ponds. Their impulse to go +on must be very imperious, for they may wriggle up the wet moss by the +side of a waterfall or even make a short excursion in a damp meadow. + +In the quiet-flowing stretches of the river or in the ponds they feed +and grow for years and years. They account for a good many young fishes. +Eventually, after five or six years in the case of the males, six to +eight years in the case of the females, the well-grown fishes, perhaps a +foot and a half to two feet long, are seized by a novel restlessness. +They are beginning to be mature. They put on a silvery jacket and become +large of eye, and they return to the sea. In getting away from the pond +it may be necessary to wriggle through the damp meadow-grass before +reaching the river. They travel by night and rather excitedly. The +Arctic Ocean is too cold for them and the North Sea too shallow. They +must go far out to sea, to where the old margin of the once larger +continent of Europe slopes down to the great abysses, from the Hebrides +southwards. Eels seem to spawn in the deep dark water; but the just +liberated eggs have not yet been found. The young fry rises to near the +surface and becomes a knife-blade-like larva, transparent all but its +eye. It lives for many months in this state, growing to be about three +inches long, rising and sinking in the water, and swimming gently. +These open-sea young eels are known as Leptocephali, a name given to +them before their real nature was proved. They gradually become shorter, +and the shape changes from knife-blade-like to cylindrical. During this +change they fast, and the weight of their delicate body decreases. They +turn into glass-eels, about 2-1/2 inches long, like a knitting-needle in +girth. They begin to move towards the distant shores and rivers, and +they may be a year and a half old before they reach their destination +and go up-stream as elvers. Those that ascend the rivers of the Eastern +Baltic must have journeyed three thousand miles. It is certain that no +eel ever matures or spawns in fresh water. It is practically certain +that all the young eels ascending the rivers of North Europe have come +in from the Atlantic, some of them perhaps from the Azores or further +out still. It is interesting to inquire how the young eels circumvent +the Falls of the Rhine and get into Lake Constance, or how their kindred +on the other side of the Atlantic overcome the obstacle of Niagara; but +it is more important to lay emphasis on the variety of habitats which +this fish is trying--the deep waters, the open sea, the shore, the +river, the pond, and even, it may be, a little taste of solid earth. It +seems highly probable that the common eel is a deep-water marine fish +which has learned to colonise the freshwaters. It has been adventurous +and it has succeeded. The only shadow on the story of achievement is +that there seems to be no return from the spawning. There is little +doubt that death is the nemesis of their reproduction. In any case, no +adult eel ever comes back from the deep sea. We are minded of Goethe's +hard saying: "Death is Nature's expert advice to get plenty of life." + + +§ 4 + +Forming New Habits + +There is a well-known mudfish of Australia, Neoceratodus by name, which +has turned its swim-bladder into a lung and comes to the surface to +spout. It expels vitiated air with considerable force and takes fresh +gulps. At the same time, like an ordinary fish, it has gills which allow +the usual interchange of gases between the blood and the water. Now this +Australian mudfish or double-breather (Dipnoan), which may be a long way +over a yard in length, is a direct and little-changed descendant of an +ancient extinct fish, Ceratodus, which lived in Mesozoic times, as far +back as the Jurassic, which probably means over five millions of years +ago. The Queensland mudfish is an antiquity, and there has not been much +change in its lineage for millions of years. We might take it as an +illustration of the inertia of evolution. And yet, though its structure +has changed but little, the fish probably illustrates evolution in +process, for it is a fish that is learning to breathe dry air. It cannot +leave the water; but it can live comfortably in pools which are foul +with decomposing animal and vegetable matter. In partially dried-up and +foul waterholes, full of dead fishes of various kinds, Neoceratodus has +been found vigorous and lively. Unless we take the view, which is +_possible_, that the swim-bladder of fishes was originally a lung, the +mud-fishes are learning to breathe dry air. They illustrate evolution +agoing. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE COMMON EEL (_Anguilla +Vulgalis_) + +1. The transparent open-sea knife-blade-like larva called a +Leptocephalus. + +2 and 3. The gradual change of shape from knife-blade-like to +cylindrical. The body becomes shorter and loses weight. + +4. The young elver, at least a year old, which makes its way from the +open sea to the estuaries and rivers. It is 2/3 inches long and almost +cylindrical. + +5. The fully-formed eel.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Gambier Bolton._ + +CASSOWARY + +Its bare head is capped with a helmet. Unlike the plumage of most birds +its feathers are loose and hair-like, whilst its wings are merely +represented by a few black quills. It is flightless and entirely +dependent on its short powerful legs to carry it out of danger.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Gambier Bolton._ + +THE KIWI, ANOTHER FLIGHTLESS BIRD, OF REMARKABLE APPEARANCE, HABITS, AND +STRUCTURE] + +The herring-gull is by nature a fish-eater; but of recent years, in some +parts of Britain, it has been becoming in the summer months more and +more of a vegetarian, scooping out the turnips, devouring potatoes, +settling on the sheaves in the harvest field and gorging itself with +grain. Similar experiments, usually less striking, are known in many +birds; but the most signal illustration is that of the kea or Nestor +parrot of New Zealand, which has taken to lighting on the loins of the +sheep, tearing away the fleece, cutting at the skin, and gouging out +fat. Now the parrot belongs to a vegetarian or frugivorous stock, and +this change of diet in the relatively short time since sheep-ranches +were established in New Zealand is very striking. Here, since we know +the dates, we may speak of evolution going on under our eyes. It must be +remembered that variations in habit may give an animal a new +opportunity to test variations in structure which arise mysteriously +from within, as expressions of germinal changefulness rather than as +imprints from without. For of the transmissibility of the latter there +is little secure evidence. + + +Experiments in Locomotion + +It is very interesting to think of the numerous types of locomotion +which animals have discovered--pulling and punting, sculling and rowing, +and of the changes that are rung on these four main methods. How +striking is the case of the frilled lizard (Chlamydosaurus) of +Australia, which at the present time is, as it were, experimenting in +bipedal progression--always a rather eventful thing to do. It gets up on +its hind-legs and runs totteringly for a few feet, just like a baby +learning to walk. + +How beautiful is the adventure which has led our dipper or +water-ouzel--a bird allied to the wrens--to try walking and flying under +water! How admirable is the volplaning of numerous parachutists--"flying +fish," "flying frog," "flying dragon," "flying phalanger," "flying +squirrel," and more besides, which take great leaps through the air. For +are these not the splendid failures that might have succeeded in +starting new modes of flight? + +Most daring of all, perhaps, are the aerial journeys undertaken by many +small spiders. On a breezy morning, especially in the autumn, they mount +on gate-posts and palings and herbage, and, standing with their head to +the wind, pay out three or four long threads of silk. When the wind tugs +at these threads, the spinners let go, and are borne, usually back +downwards, on the wings of the wind from one parish to another. It is +said that if the wind falls they can unfurl more sail, or furl if it +rises. In any case, these wingless creatures make aerial journeys. When +tens of thousands of the used threads sink to earth, there is a "shower +of gossamer." On his _Beagle_ voyage Darwin observed that vast numbers +of small gossamer spiders were borne on to the ship when it was sixty +miles distant from the land. + +[Illustration: THE AUSTRALIAN FRILLED LIZARD, WHICH IS AT PRESENT TRYING +TO BECOME A BIPED + +When it gets up on its hind-legs and runs for a short distance it folds +its big collar round its neck.] + +[Illustration: A CARPET OF GOSSAMER + +The silken threads used by thousands of gossamer spiders in their +migrations are here seen entangled in the grass, forming what is called +a shower of gossamer. At the edge of the grass the gossamer forms a +curtain, floating out and looking extraordinarily like waves breaking on +a seashore.] + +[Illustration: THE WATER-SPIDER + +The spider is seen just leaving its diving-bell to ascend to the surface +to capture air. + +The spider jerks its body and legs out at the surface and then dives-- + +--carrying with it what looks like a silvery air-bubble--air entangled +in the hair. + +The spider reaches its air-dome. Note how the touch of its legs indents +the inflated balloon. + +Running down the side of the nest, the spider + +--brushes off the air at the entrance, and the bubble ascends into the +silken balloon. + +_Photos: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._] + + +New Devices + +It is impossible, we must admit, to fix dates, except in a few cases, +relatively recent; but there is a smack of modernity in some striking +devices which we can observe in operation to-day. Thus no one will +dispute the statement that spiders are thoroughly terrestrial animals +breathing dry air, but we have the fact of the water-spider conquering +the under-water world. There are a few spiders about the seashore, and a +few that can survive douching with freshwater, but the particular case +of the true water-spider, _Argyroneta natans_, stands by itself because +the creature, as regards the female at least, has _conquered_ the +sub-aquatic environment. A flattish web is woven, somehow, underneath +the water, and pegged down by threads of silk. Along a special vertical +line the mother spider ascends to the surface and descends again, having +entangled air in the hairs of her body. She brushes off this air +underneath her web, which is thereby buoyed up into a sort of dome. She +does this over and over again, never getting wet all the time, until the +domed web has become like a diving-bell, full of dry air. In this +eloquent anticipation of man's rational device, this creature--far from +being endowed with reason--lays her eggs and looks after her young. The +general significance of the facts is that when competition is keen, a +new area of exploitation is a promised land. Thus spiders have spread +over all the earth except the polar areas. But here is a spider with +some spirit of adventure, which has endeavoured, instead of trekking, to +find a new corner near at home. It has tackled a problem surely +difficult for a terrestrial animal, the problem of living in great part +under water, and it has solved it in a manner at once effective and +beautiful. + + +In Conclusion + +We have given but a few representative illustrations of a great theme. +When we consider the changefulness of living creatures, the +transformations of cultivated plants and domesticated animals, the +gradual alterations in the fauna of a country, the search after new +haunts, the forming of new habits, and the discovery of many inventions, +are we not convinced that Evolution is going on? And why should it +stop? + + + + +VII + +THE DAWN OF MIND + + + + +THE DAWN OF MIND + + +In the story of evolution there is no chapter more interesting than the +emergence of mind in the animal kingdom. But it is a difficult chapter +to read, partly because "mind" cannot be seen or measured, only +_inferred_ from the outward behaviour of the creature, and partly +because it is almost impossible to avoid reading ourselves into the much +simpler animals. + + +§ 1 + +Two Extremes to be Avoided + +The one extreme is that of uncritical generosity which credits every +animal, like Brer Rabbit--who, by the way, was the hare--with human +qualities. The other extreme is that of thinking of the animal as if it +were an automatic machine, in the working of which there is no place or +use for mind. Both these extremes are to be avoided. + +When Professor Whitman took the eggs of the Passenger Pigeon (which +became extinct not long ago with startling rapidity) and placed them a +few inches to one side of the nest, the bird looked a little uneasy and +put her beak under her body as if to feel for something that was not +there. But she did not try to retrieve her eggs, close at hand as they +were. In a short time she flew away altogether. This shows that the mind +of the pigeon is in some respects very different from the mind of man. +On the other hand, when a certain clever dog, carrying a basket of eggs, +with the handle in his mouth, came to a stile which had to be +negotiated, he laid the basket on the ground, pushed it gently through a +low gap to the other side, and then took a running leap over. We dare +not talk of this dog as an automatic machine. + + +A Caution in Regard to Instinct + +In studying the behaviour of animals, which is the only way of getting +at their mind, for it is only of our own mind that we have direct +knowledge, it is essential to give prominence to the fact that there has +been throughout the evolution of living creatures a strong tendency to +enregister or engrain capacities of doing things effectively. Thus +certain abilities come to be inborn; they are parts of the inheritance, +which will express themselves whenever the appropriate trigger is +pulled. The newly born child does not require to learn its breathing +movements, as it afterwards requires to learn its walking movements. The +ability to go through the breathing movements is inborn, engrained, +enregistered. + +In other words, there are hereditary pre-arrangements of nerve-cells and +muscle-cells which come into activity almost as easily as the beating of +the heart. In a minute or two the newborn pigling creeps close to its +mother and sucks milk. It has not to learn how to do this any more than +we have to learn to cough or sneeze. Thus animals have many useful +ready-made, or almost ready-made, capacities of doing apparently clever +things. In simple cases of these inborn pre-arrangements we speak of +reflex actions; in more complicated cases, of instinctive behaviour. Now +the caution is this, that while these inborn capacities usually work +well in natural conditions, they sometimes work badly when the ordinary +routine is disturbed. We see this when a pigeon continues sitting for +many days on an empty nest, or when it fails to retrieve its eggs only +two inches away. But it would be a mistake to call the pigeon, because +of this, an unutterably stupid bird. We have only to think of the +achievements of homing pigeons to know that this cannot be true. We must +not judge animals in regard to those kinds of behaviour which have been +handed over to instinct, and go badly agee when the normal routine is +disturbed. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the enregistered +instinctive capacities work well, and the advantage of their becoming +stereotyped was to leave the animal more free for adventures at a higher +level. Being "a slave of instinct" may give the animal a security that +enables it to discover some new home or new food or new joy. Somewhat in +the same way, a man of methodical habits, which he has himself +established, may gain leisure to make some new departure of racial +profit. + +[Illustration: _Photo: O. J. Wilkinson._ + +JACKDAW BALANCING ON A GATEPOST + +The jackdaw is a big-brained, extremely alert, very educable, loquacious +bird.] + +[Illustration: _From Ingersoll's "The Wit of the Wild."_ + +TWO OPOSSUMS FEIGNING DEATH + +The Opossums are mainly arboreal marsupials, insectivorous and +carnivorous, confined to the American Continent from the United States +to Patagonia. Many have no pouch and carry their numerous young ones on +their back, the tail of the young twined round that of the mother. The +opossums are agile, clever creatures, and famous for "playing 'possum," +lying inert just as if they were dead.] + +[Illustration: MALE OF THREE-SPINED STICKLEBACK, MAKING A NEST OF +WATER-WEED, GLUED TOGETHER BY VISCID THREADS SECRETED FROM THE KIDNEYS +AT THE BREEDING SEASON] + +[Illustration: A FEMALE STICKLEBACK ENTERS THE NEST WHICH THE MALE HAS +MADE, LAYS THE EGGS INSIDE, AND THEN DEPARTS + +In many cases two or three females use the same nest, the stickleback +being polygamous. Above the nest the male, who mounts guard, is seen +driving away an intruder.] + +When we draw back our finger from something very hot, or shut our eye to +avoid a blow from a rebounding branch, we do not will the action; and +this is more or less the case, probably, when a young mammal sucks its +mother for the first time. Some Mound-birds of Celebes lay their eggs in +warm volcanic ash by the shore of the sea, others in a great mass of +fermenting vegetation; it is inborn in the newly hatched bird to +struggle out as quickly as it can from such a strange nest, else it will +suffocate. If it stops struggling too soon, it perishes, for it seems +that the trigger of the instinct cannot be pulled twice. Similarly, when +the eggs of the turtle, that have been laid in the sand of the shore, +hatch out, the young ones make _instinctively_ for the sea. Some of the +crocodiles bury their eggs two feet or so below the surface among sand +and decaying vegetation--an awkward situation for a birthplace. When the +young crocodile is ready to break out of the egg-shell, just as a chick +does at the end of the three weeks of brooding, it utters +_instinctively_ a piping cry. On hearing this, the watchful mother digs +away the heavy blankets, otherwise the young crocodile would be buried +alive at birth. Now there is no warrant for believing that the young +Mound-birds, young crocodiles, and young turtles have an intelligent +appreciation of what they do when they are hatched. They act +instinctively, "as to the manner born." But this is not to say that +their activity is not backed by endeavour or even suffused with a +certain amount of awareness. Of course, it is necessarily difficult for +man, who is so much a creature of intelligence, to get even an inkling +of the mental side of instinctive behaviour. + +In many of the higher reaches of animal instinct, as in courtship or +nest-building, in hunting or preparing the food, it looks as if the +starting of the routine activity also "rang up" the higher centres of +the brain and put the intelligence on the _qui vive_, ready to interpose +when needed. So the twofold caution is this: (1) We must not depreciate +the creature too much if, in unusual circumstances, it acts in an +ineffective way along lines of behaviour which are normally handed over +to instinct; and (2) we must leave open the possibility that even +routine instinctive behaviour may be suffused with awareness and backed +by endeavour. + + +§ 2 + +A Useful Law + +But how are we to know when to credit the animal with intelligence and +when with something less spontaneous? Above all, how are we to know when +the effective action, like opening the mouth the very instant it is +touched by food in the mother's beak, is just a physiological action +like coughing or sneezing, and when there is behind it--a mind at work? +The answer to this question is no doubt that given by Prof. Lloyd +Morgan, who may be called the founder of comparative psychology, that we +must describe the piece of behaviour very carefully, just as it +occurred, without reading anything into it, and that we must not ascribe +it to a higher faculty if it can be satisfactorily accounted for in +terms of a lower one. In following this principle we may be sometimes +niggardly, for the behaviour may have a mental subtlety that we have +missed; but in nine cases out of ten our conclusions are likely to be +sound. It is the critical, scientific way. + +Bearing this law in mind, let us take a survey of the emergence of mind +among backboned animals. + + +Senses of Fishes + +Fishes cannot shut their eyes, having no true lids; but the eyes +themselves are very well developed and the vision is acute, especially +for moving objects. Except in gristly fishes, the external opening to +the ear has been lost, so that sound-waves and coarser vibrations must +influence the inner ear, which is well developed, through the +surrounding flesh and bones. It seems that the main use of the ear in +fishes is in connection with balancing, not with hearing. In many cases, +however, the sense of hearing has been demonstrated; thus fishes will +come to the side of a pond to be fed when a bell is rung or when a +whistle is blown by someone not visible from the water. The fact that +many fishes pay no attention at all to loud noises does not prove that +they are deaf, for an animal may hear a sound and yet remain quite +indifferent or irresponsive. This merely means that the sound has no +vital interest for the animal. Some fishes, such as bullhead and +dogfish, have a true sense of smell, detecting by their nostrils very +dilute substances permeating the water from a distance. Others, such as +members of the cod family, perceive their food in part at least by the +sense of taste, which is susceptible to substances near at hand and +present in considerable quantity. This sense of taste may be located on +the fins as well as about the mouth. At this low level the senses of +smell and taste do not seem to be very readily separated. The chief use +of the sensitive line or lateral line seen on each side of a bony fish +is to make the animal aware of slow vibrations and changes of pressure +in the water. The skin responds to pressures, the ear to vibrations of +high frequency; the lateral line is between the two in its function. + + +Interesting Ways of Fishes + +The brain of the ordinary bony fish is at a very low level. Thus the +cerebral hemispheres, destined to become more and more the seat of +intelligence, are poorly developed. In gristly fishes, like skates and +sharks, the brain is much more promising. But although the state of the +brain does not lead one to expect very much from a bony fish like trout +or eel, haddock or herring, illustrations are not wanting of what might +be called pretty pieces of behaviour. Let us select a few cases. + + +The Stickleback's Nest + +The three-spined and two-spined sticklebacks live equally well in fresh +or salt water; the larger fifteen-spined stickleback is entirely marine. +In all three species the male fish makes a nest, in fresh or brackish +water in the first two cases, in shore-pools in the third case. The +little species use the leaves and stems of water-plants; the larger +species use seaweed and zoophyte. The leaves or fronds are entangled +together and fastened by glue-like threads, secreted, strange to say, by +the kidneys. It is just as if a temporary diseased condition had been +regularised and turned to good purpose. Going through the nest several +times, the male makes a little room in the middle. Partly by coercion +and partly by coaxing he induces a female--first one and then +another--to pass through the nest with two doors, depositing eggs during +her short sojourn. The females go their way, and the male mounts guard +over the nest. He drives off intruding fishes much bigger than himself. +When the young are hatched, the male has for a time much to do, keeping +his charges within bounds until they are able to move about with +agility. It seems that sticklebacks are short-lived fishes, probably +breeding only once; and it is reasonable to suppose that their success +as a race depends to some extent on the paternal care. Now if we could +believe that the nesting behaviour had appeared suddenly in its present +form, we should be inclined to credit the fish with considerable mental +ability. But we are less likely to be so generous if we reflect that the +routine has been in all likelihood the outcome of a long racial process +of slight improvements and critical testings. The secretion of the glue +probably came about as a pathological variation; its utilisation was +perhaps discovered by accident; the types that had wit enough to take +advantage of this were most successful; the routine became enregistered +hereditarily. The stickleback is not so clever as it looks. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Imperial War Museum._ + +HOMING PIGEON + +A blue chequer hen, which during the War (in September of 1918) flew 22 +miles in as many minutes, saving the crew of an aeroplane in +difficulties.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Imperial War Museum._ + +CARRIER PIGEON + +Carrier pigeons were much used in the War to carry messages. The +photograph shows how the message is fixed to the carrier pigeon's leg, +in the form of light rings.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: James's Press Agency._ + +YELLOW-CROWNED PENGUIN + +Notice the flightless wings turned into flippers, which are often +flapped very vigorously. The very strong feet are also noteworthy. +Penguins are mostly confined to the Far South.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Cagcombe & Co._ + +PENGUINS ARE "A PECULIAR PEOPLE" + +Their wings have been turned into flippers for swimming in the sea and +tobogganing on snow. The penguins come back over hundreds of miles of +trackless waste to their birthplace, where they breed. When they reach +the Antarctic shore they walk with determination to a suitable site, +often at the top of a steep cliff. Some species waddle 130 steps per +minute, 6 inches per step, two-thirds of a mile per hour.] + + +The Mind of a Minnow + +To find solid ground on which to base an appreciation of the behaviour +of fishes, it is necessary to experiment, and we may refer to Miss +Gertrude White's interesting work on American minnows and sticklebacks. +After the fishes had become quite at home in their artificial +surroundings, their lessons began. Cloth packets, one of which contained +meat and the other cotton, were suspended at opposite ends of the +aquarium. The mud-minnows did not show that they perceived either +packet, though they swam close by them; the sticklebacks were intrigued +at once. Those that went towards the packet containing meat darted +furiously upon it and pulled at it with great excitement. Those that +went towards the cotton packet turned sharply away when they were within +about two inches off. They then perceived what those at the other end +were after and joined them--a common habit amongst fishes. Although the +minnows were not interested in the tiny "bags of mystery," they were +even more alert than the sticklebacks in perceiving moving objects in or +on the water, and there is no doubt that both these shallow-water +species discover their food largely by sense of sight. + +The next set of lessons had to do with colour-associations. The fishes +were fed on minced snail, chopped earthworm, fragments of liver, and the +like, and the food was given to them from the end of forceps held above +the surface of the water, so that the fishes could not be influenced by +smell. They had to leap out of the water to take the food from the +forceps. Discs of coloured cardboard were slipped over the end of the +forceps, so that what the fishes saw was a morsel of food in the centre +of a coloured disc. After a week or so of preliminary training, they +were so well accustomed to the coloured discs that the presentation of +one served as a signal for the fishes to dart to the surface and spring +out of the water. When baits of paper were substituted for the food, the +fishes continued to jump at the discs. When, however, a blue disc was +persistently used for the paper bait and a red disc for the real food, +or _vice versa_, some of the minnows learned to discriminate infallibly +between shadow and substance, both when these were presented alternately +and when they were presented simultaneously. This is not far from the +dawn of mind. + +In the course of a few lessons, both minnows and sticklebacks learned to +associate particular colours with food, and other associations were also +formed. A kind of larva that a minnow could make nothing of after +repeated trials was subsequently ignored. The approach of the +experimenter or anyone else soon began to serve as a food-signal. There +can be no doubt that in the ordinary life of fishes there is a process +of forming useful associations and suppressing useless responses. Given +an inborn repertory of profitable movements that require no training, +given the power of forming associations such as those we have +illustrated, and given a considerable degree of sensory alertness along +certain lines, fishes do not require much more. And in truth they have +not got it. Moving with great freedom in three dimensions in a medium +that supports them and is very uniform and constant, able in most cases +to get plenty of food without fatiguing exertions and to dispense with +it for considerable periods if it is scarce, multiplying usually in +great abundance so that the huge infantile mortality hardly counts, +rarely dying a natural death but usually coming with their strength +unabated to a violent end, fishes hold their own in the struggle for +existence without much in the way of mental endowment. Their brain has +more to do with motion than with mentality, and they have remained at a +low psychical level. + +Yet just as we should greatly misjudge our own race if we confined our +attention to everyday routine, so in our total, as distinguished from +our average, estimate of fishes, we must remember the salmon surmounting +the falls, the wary trout eluding the angler's skill, the common +mud-skipper (Periophthalmus) of many tropical shores which climbs on the +rocks and the roots of the mangrove-trees, or actively hunts small +shore-animals. We must remember the adventurous life-history of the eel +and the quaint ways in which some fishes, males especially, look after +their family. The male sea-horse puts the eggs in his breast-pocket; the +male Kurtus carries them on the top of his head; the cock-paidle or +lumpsucker guards them and aerates them in a corner of a shore-pool. + + +§ 3 + +The Mind of Amphibians + +Towards the end of the age of the Old Red Sandstone or Devonian, a great +step in evolution was taken--the emergence of Amphibians. The earliest +representatives had fish-like characters even more marked than those +which may be discerned in the tadpoles of our frogs and toads, and there +is no doubt that amphibians sprang from a fish stock. But they made +great strides, associated in part with their attempts to get out of the +water on to dry land. From fossil forms we cannot say much in regard to +soft parts; but if we consider the living representatives of the class, +we may credit amphibians with such important acquisitions as fingers and +toes, a three-chambered heart, true ventral lungs, a drum to the ear, a +mobile tongue, and vocal cords. When animals began to be able to grasp +an object and when they began to be able to utter sufficient sounds, two +new doors were opened. Apart from insects, whose instrumental music had +probably begun before the end of the Devonian age, amphibians were the +first animals to have a voice. The primary meaning of this voice was +doubtless, as it is to-day in our frogs, a sex-call; but it was the +beginning of what was destined to play a very important part in the +evolution of the mind. In the course of ages the significance of the +voice broadened out; it became a parental call; it became an infant's +cry. Broadening still, it became a very useful means of recognition +among kindred, especially in the dark and in the intricacies of the +forest. Ages passed, and the voice rose on another turn of the +evolutionary spiral to be expressive of particular emotions beyond the +immediate circle of sex--emotions of joy and of fear, of jealousy and of +contentment. Finally, we judge, the animal--perhaps the bird was +first--began to give utterance to particular "words," indicative not +merely of emotions, but of particular things with an emotional halo, +such as "food," "enemy," "home." Long afterwards, words became _in man_ +the medium of reasoned discourse. Sentences were made and judgments +expressed. But was not the beginning in the croaking of Amphibia? + + +Senses of Amphibians + +Frogs have good eyes, and the toad's eyes are "jewels." There is +evidence of precise vision in the neat way in which a frog catches a +fly, flicking out its tongue, which is fixed in front and loose behind. +There is also experimental proof that a frog discriminates between red +and blue, or between red and white, and an interesting point is that +while our skin is sensitive to heat rays but not to light, the skin of +the frog answers back to light rays as well. Professor Yerkes +experimented with a frog which had to go through a simple labyrinth if +it wished to reach a tank of water. At the first alternative between two +paths, a red card was placed on the wrong side and a white one on the +other. When the frog had learned to take the correct path, marked by the +white card, Prof. Yerkes changed the cards. The confusion of the frog +showed how thoroughly it had learned its lesson. + +We know very little in regard to sense of smell or taste in amphibians; +but the sense of hearing is well developed, more developed than might be +inferred from the indifference that frogs show to almost all sounds +except the croaking of their kindred and splashes in the water. + +The toad looks almost sagacious when it is climbing up a bank, and some +of the tree-frogs are very alert; but there is very little that we dare +say about the amphibian mind. We have mentioned that frogs may learn the +secret of a simple maze, and toads sometimes make for a particular +spawning-pond from a considerable distance. But an examination of their +brains, occupying a relatively small part of the broad, flat skull, +warns us not to expect much intelligence. On the other hand, when we +take frogs along a line that is very vital to them, namely, the +discrimination of palatable and unpalatable insects, we find, by +experiment, that they are quick to learn and that they remember their +lessons for many days. Frogs sometimes deposit their eggs in very +unsuitable pools of water; but perhaps that is not quite so stupid as it +looks. The egg-laying is a matter that has been, as it were, handed over +to instinctive registration. + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge._ + +HARPY-EAGLE + +"Clean and dainty and proud as a Spanish Don." + +It is an arboreal and cliff-loving bird, feeding chiefly on mammals, +very fierce and strong. The under parts are mostly white, with a greyish +zone on the chest. The upper parts are blackish-grey. The harpy occurs +from Mexico to Paraguay and Bolivia.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S._ + +THE DINGO OR WILD DOG OF AUSTRALIA, PERHAPS AN INDIGENOUS WILD SPECIES, +PERHAPS A DOMESTICATED DOG THAT HAS GONE WILD OR FERAL + +It does much harm in destroying sheep. It is famous for its persistent +"death-feigning," for an individual has been known to allow part of its +skin to be removed, in the belief that it was dead, before betraying its +vitality.] + +[Illustration: WOODPECKER, HAMMERING AT A COTTON-REEL, ATTACHED TO A +TREE + +Notice how the stiff tail-feathers braced against the stem help the bird +to cling on with its toes. The original hole, in which this woodpecker +inserted nuts for the purposes of cracking the shell and extracting the +kernel, is seen towards the top of the tree. But the taker of the +photograph tied on a hollowed-out cotton-reel as a receptacle for a nut, +and it was promptly discovered and used by the bird.] + + +Experiments in Parental Care + +It must be put to the credit of amphibians that they have made many +experiments in methods of parental care, as if they were feeling their +way to new devices. A common frog lays her clumps of eggs in the cradle +of the water, sometimes far over a thousand together; the toad winds two +long strings round and between water-weeds; and in both cases that is +all. There is no parental care, and the prolific multiplication covers +the enormous infantile mortality. This is the spawning solution of the +problem of securing the continuance of the race. But there is another +solution, that of parental care associated with an economical reduction +of the number of eggs. Thus the male of the Nurse-Frog (Alytes), not +uncommon on the Continent, fixes a string of twenty to fifty eggs to the +upper part of his hind-legs, and retires to his hole, only coming out at +night to get some food and to keep up the moisture about the eggs. In +three weeks, when the tadpoles are ready to come out, he plunges into +the pond and is freed from his living burden and his family cares. In +the case of the thoroughly aquatic Surinam Toad (Pipa), the male helps +to press the eggs, perhaps a hundred in number, on to the back of the +female, where each sinks into a pocket of skin with a little lid. By and +by fully formed young toads jump out of the pockets. + +In the South American tree-frogs called Nototrema there is a pouch on +the back of the female in which the eggs develop, and it is interesting +to find that in some species what come out are ordinary tadpoles, while +in other species the young emerge as miniatures of their parents. +Strangest of all, perhaps, is the case of Darwin's Frog (Rhinoderma of +Chili), where the young, about ten to fifteen in number, develop in the +male's croaking-sacs, which become in consequence enormously distended. +Eventually the strange spectacle is seen of miniature frogs jumping out +of their father's mouth. Needless to say we are not citing these methods +of parental care as examples of intelligence; but perhaps they correct +the impression of amphibians as a rather humdrum race. Whatever be the +mental aspect of the facts, there has certainly been some kind of +experimenting, and the increase of parental care, so marked in many +amphibians, with associated reduction of the number of offspring is a +finger-post on the path of progress. + + +§ 4 + +The Reptilian Mind + +We speak of the wisdom of the serpent; but it is not very easy to +justify the phrase. Among all the multitude of reptiles--snakes, +lizards, turtles, and crocodiles, a motley crowd--we cannot see much +more than occasional traces of intelligence. The inner life remains a +tiny rill. + +No doubt many reptiles are very effective; but it is an instinctive +rather than an intelligent efficiency. The well-known "soft-shell" +tortoise of the United States swims with powerful strokes and runs so +quickly that it can hardly be overtaken. It hunts vigorously for +crayfish and insect larvæ in the rivers. It buries itself in the mud +when cold weather comes. It may lie on a floating log ready to slip into +the water at a moment's notice; it may bask on a sunny bank or in the +warm shallows. Great wariness is shown in choosing times and places for +egg-laying. The mother tramps the earth down upon the buried eggs. All +is effective. Similar statements might be made in regard to scores of +other reptiles; but what we see is almost wholly of the nature of +instinctive routine, and we get little glimpse of more than efficiency +and endeavour. + +In a few cases there is proof of reptiles finding their way back to +their homes from a considerable distance, and recognition of persons is +indubitable. Gilbert White remarks of his tortoise: "Whenever the good +old lady came in sight who had waited on it for more than thirty years, +it always hobbled with awkward alacrity towards its benefactress, while +to strangers it was altogether inattentive." Of definite learning there +are a few records. Thus Professor Yerkes studied a sluggish turtle of +retiring disposition, taking advantage of its strong desire to efface +itself. On the path of the darkened nest of damp grass he interposed a +simple maze in the form of a partitioned box. After wandering about +constantly for thirty-five minutes the turtle found its way through the +maze by chance. Two hours afterwards it reached the nest in fifteen +minutes; and after another interval of two hours it only required five +minutes. After the third trial, the routes became more direct, there was +less aimless wandering. The time of the twentieth trial was forty-five +seconds; that of the thirtieth, forty seconds. In the thirtieth case, +the path followed was quite direct, and so it was on the fiftieth trip, +which only required thirty-five seconds. Of course, the whole thing did +not amount to very much; but there was a definite learning, _a learning +from experience_, which has played an important part in the evolution of +animal behaviour. + +Comparing reptiles with amphibians, we may recognise an increased +masterliness of behaviour and a hint of greater plasticity. The records +of observers who have made pets of reptiles suggest that the life of +feeling or emotion is growing stronger, and so do stories, if they can +be accepted, which suggest the beginning of conjugal affection. + +The error must be guarded against of interpreting in terms of +intelligence what is merely the outcome of long-continued structure +adaptation. When the limbless lizard called the Slow-worm is suddenly +seized by the tail, it escapes by surrendering the appendage, which +breaks across a preformed weak plane. But this is a reflex action, not a +reflective one. It is comparable to our sudden withdrawal of our finger +from a very hot cinder. The Egg-eating African snake Dasypeltis gets the +egg of a bird into its gullet unbroken, and cuts the shell against +downward-projecting sharp points of the vertebræ. None of the precious +contents is lost and the broken "empties" are returned. It is admirable, +indeed unsurpassable; but it is not intelligent. + + +§ 5 + +Mind in Birds + +Sight and hearing are highly developed in birds, and the senses, besides +pulling the triggers of inborn efficiencies, supply the raw materials +for intelligence. There is some truth, though not the whole truth, in +the old philosophical dictum, that there is nothing in the intellect +which was not previously in the senses. Many people have admired the +certainty and alacrity with which gulls pick up a fragment of biscuit +from the white wake of a steamer, and the incident is characteristic. In +their power of rapidly altering the focus of the eye, birds are +unsurpassed. + +To the sense of sight in birds, the sense of hearing comes a good +second. A twig breaks under our feet, and out sounds the danger-call of +the bird we were trying to watch. Many young birds, like partridges, +respond when two or three hours old to the anxious warning note of the +parents, and squat motionless on the ground, though other sounds, such +as the excited clucking of a foster-mother hen, leave them indifferent. +They do not know what they are doing when they squat; they are obeying +the living hand of the past which is within them. Their behaviour is +instinctive. But the present point is the discriminating quality of the +sense of hearing; and that is corroborated by the singing of birds. +It is emotional art, expressing feelings in the medium of sound. On the +part of the females, who are supposed to listen, it betokens a +cultivated ear. + +[Illustration: THE BEAVER + +The beaver will gnaw through trees a foot in diameter; to save itself +more trouble than is necessary, it will stop when it has gnawed the +trunk till there is only a narrow core left, having the wit to know that +the autumn gales will do the rest.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: F. R. Hinkins & Son._ + +THE THRUSH AT ITS ANVIL + +The song-thrush takes the snail's shell in its bill, and knocks it +against a stone until it breaks, making the palatable flesh available. + +Many broken shells are often found around the anvil.] + +As to the other senses, touch is not highly developed except about the +bill, where it reaches a climax in birds like the wood-cock, which probe +for unseen earthworms in the soft soil. Taste seems to be poorly +developed, for most birds bolt their food, but there is sometimes an +emphatic rejection of unpalatable things, like toads and caterpillars. +Of smell in birds little is known, but it has been proved to be present +in certain cases, e.g. in some nocturnal birds of prey. It seems certain +that it is by sight, not by smell, that the eagles gather to the +carcass; but perhaps there is more smell in birds than they are usually +credited with. One would like to experiment with the oil from the preen +gland of birds to see whether the scent of this does not help in the +recognition of kin by kin at night or amid the darkness of the forest. +There may be other senses in birds, such as a sense of temperature and a +sense of balance; but no success has attended the attempts made to +demonstrate a magnetic sense, which has been impatiently postulated by +students of bird migration in order to "explain" how the birds find +their way. The big fact is that in birds there are two widely open +gateways of knowledge, the sense of sight and the sense of hearing. + + +Instinctive Aptitudes + +Many a young water-bird, such as a coot, swims right away when it is +tumbled into water for the first time. So chicks peck without any +learning or teaching, very young ducklings catch small moths that flit +by, and young plovers lie low when the danger-signal sounds. But birds +seem strangely limited as regards many of these instinctive +capacities--limited when compared with the "little-brained" ants and +bees, which have from the first such a rich repertory of ready-made +cleverness. The limitation in birds is of great interest, for it means +that intelligence is coming to its own and is going to take up the +reins at many corners of the daily round. Professor Lloyd Morgan +observed that his chickens incubated in the laboratory had no +instinctive awareness of the significance of their mother's cluck when +she was brought outside the door. Although thirsty and willing to drink +from a moistened finger-tip, they did not instinctively recognize water, +even when they walked through a saucerful. Only when they happened to +peck their toes as they stood in the water did they appreciate water as +the stuff they wanted, and raise their bills up to the sky. Once or +twice they actually stuffed their crops with "worms" of red worsted! + +Instinctive aptitudes, then, the young birds have, but these are more +limited than in ants, bees, and wasps; and the reason is to be found in +the fact that the brain is now evolving on the tack of what Sir Ray +Lankester has called "educability." Young birds _learn_ with prodigious +rapidity; the emancipation of the mind from the tyranny of hereditary +obligations has begun. Young birds make mistakes, like the red worsted +mistake, but they do not make the same mistakes often. They are able to +profit by experience in a very rapid way. We do not mean that creatures +of the little-brain type, like ants, bees, and wasps, are unable to +profit by experience or are without intelligence. There are no such +hard-and-fast lines. We mean that in the ordinary life of insects the +enregistered instinctive capacities are on the whole sufficient for the +occasion, and that intelligent educability is very slightly developed. +Nor do we mean that birds are quite emancipated from the tyranny of +engrained instinctive obligations, and can always "ring up" intelligence +in a way that is impossible for the stereotyped bee. The sight of a +pigeon brooding on an empty nest, while her two eggs lie disregarded +only a couple of inches away, is enough to show that along certain lines +birds may find it impossible to get free from the trammels of instinct. +The peculiar interest of birds is that they have many instincts and yet +a notable power of learning intelligently. + + +Intelligence co-operating with Instinct + +Professor Lloyd Morgan was foster-parent to two moorhens which grew up +in isolation from their kindred. They swam instinctively, but they would +not dive, neither in a large bath nor in a current. But it happened one +day when one of these moorhens was swimming in a pool on a Yorkshire +stream, that a puppy came barking down the bank and made an awkward +feint towards the young bird. In a moment the moorhen dived, disappeared +from view, and soon partially reappeared, his head just peeping above +the water beneath the overhanging bank. This was the first time the bird +had dived, and the performance was absolutely true to type. + +There can be little doubt as to the meaning of this observation. The +moorhen has an hereditary or instinctive capacity for swimming and +diving, but the latter is not so easily called into activity as the +former. The particular moorhen in question had enjoyed about two months +of swimming experience, which probably counted for something, but in the +course of that experience nothing had pulled the trigger of the diving +capacity. On an eventful day the young moorhen saw and heard the dog; it +was emotionally excited; it probably did to some extent intelligently +appreciate a novel and meaningful situation. Intelligence cooperated +with instinct, and the bird dived appropriately. + +Birds have inborn predispositions to certain effective ways of pecking, +scratching, swimming, diving, flying, crouching, lying low, +nest-building, and so on; but they are marked off from the much more +purely instinctive ants and bees by the extent to which individual +"nurture" seems to mingle with the inherited "nature." The two together +result in the fine product which we call the bird's behaviour. After +Lloyd Morgan's chicks had tried a few conspicuous and unpalatable +caterpillars, they had no use for any more. They learned in their early +days with prodigious rapidity, illustrating the deep difference between +the "big-brain" type, relatively poor in its endowment of instinctive +capacities, but eminently "educable," and the "little-brain" type, say, +of ants and bees, richly endowed with instinctive capacities, but very +far from being quick or glad to learn. We owe it to Sir Ray Lankester to +have made it clear that these two types of brain are, as it were, on +different tacks of evolution, and should not be directly pitted against +one another. The "little-brain" type makes for a climax in the ant, +where instinctive behaviour reaches a high degree of perfection; the +"big-brain" type reaches its climax in horse and dog, in elephant and +monkey. The particular interest that attaches to the behaviour of birds +is in the combination of a good deal of instinct with a great deal of +intelligent learning. This is well illustrated when birds make a nest +out of new materials or in some quite novel situation. It is clearly +seen when birds turn to some new kind of food, like the Kea parrot, +which attacks the sheep in New Zealand. + +Some young woodpeckers are quite clever in opening fir cones to get at +the seeds, and this might be hastily referred to a well-defined +hereditary capacity. But the facts are that the parents bring their +young ones first the seeds themselves, then partly opened cones, and +then intact ones. There is an educative process, and so it is in scores +of cases. + + +Using their Wits + +When the Greek eagle lifts the Greek tortoise in its talons, and lets it +fall from a height so that the strong carapace is broken and the flesh +exposed, it is making intelligent use of an expedient. Whether it +discovered the expedient by experimenting, as is possible, or by chance, +as is more likely, it uses it intelligently. In the same way +herring-gulls lift sea-urchins and clams in their bills, and let them +fall on the rocks so that the shells are broken. In the same way rooks +deal with freshwater mussels. + + +The Thrush's Anvil + +A very instructive case is the behaviour of the song-thrush when it +takes a wood-snail in its beak and hammers it against a stone, its +so-called anvil. To a young thrush, which she had brought up by hand, +Miss Frances Pitt offered some wood-snails, but it took no interest in +them until one put out its head and began to move about. The bird then +pecked at the snail's horns, but was evidently puzzled when the creature +retreated within the shelter of the shell. This happened over and over +again, the thrush's inquisitive interest increasing day by day. It +pecked at the shell and even picked it up by the lip, but no real +progress was made till the sixth day, when the thrush seized the snail +and beat it on the ground as it would a big worm. On the same day it +picked up a shell and knocked it repeatedly against a stone, trying +first one snail and then another. After fifteen minutes' hard work, the +thrush managed to break one, and after that it was all easy. A certain +predisposition to beat things on the ground was doubtless present, but +the experiment showed that the use of an anvil could be arrived at by an +untutored bird. After prolonged trying it found out how to deal with a +difficult situation. It may be said that in more natural conditions this +might be picked up by imitation, but while this is quite possible, it is +useful to notice that experiments with animals lead us to doubt whether +imitation counts for nearly so much as used to be believed. + + +§ 6 + +The Mind of the Mammal + +When we watch a collie at a sheep-driving competition, or an elephant +helping the forester, or a horse shunting waggons at a railway siding, +we are apt to be too generous to the mammal mind. For in the cases we +have just mentioned, part of man's mind has, so to speak, got into the +animal's. On the other hand, when we study rabbits and guinea-pigs, we +are apt to be too stingy, for these rodents are under the average of +mammals, and those that live in domestication illustrate the stupefying +effect of a too sheltered life. The same applies to domesticated sheep +contrasted with wild sheep, or even with their own lambs. If we are to +form a sound judgment on the intelligence of mammals we must not attend +too much to those that have profited by man's training, nor to those +whose mental life has been dulled by domestication. + + +Instinctive Aptitudes + +What is to be said of the behaviour of beavers who gnaw the base of a +tree with their chisel-edged teeth till only a narrow core is left--to +snap in the first gale, bringing the useful branches down to the ground? +What is to be said of the harvest-mouse constructing its nest, or of the +squirrel making cache after cache of nuts? These and many similar pieces +of behaviour are fundamentally instinctive, due to inborn +predispositions of nerve-cells and muscle-cells. But in mammals they +seem to be often attended by a certain amount of intelligent attention, +saving the creature from the tyranny of routine so marked in the ways of +ants and bees. + + +Sheer Dexterity + +Besides instinctive aptitudes, which are exhibited in almost equal +perfection by all the members of the same species, there are acquired +dexterities which depend on individual opportunities. They are also +marked by being outside and beyond ordinary routine--not that any +rigorous boundary line can be drawn. We read that at Mathura on the +Jumna doles of food are provided by the piety of pilgrims for the sacred +river-tortoises, which are so crowded when there is food going that +their smooth carapaces form a more or less continuous raft across the +river. On that unsteady slippery bridge the Langur monkeys +(_Semnopithecus entellus_) venture out and in spite of vicious snaps +secure a share of the booty. This picture of the monkeys securing a +footing on the moving mass of turtle-backs is almost a diagram of sheer +dexterity. It illustrates the spirit of adventure, the will to +experiment, which is, we believe, the main motive-force in new +departures in behaviour. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Lafayette_ + +ALSATIAN WOLF-DOG + +An animal of acute senses and great intelligence. It was of great +service in the war. + +(The dog shown, Arno von Indetal, is a trained police dog and did +service abroad during the war.)] + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge._ + +THE POLAR BEAR OF THE FAR NORTH + +An animal of extraordinary strength, able with a stroke of its paw to +lift a big seal right out of the water and send it crashing along the +ice. The food consists chiefly of seals. The sexes wander separately. A +hole is often dug as a winter retreat, but there is no hibernation. A +polar bear in captivity has been seen making a current with its paw in +the water of its pool in order to secure floating buns without +trouble--an instance of sheer intelligence.] + +[Illustration: _From the Smithsonian Report_, 1914 + +AN ALLIGATOR "YAWNING" IN EXPECTATION OF FOOD + +Note the large number of sharp conical teeth fixed in sockets along the +jaws.] + + +Power of Association + +A bull-terrier called Jasper, studied by Prof. J. B. Watson, showed +great power of associating certain words with certain actions. From a +position invisible to the dog the owner would give certain commands, +such as "Go into the next room and bring me a paper lying on the floor." +Jasper did this at once, and a score of similar things. + +Lord Avebury's dog Van was accustomed to go to a box containing a small +number of printed cards and select the card TEA or OUT, as the occasion +suggested. It had established an association between certain black marks +on a white background and the gratification of certain desires. It is +probable that some of the extraordinary things horses and dogs have been +known to do in the way of stamping a certain number of times in supposed +indication of an answer to an arithmetical question (in the case of +horses), or of the name of an object drawn (in the case of dogs), are +dependent on clever associations established by the teacher between +minute signs and a number of stampings. What is certain is that mammals +have in varying degrees a strong power of establishing associations. +There is often some delicacy in the association established. Everyone +knows of cases where a dog, a cat, or a horse will remain quite +uninterested, to all appearance, in its owner's movements until some +little detail, such as taking a key from its peg, pulls the trigger. Now +the importance of this in the wild life of the fox or the hare, the +otter or the squirrel, is obviously that the young animals learn to +associate certain sounds in their environment with definite +possibilities. They have to learn an alphabet of woodcraft, the letters +of which are chiefly sounds and scents. + + +The Dancing Mouse as a Pupil + +The dancing or waltzing mouse is a Japanese variety with many +peculiarities, such as having only one of the three semicircular canals +of the ear well developed. It has a strong tendency to waltz round and +round in circles without sufficient cause and to trip sideways towards +its dormitory instead of proceeding in the orthodox head-on fashion. But +this freak is a very educable creature, as Professor Yerkes has shown. +In a careful way he confronted his mouse-pupil with alternative pathways +marked by different degrees of illumination, or by different colours. If +the mouse chose compartment A, it found a clear passage direct to its +nest; if it chose compartment B, it was punished by a mild electric +shock and it had to take a roundabout road home. Needless to say, the A +compartment was sometimes to the right hand, sometimes to the left, else +mere position would have been a guide. The experiments showed that the +dancing mice learn to discriminate the right path from the wrong, and +similar results have been got from other mammals, such as rats and +squirrels. There is no proof of learning by ideas, but there is proof of +learning by experience. And the same must be true in wild life. + +Many mammals, such as cats and rats, learn how to manipulate +puzzle-boxes and how to get at the treasure at the heart of a Hampton +Court maze. Some of the puzzle-boxes, with a reward of food inside, are +quite difficult, for the various bolts and bars have to be dealt with in +a particular order, and yet many mammals master the problem. What is +plain is that they gradually eliminate useless movements, that they make +fewer and fewer mistakes, that they eventually succeed, and that they +register the solution within themselves so that it remains with them for +a time. It looks a little like the behaviour of a man who learns a game +of skill without thinking. It is a learning by experience, not by ideas +or reflection. Thus it is very difficult to suppose that a rat or a cat +could form any idea or even picture of the Hampton Court maze--which +they nevertheless master. + + +Learning Tricks + +Given sufficient inducement many of the cleverer mammals will learn to +do very sensible things, and no one is wise enough to say that they +never understand what they are doing. Yet it is certain that trained +animals often exhibit pieces of behaviour which are not nearly so clever +as they look. The elephant at the Belle Vue Gardens in Manchester used +to collect pennies from benevolent visitors. When it got a penny in its +trunk it put it in the slot of an automatic machine which delivered up a +biscuit. When a visitor gave the elephant a halfpenny it used to throw +it back with disgust. At first sight this seemed almost wise, and there +was no doubt some intelligent appreciation of the situation. But it was +largely a matter of habituation, the outcome of careful and prolonged +training. The elephant was laboriously taught to put the penny in the +slot and to discriminate between the useful pennies and the useless +halfpennies. It was not nearly so clever as it looked. + + +Using their Wits + +In the beautiful Zoological Park in Edinburgh the Polar Bear was wont to +sit on a rocky peninsula of a water-filled quarry. The visitors threw in +buns, some of which floated on the surface. It was often easy for the +Polar Bear to collect half a dozen by plunging into the pool. But it had +discovered a more interesting way. At the edge of the peninsula it +scooped the water gently with its huge paw and made a current which +brought the buns ashore. This was a simple piece of behaviour, but it +has the smack of intelligence--of putting two and two together in a +novel way. It suggests the power of making what is called a "perceptual +inference." + +On the occasion of a great flood in a meadow it was observed that a +number of mares brought their foals to the top of a knoll, and stood +round about them protecting them against the rising water. A dog has +been known to show what was at any rate a plastic appreciation of a +varying situation in swimming across a tidal river. It changed its +starting-point, they say, according to the flow or ebb of the tide. +Arctic foxes and some other wild mammals show great cleverness in +dealing with traps, and the manipulative intelligence of elephants is +worthy of all our admiration. + + +§ 7 + +Why is there not more Intelligence? + +When we allow for dexterity and power of association, when we recognise +a certain amount of instinctive capacity and a capacity for profiting by +experience in an intelligent way, we must admit a certain degree of +disappointment when we take a survey of the behaviour of mammals, +especially of those with very fine brains, from which we should +naturally expect great things. Why is there not more frequent exhibition +of intelligence in the stricter sense? + +The answer is that most mammals have become in the course of time very +well adapted to the ordinary conditions of their life, and tend to leave +well alone. They have got their repertory of efficient answers to the +ordinary questions of everyday life, and why should they experiment? In +the course of the struggle for existence what has been established is +efficiency in normal circumstances, and therefore even the higher +animals tend to be no cleverer than is necessary. So while many mammals +are extraordinarily efficient, they tend to be a little dull. Their +mental equipment is adequate for the everyday conditions of their life, +but it is not on sufficiently generous lines to admit of, let us say, an +interest in Nature or adventurous experiment. Mammals always tend to +"play for safety." + +We hasten, however, to insert here some very interesting saving clauses. + + +Experimentation in Play + +A glimpse of what mammals are capable of, were it necessary, may be +obtained by watching those that are playful, such as lambs and kids, +foals and calves, young foxes and others. For these young creatures let +themselves go irresponsibly, they are still unstereotyped, they test +what they and their fellows can do. The experimental character of much +of animal play is very marked. + +It is now recognised by biologists that play among animals is the young +form of work, and that the playing period, often so conspicuous, is +vitally important as an apprenticeship to the serious business of life +and as an opportunity for learning the alphabet of Nature. But the +playing period is much more; it is one of the few opportunities animals +have of making experiments without too serious responsibilities. Play is +Nature's device for allowing elbow-room for new departures +(behaviour-variations) which may form part of the raw materials of +progress. Play, we repeat, gives us a glimpse of the possibilities of +the mammal mind. + + +Other Glimpses of Intelligence + +A squirrel is just as clever as it needs to be and no more; and of some +vanishing mammals, like the beaver, not even this can be said. Humdrum +non-plastic efficiency is apt to mean stagnation. Now we have just seen +that in the play of young mammals there is an indication of unexhausted +possibilities, and we get the same impression when we think of three +other facts. (_a_) In those mammals, like dog and horse, which have +entered into active cooperative relations with man, we see that the mind +of the mammal is capable of much more than the average would lead us to +think. When man's sheltering is too complete and the domesticated +creature is passive in his grip, the intelligence deteriorates. (_b_) +When we study mammals, like the otter, which live a versatile life in a +very complex and difficult environment, we get an inspiriting picture of +the play of wits. (_c_) Thirdly, when we pass to monkeys, where the +fore-limb has become a free hand, where the brain shows a relatively +great improvement, where "words" are much used, we cannot fail to +recognise the emergence of something new--a restless inquisitiveness, a +desire to investigate the world, an unsatisfied tendency to experiment. +We are approaching the Dawn of Reason. + + +THE MIND OF MONKEYS + +§ 8 + +There is a long gamut between the bushy-tailed, almost squirrel-like +marmosets and the big-brained chimpanzee. There is great variety of +attainment at different levels in the Simian tribe. + + +Keen Senses + +To begin at the beginning, it is certain that monkeys have a first-class +sensory equipment, especially as regards sight, hearing, and touch. The +axes of the two eyes are directed forwards as in man, and a large +section of the field of vision is common to both eyes. In other words, +monkeys have a more complete stereoscopic vision than the rest of the +mammals enjoy. They look more and smell less. They can distinguish +different colours, apart from different degrees of brightness in the +coloured objects. They are quick to discriminate differences in the +shapes of things, e.g. boxes similar in size but different in shape, for +if the prize is always put in a box of the same shape they soon learn +(by association) to select the profitable one. They learn to +discriminate cards with short words or with signs printed on them, +coming down when the "Yes" card is shown, remaining on their perch when +the card says "No." Bred to a forest life where alertness is a +life-or-death quality, they are quick to respond to a sudden movement or +to pick out some new feature in their surroundings. And what is true of +vision holds also for hearing. + + +Power of Manipulation + +Another quality which separates monkeys very markedly from ordinary +mammals is their manipulative expertness, the co-ordination of hand +and eye. This great gift follows from the fact that among monkeys the +fore-leg has been emancipated. It has ceased to be indispensable as an +organ of support; it has become a climbing, grasping, lifting, handling +organ. The fore-limb has become a free hand, and everyone who knows +monkeys at all is aware of the zest with which they use their tool. They +enjoy pulling things to pieces--a kind of dissection--or screwing the +handle off a brush and screwing it on again. + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. P. Dando_ + +BABY ORANG + +Notice the small ears and the suggestion of good temper. The mother +orang will throw prickly fruits and pieces of branches at those who +intrude on her maternal care.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Gambier Bolton._ + +ORANG-UTAN + +A large and heavy ape, frequenting forests in Sumatra and Borneo, living +mainly in trees, where a temporary nest is made. The expression is +melancholy, the belly very protuberant, the colour yellow-brown, the +movements are cautious and slow.] + +[Illustration: 1. CHIMPANZEE + +2. BABY ORANG-UTAN + +3. ORANG-UTAN + +4. BABY CHIMPANZEES + +_Photos: James's Press Agency._ + +In his famous book on _The Expression of the Emotions in Man and +Animals_ (1872) Charles Darwin showed that many forms of facial +expression familiar in man have their counterparts in apes and other +mammals. He also showed how important the movements of expression are as +means of communication between mother and offspring, mate and mate, kith +and kin. + +The anthropoid apes show notable differences of temperament as the +photographs show. The chimpanzee is lively, cheerful, and educable. The +orang is also mild of temper, but often and naturally appears melancholy +in captivity. This is not suggested, however, by our photograph of the +adult. Both chimpanzee and orang are markedly contrasted with the fierce +and gloomy gorilla.] + + +Activity for Activity's Sake + +Professor Thorndike hits the nail on the head when he lays stress on the +intensity of activity in monkeys--activity both of body and mind. They +are pent-up reservoirs of energy, which almost any influence will tap. +Watch a cat or a dog, Professor Thorndike says; it does comparatively +few things and is content for long periods to do nothing. It will be +splendidly active in response to some stimulus such as food or a friend +or a fight, but if nothing appeals to its special make-up, which is very +utilitarian in its interests, it will do nothing. "Watch a monkey and +you cannot enumerate the things he does, cannot discover the stimuli to +which he reacts, cannot conceive the _raison d'etre_ of his pursuits. +Everything appeals to him. He likes to be active for the sake of +activity." + +This applies to mental activity as well, and the quality is one of +extraordinary interest, for it shows the experimenting mood at a higher +turn of the spiral than in any other creature, save man. It points +forward to the scientific spirit. We cannot, indeed, believe in the +sudden beginning of any quality, and we recall the experimenting of +playing mammals, such as kids and kittens, or of inquisitive adults like +Kipling's mongoose, Riki-Tiki-Tavi, which made it his business in life +to find out about things. But in monkeys the habit of restless +experimenting rises to a higher pitch. They appear to be curious about +the world. The psychologist whom we have quoted tells of a monkey which +happened to hit a projecting wire so as to make it vibrate. He went on +repeating the performance hundreds of times during the next few days. Of +course, he got nothing out of it, save fun, but it was grist to his +mental mill. "The fact of mental life is to monkeys it own reward." The +monkey's brain is "tender all over, functioning throughout, set off in +action by anything and everything." + + +Sheer Quickness + +Correlated with the quality of restless inquisitiveness and delight in +activity for its own sake there is the quality of quickness. We mean not +merely the locomotor agility that marks most monkeys, but quickness of +perception and plan. It is the sort of quality that life among the +branches will engender, where it is so often a case of neck or nothing. +It is the quality which we describe as being on the spot, though the +phrase has slipped from its original moorings. Speaking of his Bonnet +Monkey, an Indian macaque, second cousin to the kind that lives on the +Rock of Gibraltar, Professor S. J. Holmes writes: "For keenness of +perception, rapidity of action, facility in forming good practical +judgments about ways and means of escaping pursuit and of attaining +various other ends, Lizzie had few rivals in the animal world.... Her +perceptions and decisions were so much more rapid than my own that she +would frequently transfer her attention, decide upon a line of action, +and carry it into effect before I was aware of what she was about. Until +I came to guard against her nimble and unexpected manoeuvres, she +succeeded in getting possession of many apples and peanuts which I had +not intended to give her except upon the successful performance of some +task." + + +Quick to Learn + +Quite fundamental to any understanding of animal behaviour is the +distinction so clearly drawn by Sir Ray Lankester between the +"little-brain" type, rich in inborn or instinctive capacities, but +relatively slow to learn, and the "big-brain" type, with a relatively +poor endowment of specialised instincts, but with great educability. The +"little-brain" type finds its climax in ants and bees; the "big-brain" +type in horses and dogs, elephants and monkeys. And of all animals +monkeys are the quickest to learn, if we use the word "learn" to mean +the formation of useful associations between this and that, between a +given sense-presentation and a particular piece of behaviour. + + +The Case of Sally + +Some of us remember Sally, the chimpanzee at the "Zoo" with which Dr. +Romanes used to experiment. She was taught to give her teacher the +number of straws he asked for, and she soon learned to do so up to five. +If she handed a number not asked for, her offer was refused; if she gave +the proper number, she got a piece of fruit. If she was asked for five +straws, she picked them up individually and placed them in her mouth, +and when she had gathered five she presented them together in her hand. +Attempts to teach her to give six to ten straws were not very +successful. For Sally "above six" meant "many," and besides, her limits +of patience were probably less than her range of computation. This was +hinted at by the highly interesting circumstance that when dealing with +numbers above five she very frequently doubled over a straw so as to +make it present two ends and thus appear as two straws. The doubling of +the straw looked like an intelligent device to save time, and it was +persistently resorted to in spite of the fact that her teacher always +refused to accept a doubled straw as equivalent to two straws. Here we +get a glimpse of something beyond the mere association of a +sound--"Five"--and that number of straws. + + +The Case of Lizzie + +The front of the cage in which Professor Holmes kept Lizzie was made of +vertical bars which allowed her to reach out with her arm. On a board +with an upright nail as handle, there was placed an apple--out of +Lizzie's reach. She reached immediately for the nail, pulled the board +in and got the apple. "There was no employment of the method of trial +and error; there was direct appropriate action following the perception +of her relation to board, nail, and apple." Of course her ancestors may +have been adepts at drawing a fruit-laden branch within their reach, but +the simple experiment was very instructive. All the more instructive +because in many other cases the experiments indicate a gradual sifting +out of useless movements and an eventful retention of the one that pays. +When Lizzie was given a vaseline bottle containing a peanut and closed +with a cork, she at once pulled the cork out with her teeth, obeying the +instinct to bite at new objects, but she never learned to turn the +bottle upside down and let the nut drop out. She often got the nut, and +after some education she got it more quickly than she did at first, but +there was no indication that she ever perceived the fit and proper way +of getting what she wanted. "In the course of her intent efforts her +mind seemed so absorbed with the object of desire that it was never +focussed on the means of attaining that object. There was no +deliberation, and no discrimination between the important and the +unimportant elements in her behaviour. The gradually increasing facility +of her performances depended on the apparently unconscious elimination +of useless movements." This may be called learning, but it is learning +at a very low level; it is far from learning by ideas; it is hardly even +learning by experiment; it is not more than learning by experience, it +is not more than fumbling at learning! + + +Trial and Error + +A higher note is struck in the behaviour of some more highly endowed +monkeys. In many experiments, chiefly in the way of getting into boxes +difficult to open, there is evidence (1) of attentive persistent +experiment (2) of the rapid elimination of ineffective movements, and +(3) of remembering the solution when it was discovered. Kinnaman taught +two macaques the Hampton Court Maze, a feat which probably means a +memory of movements, and we get an interesting glimpse in his +observation that they began to smack their lips audibly when they +reached the latter part of their course, and began to feel, dare one +say, "We are right this time." + +In getting into "puzzle-boxes" and into "combination-boxes" (where the +barriers must be overcome in a definite order), monkeys learn by the +trial and error method much more quickly than cats and dogs do, and a +very suggestive fact emphasized by Professor Thorndike is "a process of +sudden acquisition by a rapid, often apparently instantaneous +abandonment of the unsuccessful movements and selection of the +appropriate one, which rivals in suddenness the selections made by human +beings in similar performances." A higher note still was sounded by one +of Thorndike's monkeys which opened a puzzle-box at once, eight months +after his previous experience with it. For here was some sort of +registration of a solution. + + +Imitation + +Two chimpanzees in the Dublin Zoo were often to be seen washing the two +shelves of their cupboard and "wringing" the wet cloth in the approved +fashion. It was like a caricature of a washerwoman, and someone said, +"What mimics they are!" Now we do not know whether that was or was not +the case with the chimpanzees, but the majority of the experiments that +have been made do not lead us to attach to imitation so much importance +as is usually given to it by the popular interpreter. There are +instances where a monkey that had given up a puzzle in despair returned +to it when it had seen its neighbour succeed, but most of the +experiments suggested that the creature has to find out for itself. Even +with such a simple problem as drawing food near with a stick, it often +seems of little use to show the monkey how it is done. Placing a bit of +food outside his monkey's cage, Professor Holmes "poked it about with +the stick so as to give her a suggestion of how the stick might be +employed to move the food within reach, but although the act was +repeated many times Lizzie never showed the least inclination to use the +stick to her advantage." Perhaps the idea of a "tool" is beyond the +Bonnet Monkey, yet here again we must be cautious, for Professor L. T. +Hobhouse had a monkey of the same macaque genus which learned in the +course of time to use a crooked stick with great effect. + + +The Case of Peter + +Perhaps the cleverest monkey as yet studied was a performing chimpanzee +called Peter, which has been generally described by Dr. Lightner Witmer. +Peter could skate and cycle, thread needles and untie knots, smoke a +cigarette and string beads, screw in nails and unlock locks. But what +Peter was thinking about all the time it was hard to guess, and there is +very little evidence to suggest that his rapid power of putting two and +two together ever rose above a sort of concrete mental experimenting, +which Dr. Romanes used to call perceptual inference. Without supposing +that there are hard-and-fast boundary lines, we cannot avoid the general +conclusion that, while monkeys are often intelligent, they seldom, if +ever, show even hints of reason, i.e. of working or playing with general +ideas. That remains Man's prerogative. + + +The Bustle of the Mind + +In mammals like otters, foxes, stoats, hares, and elephants, what a +complex of tides and currents there must be in the brain-mind! We may +think of a stream with currents at different levels. Lowest there are +the _basal appetites_ of hunger and sex, often with eddies rising to the +surface. Then there are the _primary emotions_, such as fear of +hereditary enemies and maternal affection for offspring. Above these are +_instinctive aptitudes_, inborn powers of doing clever things without +having to learn how. But in mammals these are often expressed along +with, or as it were through, the controlled life of _intelligent +activity_, where there is more clear-cut perceptual influence. + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. P. Dando._ + +CHIMPANZEE + +An African ape, at home in the equatorial forests, a lively and playful +creature, eminently educable.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge._ + +YOUNG CHEETAHS, OR HUNTING LEOPARDS + +Trained to hunt from time immemorial and quite easily tamed. Cheetahs +occur in India, Persia, Turkestan, and Africa.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: C. Reid._ + +COMMON OTTER + +One of the most resourceful of animals and the "most playsomest crittur +on God's earth." It neither stores nor hibernates, but survives in +virtue of its wits and because of the careful education of the young. +The otter is a roving animal, often with more than one resting-place; it +has been known to travel fifteen miles in a night.] + +Higher still are the records or memories of individual experience and +the registration of individual habits, while on the surface is the +instreaming multitude of messages from the outside world, like raindrops +and hailstones on the stream, some of them penetrating deeply, being, as +we say, full of meaning. The mind of the higher animal is in some +respects like a child's mind, in having little in the way of clear-cut +ideas, in showing no reason in the strict sense, and in its +extraordinary educability, but it differs from the child's mind entirely +in the sure effectiveness of a certain repertory of responses. It is +efficient to a degree. + + +"Until at last arose the Man." + +Man's brain is more complicated than that of the higher apes--gorilla, +orang, and chimpanzee--and it is relatively larger. But the improvements +in structure do not seem in themselves sufficient to account for man's +great advance in intelligence. The rill of inner life has become a swift +stream, sometimes a rushing torrent. Besides perceptual inference or +_Intelligence_--a sort of picture-logic, which some animals likewise +have--there is conceptual inference--or _Reason_--an internal +experimenting with general ideas. Even the cleverest animals, it would +seem, do not get much beyond playing with "particulars"; man plays an +internal game of chess with "universals." Intelligent behaviour may go a +long way with mental images; rational conduct demands general ideas. It +may be, however, that "percepts" and "concepts" differ rather in degree +than in kind, and that the passage from one to the other meant a higher +power of forming associations. A clever dog has probably a generalised +percept of man, as distinguished from a memory-image of the particular +men it has known, but man alone has the concept Man, or Mankind, or +Humanity. Experimenting with concepts or general ideas is what we call +Reason. + +Here, of course, we get into deep waters, and perhaps it is wisest not +to attempt too much. So we shall content ourselves here with pointing +out that Man's advance in intelligence and from intelligence to reason +is closely wrapped up with his power of speech. What animals began--a +small vocabulary--he has carried to high perfection. But what is +distinctive is not the vocabulary so much as the habit of making +sentences, of expressing judgments in a way which admitted of +communication between mind and mind. The multiplication of words meant +much, the use of words as symbols of general ideas meant even more, for +it meant the possibility of playing the internal game of thinking; but +perhaps the most important advance of all was the means of comparing +notes with neighbours, of corroborating individual experience by social +intercourse. With words, also, it became easier to enregister outside +himself the gains of the past. It is not without significance that the +Greek Logos, which may be translated "the word," may also be translated +Mind. + + +§ 9 + +Looking Backwards + +When we take a survey of animal behaviour we see a long inclined plane. +The outer world provokes simple creatures to answer back; simple +creatures act experimentally on their surroundings. From the beginning +this twofold process has been going on, receiving stimuli from the +environment and acting upon the environment, and according to the +efficiency of the reactions and actions living creatures have been +sifted for millions of years. One main line of advance has been opening +new gateways of knowledge--the senses, which are far more than five in +number. The other main line of advance has been in most general terms, +experimenting or testing, probing and proving, trying one key after +another till a door is unlocked. There is progress in multiplying the +gateways of knowledge and making them more discriminating, and there is +progress in making the modes of experimenting more wide-awake, more +controlled, and more resolute. But behind both of these is the +characteristically vital power of enregistering within the organism the +lessons of the past. In the life of the individual these enregistrations +are illustrated by memories and habituations and habits; in the life of +the race they are illustrated by reflex actions and instinctive +capacities. + + +Body and Mind + +We must not shirk the very difficult question of the relation between +the bodily and the mental side of behaviour. + +(_a_) Some great thinkers have taught that the mind is a reality by +itself which plays upon the instrument of the brain and body. As the +instrument gets worn and dusty the playing is not so good as it once +was, but the player is still himself. This theory of the essential +independence of the mind is a very beautiful one, but those who like it +when applied to themselves are not always so fond of it when it is +applied to other intelligent creatures like rooks and elephants. It may +be, however, that there is a gradual emancipation of the mind which has +gone furthest in Man and is still progressing. + +(_b_) Some other thinkers have taught that the inner life of thought and +feeling is only, as it were, an echo of the really important +activity--that of the body and brain. Ideas are just foam-bells on the +hurrying streams and circling eddies of matter and energy that make up +our physiological life. To most of us this theory is impossible, because +we are quite sure that ideas and feelings and purposes, which cannot be +translated into matter and motion, are the clearest realities in our +experience, and that they count for good and ill all through our life. +They are more than the tickings of the clock; they make the wheels go +round. + +(_c_) There are others who think that the most scientific position is +simply to recognise both the bodily and the mental activities as equally +important, and so closely interwoven that they cannot be separated. +Perhaps they are just the outer and the inner aspects of one +reality--the life of the creature. Perhaps they are like the concave and +convex curves of a dome, like the two sides of a shield. Perhaps the +life of the organism is always a unity, at one time appearing more +conspicuously as Mind-body, at another time as Body-mind. The most +important fact is that neither aspect can be left out. By no jugglery +with words can we get Mind out of Matter and Motion. And since we are in +ourselves quite sure of our Mind, we are probably safe in saying that in +the beginning was Mind. This is in accordance with Aristotle's saying +that there is nothing in the end which was not also in kind present in +the beginning--whatever we mean by beginning. + + +In conclusion + +What has led to the truly wonderful result which we admire in a creature +like a dog or an otter, a horse or a hare? In general, we may say, just +two main processes--(1) testing all things, and (2) holding fast that +which is good. New departures occur and these are tested for what they +are worth. Idiosyncrasies crop up and they are sifted. New cards come +mysteriously from within into the creature's hand, and they are +played--for better or for worse. So by new variations and their sifting, +by experimenting and enregistering the results, the mind has gradually +evolved and will continue to evolve. + + + + +VIII + +FOUNDATIONS OF THE UNIVERSE + + + + +THE WORLD OF ATOMS + + +Most people have heard of the oriental race which puzzled over the +foundations of the universe, and decided that it must be supported on +the back of a giant elephant. But the elephant? They put it on the back +of a monstrous tortoise, and there they let the matter end. If every +animal in nature had been called upon, they would have been no nearer a +foundation. Most ancient peoples, indeed, made no effort to find a +foundation. The universe was a very compact little structure, mainly +composed of the earth and the great canopy over the earth which they +called the sky. They left it, as a whole, floating in nothing. And in +this the ancients were wiser than they knew. Things do not fall down +unless they are pulled down by that mysterious force which we call +gravitation. The earth, it is true, is pulled by the sun, and would fall +into it; but the earth escapes this fiery fate by circulating at great +speed round the sun. The stars pull each other; but it has already been +explained that they meet this by travelling rapidly in gigantic orbits. +Yet we do, in a new sense of the word, need foundations of the universe. +Our mind craves for some explanation of the matter out of which the +universe is made. For this explanation we turn to modern Physics and +Chemistry. Both these sciences study, under different aspects, matter +and energy; and between them they have put together a conception of the +fundamental nature of things which marks an epoch in the history of +human thought. + + +§ 1 + +The Bricks of the Cosmos + +More than two thousand years ago the first men of science, the Greeks of +the cities of Asia Minor, speculated on the nature of matter. You can +grind a piece of stone into dust. You can divide a spoonful of water +into as many drops as you like. Apparently you can go on dividing as +long as you have got apparatus fine enough for the work. But there must +be a limit, these Greeks said, and so they supposed that all matter was +ultimately composed of minute particles which were indivisible. That is +the meaning of the Greek word "atom." + +Like so many other ideas of these brilliant early Greek thinkers, the +atom was a sound conception. We know to-day that matter is composed of +atoms. But science was then so young that the way in which the Greeks +applied the idea was not very profound. A liquid or a gas, they said, +consisted of round, smooth atoms, which would not cling together. Then +there were atoms with rough surfaces, "hooky" surfaces, and these stuck +together and formed solids. The atoms of iron or marble, for instance, +were so very hooky that, once they got together, a strong man could not +tear them apart. The Greeks thought that the explanation of the universe +was that an infinite number of these atoms had been moving and mixing in +an infinite space during an infinite time, and had at last hit by chance +on the particular combination which is our universe. + +This was too simple and superficial. The idea of atoms was cast aside, +only to be advanced again in various ways. It was the famous Manchester +chemist, John Dalton, who restored it in the early years of the +nineteenth century. He first definitely formulated the atomic theory as +a scientific hypothesis. The whole physical and chemical science of that +century was now based upon the atom, and it is quite a mistake to +suppose that recent discoveries have discredited "atomism." An atom is +the smallest particle of a chemical element. No one has ever seen an +atom. Even the wonderful new microscope which has just been invented +cannot possibly show us particles of matter which are a million times +smaller than the breadth of a hair; for that is the size of atoms. We +can weigh them and measure them, though they are invisible, and we know +that all matter is composed of them. It is a new discovery that atoms +are not indivisible. They consist themselves of still smaller particles, +as we shall see. But the atoms exist all the same, and we may still say +that they are the bricks of which the material universe is built. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Elliott & Fry._ + +SIR ERNEST RUTHERFORD + +One of our most eminent physicists who has succeeded Sir J. J. Thomson +as Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge. The +modern theory of the structure of the atom is largely due to him.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Rischgitz Collection._ + +J. CLERK-MAXWELL + +One of the greatest scientific men who have ever lived. He +revolutionised physics with his electro-magnetic theory of light, and +practically all modern researches have had their origin, direct or +indirect, in his work. Together with Faraday he constitutes one of the +main scientific glories of the nineteenth century.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Ernest H. Mills._ + +SIR WILLIAM CROOKES + +Sir William Crookes experimented on the electric discharge in vacuum +tubes and described the phenomena as a "fourth state of matter." He was +actually observing the flight of electrons, but he did not fully +appreciate the nature of his experiments.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Photo Press_ + +PROFESSOR SIR W. H. BRAGG + +One of the most distinguished physicists of the present day.] + +But if we had some magical glass by means of which we could see into the +structure of material things, we should not see the atoms put evenly +together as bricks are in a wall. As a rule, two or more atoms first +come together to form a larger particle, which we call a "molecule." +Single atoms do not, as a rule, exist apart from other atoms; if a +molecule is broken up, the individual atoms seek to unite with other +atoms of another kind or amongst themselves. For example, three atoms of +oxygen form what we call ozone; two atoms of hydrogen uniting with one +atom of oxygen form water. It is molecules that form the mass of matter; +a molecule, as it has been expressed, is a little building of which +atoms are the bricks. + +In this way we get a useful first view of the material things we handle. +In a liquid the molecules of the liquid cling together loosely. They +remain together as a body, but they roll over and away from each other. +There is "cohesion" between them, but it is less powerful than in a +solid. Put some water in a kettle over the lighted gas, and presently +the tiny molecules of water will rush through the spout in a cloud of +steam and scatter over the kitchen. The heat has broken their bond of +association and turned the water into something like a gas; though we +know that the particles will come together again, as they cool, and form +once more drops of water. + +In a gas the molecules have full individual liberty. They are in a +state of violent movement, and they form no union with each other. If we +want to force them to enter into the loose sort of association which +molecules have in a liquid, we have to slow down their individual +movements by applying severe cold. That is how a modern man of science +liquefies gases. No power that we have will liquefy air at its ordinary +temperature. In _very_ severe cold, on the other hand, the air will +spontaneously become liquid. Some day, when the fires of the sun have +sunk very low, the temperature of the earth will be less than -200° C.: +that is to say, more than two hundred degrees Centigrade below +freezing-point. It will sink to the temperature of the moon. Our +atmosphere will then be an ocean of liquid air, 35 feet deep, lying upon +the solidly frozen masses of our water-oceans. + +In a solid the molecules cling firmly to each other. We need a force +equal to twenty-five tons to tear asunder the molecules in a bar of iron +an inch thick. Yet the structure is not "solid" in the popular sense of +the word. If you put a piece of solid gold in a little pool of mercury, +the gold will take in the mercury _between_ its molecules, as if it were +porous like a sponge. The hardest solid is more like a lattice-work than +what we usually mean by "solid"; though the molecules are not fixed, +like the bars of a lattice-work, but are in violent motion; they vibrate +about equilibrium positions. If we could see right into the heart of a +bit of the hardest steel, we should see billions of separate molecules, +at some distance from each other, all moving rapidly to and fro. + +This molecular movement can, in a measure, be made visible. It was +noticed by a microscopist named Brown that, in a solution containing +very fine suspended particles, the particles were in constant movement. +Under a powerful microscope these particles are seen to be violently +agitated; they are each independently darting hither and thither +somewhat like a lot of billiard balls on a billiard table, colliding and +bounding about in all directions. Thousands of times a second these +encounters occur, and this lively commotion is always going on, this +incessant colliding of one molecule with another is the normal +condition of affairs; not one of them is at rest. The reason for this +has been worked out, and it is now known that these particles move about +because they are being incessantly bombarded by the molecules of the +liquid. The molecules cannot, of course, be seen, but the fact of their +incessant movement is revealed to the eye by the behaviour of the +visible suspended particles. This incessant movement in the world of +molecules is called the Brownian movement, and is a striking proof of +the reality of molecular motions. + + +§ 2 + +The Wonder-World of Atoms + +The exploration of this wonder-world of atoms and molecules by the +physicists and chemists of to-day is one of the most impressive triumphs +of modern science. Quite apart from radium and electrons and other +sensational discoveries of recent years, the study of ordinary matter is +hardly inferior, either in interest or audacity, to the work of the +astronomer. And there is the same foundation in both cases--marvellous +apparatus, and trains of mathematical reasoning that would have +astonished Euclid or Archimedes. Extraordinary, therefore, as are some +of the facts and figures we are now going to give in connection with the +minuteness of atoms and molecules, let us bear in mind that we owe them +to the most solid and severe processes of human thought. + +Yet the principle can in most cases be made so clear that the reader +will not be asked to take much on trust. It is, for instance, a matter +of common knowledge that gold is soft enough to be beaten into gold +leaf. It is a matter of common sense, one hopes, that if you beat a +measured cube of gold into a leaf six inches square, the mathematician +can tell the thickness of that leaf without measuring it. As a matter of +fact, a single grain of gold has been beaten into a leaf seventy-five +inches square. Now the mathematician can easily find that when a single +grain of gold is beaten out to that size, the leaf must be 1/367,000 of +an inch thick, or about a thousand times thinner than the paper on +which these words are printed; yet the leaf must be several molecules +thick. + +The finest gold leaf is, in fact, too thick for our purpose, and we turn +with a new interest to that toy of our boyhood the soap-bubble. If you +carefully examine one of these delicate films of soapy water, you notice +certain dark spots or patches on them. These are their thinnest parts, +and by two quite independent methods--one using electricity and the +other light--we have found that at these spots the bubble is less than +the three-millionth of an inch thick! But the molecules in the film +cling together so firmly that they must be at least twenty or thirty +deep in the thinnest part. A molecule, therefore, must be far less than +the three-millionth of an inch thick. + +We found next that a film of oil on the surface of water may be even +thinner than a soap-bubble. Professor Perrin, the great French authority +on atoms, got films of oil down to the fifty-millionth of an inch in +thickness! He poured a measured drop of oil upon water. Then he found +the exact limits of the area of the oil-sheet by blowing upon the water +a fine powder which spread to the edge of the film and clearly outlined +it. The rest is safe and simple calculation, as in the case of the +beaten grain of gold. Now this film of oil must have been at least two +molecules deep, so a single molecule of oil is considerably less than a +hundred-millionth of an inch in diameter. + +Innumerable methods have been tried, and the result is always the same. +A single grain of indigo, for instance, will colour a ton of water. This +obviously means that the grain contains billions of molecules which +spread through the water. A grain of musk will scent a room--pour +molecules into every part of it--for several years, yet not lose +one-millionth of its mass in a year. There are a hundred ways of showing +the minuteness of the ultimate particles of matter, and some of these +enable us to give definite figures. On a careful comparison of the best +methods we can say that the average molecule of matter is less than +the 1/125,000,000 of an inch in diameter. In a single cubic centimetre +of air--a globule about the size of a small marble--there are thirty +million trillion molecules. And since the molecule is, as we saw, a +group or cluster of atoms, the atom itself is smaller. Atoms, for +reasons which we shall see later, differ very greatly from each other in +size and weight. It is enough to say that some of them are so small that +it would take 400,000,000 of them, in a line, to cover an inch of space; +and that it takes at least a quintillion atoms of gold to weigh a single +gramme. Five million atoms of helium could be placed in a line across +the diameter of a full stop. + +[Illustration: An atom is the smallest particle of a chemical element. +Two or more atoms come together to form a molecule: thus molecules form +the mass of matter. A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of +hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. Molecules of different substances, +therefore, are of different sizes according to the number and kind of +the particular atoms of which they are composed. A starch molecule +contains no less than 25,000 atoms. + +Molecules, of course, are invisible. The above diagram illustrates the +_comparative_ sizes of molecules.] + +[Illustration: INCONCEIVABLE NUMBERS AND INCONCEIVABLY SMALL PARTICLES + +The molecules, which are inconceivably small, are, on the other hand, so +numerous that if one was able to place, end to end, all those contained +in, for example, a cubic centimetre of gas (less than a fifteenth of a +cubic inch), one would obtain a line capable of passing two hundred +times round the earth.] + +[Illustration: WHAT IS A MILLION? + +In dealing with the infinitely small, it is difficult to apprehend the +vast figures with which scientists confront us. A million is one +thousand thousand. We may realise what this implies if we consider that +a clock, beating seconds, takes approximately 278 hours (i.e. one week +four days fourteen hours) to tick one million times. A billion is one +million million. To tick a billion the clock would tick for over 31,735 +years. + +(In France and America a thousand millions is called a billion.)] + +[Illustration: THE BROWNIAN MOVEMENT + +A diagram, constructed from actual observations, showing the erratic +paths pursued by very fine particles suspended in a liquid, when +bombarded by the molecules of the liquid. This movement is called the +Brownian movement, and it furnishes a striking illustration of the truth +of the theory that the molecules of a body are in a state of continual +motion.] + + +The Energy of Atoms + +And this is only the beginning of the wonders that were done with +"ordinary matter," quite apart from radium and its revelations, to which +we will come presently. Most people have heard of "atomic energy," and +the extraordinary things that might be accomplished if we could harness +this energy and turn it to human use. A deeper and more wonderful source +of this energy has been discovered in the last twenty years, but it is +well to realise that the atoms themselves have stupendous energy. The +atoms of matter are vibrating or gyrating with extraordinary vigour. The +piece of cold iron you hold in your hand, the bit of brick you pick up, +or the penny you take from your pocket is a colossal reservoir of +energy, since it consists of trillions of moving atoms. To realise the +total energy, of course, we should have to witness a transformation such +as we do in atoms of radio-active elements, about which we shall have +something to say presently. + +If we put a grain of indigo in a glass of water, or a grain of musk in a +perfectly still room, we soon realise that molecules travel. Similarly, +the fact that gases spread until they fill every "empty" available space +shows definitely that they consist of small particles travelling at +great speed. The physicist brings his refined methods to bear on these +things, and he measures the energy and velocity of these infinitely +minute molecules. He tells us that molecules of oxygen, at the +temperature of melting ice, travel at the rate of about 500 yards a +second--more than a quarter of a mile a second. Molecules of hydrogen +travel at four times that speed, or three times the speed with which a +bullet leaves a rifle. Each molecule of the air, which seems so still in +the house on a summer's day, is really travelling faster than a rifle +bullet does at the beginning of its journey. It collides with another +molecule every twenty-thousandth of an inch of its journey. It is turned +from its course 5,000,000,000 times in every second by collisions. If we +could stop the molecules of hydrogen gas, and utilise their energy, as +we utilise the energy of steam or the energy of the water at Niagara, we +should find enough in every gramme of gas (about two-thousandths of a +pound) to raise a third of a ton to a height of forty inches. + +I have used for comparison the speed of a rifle bullet, and in an +earlier generation people would have thought it impossible even to +estimate this. It is, of course, easy. We put two screens in the path of +the bullet, one near the rifle and the other some distance away. We +connect them electrically and use a fine time-recording machine, and the +bullet itself registers the time it takes to travel from the first to +the second screen. + +Now this is very simple and superficial work in comparison with the +system of exact and minute measurements which the physicist and chemist +use. In one of his interesting works Mr. Charles R. Gibson gives a +photograph of two exactly equal pieces of paper in the opposite pans of +a fine balance. A single word has been written in pencil on one of these +papers, and that little scraping of lead has been enough to bring down +the scale! The spectroscope will detect a quantity of matter four +million times smaller even than this; and the electroscope is a million +times still more sensitive than the spectroscope. We have a +heat-measuring instrument, the bolometer, which makes the best +thermometer seem Early Victorian. It records the millionth of a degree +of temperature. It is such instruments, multiplied by the score, +which enable us to do the fine work recorded in these pages. + +[Illustration: _Reproduced from "The Forces of Nature" (Messrs. +Macmillan)._ + +A SOAP BUBBLE + +The iridescent colours sometimes seen on a soap bubble, as in the +illustration, may also be seen in very fine sections of crystals, in +glass blown into extremely fine bulbs, on the wings of dragon-flies and +the surface of oily water. The different colours correspond to different +thicknesses of the surface. Part of the light which strikes these thin +coatings is reflected from the upper surface, but another part of the +light penetrates the transparent coating and is reflected from the lower +surface. It is the mixture of these two reflected rays, their +"interference" as it is called, which produces the colours observed. The +"black spots" on a soap bubble are the places where the soapy film is +thinnest. At the black spots the thickness of the bubble is about the +three-millionth part of an inch. If the whole bubble were as thin as +this it would be completely invisible.] + + +§ 3 + +THE DISCOVERY OF X-RAYS AND RADIUM + +The Discovery of Sir Wm. Crookes + +But these wonders of the atom are only a prelude to the more romantic +and far-reaching discoveries of the new physics--the wonders of the +electron. Another and the most important phase of our exploration of the +material universe opened with the discovery of radium in 1898. + +In the discovery of radio-active elements, a new property of matter was +discovered. What followed on the discovery of radium and of the X-rays +we shall see. + +As Sir Ernest Rutherford, one of our greatest authorities, recently +said, the new physics has dissipated the last doubt about the reality of +atoms and molecules. The closer examination of matter which we have been +able to make shows positively that it is composed of atoms. But we must +not take the word now in its original Greek meaning (an "indivisible" +thing). The atoms are not indivisible. They can be broken up. They are +composed of still smaller particles. + +The discovery that the atom was composed of smaller particles was the +welcome realisation of a dream that had haunted the imagination of the +nineteenth century. Chemists said that there were about eighty different +kinds of atoms--different kinds of matter--but no one was satisfied with +the multiplicity. Science is always aiming at simplicity and unity. It +may be that science has now taken a long step in the direction of +explaining the fundamental unity of all the matter. The chemist was +unable to break up these "elements" into something simpler, so he called +their atoms "indivisible" in that sense. But one man of science after +another expressed the hope that we would yet discover some fundamental +matter of which the various atoms were composed--_one primordial +substance from which all the varying forms of matter have been evolved +or built up_. Prout suggested this at the very beginning of the century, +when atoms were rediscovered by Dalton. Father Secchi, the famous Jesuit +astronomer said that all the atoms were probably evolved from ether; and +this was a very favoured speculation. Sir William Crookes talked of +"prothyl" as the fundamental substance. Others thought hydrogen was the +stuff out of which all the other atoms were composed. + +The work which finally resulted in the discovery of radium began with +some beautiful experiments of Professor (later Sir William) Crookes in +the eighties. + +It had been noticed in 1869 that a strange colouring was caused when an +electric charge was sent through a vacuum tube--the walls of the glass +tube began to glow with a greenish phosphorescence. A vacuum tube is one +from which nearly all the air has been pumped, although we can never +completely empty the tube. Crookes used such ingenious methods that he +reduced the gas in his tubes until it was twenty million times thinner +than the atmosphere. He then sent an electric discharge through, and got +very remarkable results. The negative pole of the electric current (the +"cathode") _gave off rays which faintly lit the molecules of the thin +gas in the tube_, and caused a pretty fluorescence on the glass walls of +the tube. What were these Rays? Crookes at first thought they +corresponded to a "new or fourth state of matter." Hitherto we had only +been familiar with matter in the three conditions of solid, liquid, and +gaseous. + +Now Crookes really had the great secret under his eyes. But about twenty +years elapsed before the true nature of these rays was finally and +independently established by various experiments. The experiments proved +"that the rays consisted of a stream of negatively charged particles +travelling with enormous velocities from 10,000 to 100,000 miles a +second. In addition, it was found that the mass of each particle was +exceedingly small, about 1/1800 of the mass of a hydrogen atom, the +lightest atom known to science." _These particles or electrons, as they +are now called, were being liberated from the atom._ The atoms of matter +were breaking down in Crookes tubes. At that time, however, it was +premature to think of such a thing, and Crookes preferred to say that +the particles of the gas were electrified and hurled against the walls +of the tube. He said that it was ordinary matter in a new +state--"radiant matter." Another distinguished man of science, Lenard, +found that, when he fitted a little plate of aluminum in the glass wall +of the tube, the mysterious rays passed through this as if it were a +window. They must be waves in the ether, he said. + +[Illustration: _From "Scientific Ideas of To-day_." + +DETECTING A SMALL QUANTITY OF MATTER + +In the left-hand photograph the two pieces of paper exactly balance. The +balance used is very sensitive, and when the single word "atoms" has +been written with a lead pencil upon one of the papers the additional +weight is sufficient to depress one of the pans as shown in the second +photograph. The spectroscope will detect less than one-millionth of the +matter contained in the word pencilled above.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission of X-Rays Ltd._ + +THIS X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH IS THAT OF A HAND OF A SOLDIER WOUNDED IN THE +GREAT WAR + +Note the pieces of shrapnel which are revealed.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: National Physical Laboratory._ + +AN X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH OF A GOLF BALL, REVEALING AN IMPERFECT CORE] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission of X-Rays Ltd._ + +A WONDERFUL X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH + +Note the fine details revealed, down to the metal tags of the bootlace +and the nails in the heel of the boot.] + + +§ 4 + +The Discovery of X-rays + +So the story went on from year to year. We shall see in a moment to what +it led. Meanwhile the next great step was when, in 1895, Röntgen +discovered the X-rays, which are now known to everybody. He was +following up the work of Lenard, and he one day covered a "Crookes tube" +with some black stuff. To his astonishment a prepared chemical screen +which was near the tube began to glow. _The rays had gone through the +black stuff; and on further experiment he found that they would go +through stone, living flesh, and all sorts of "opaque" substances._ In a +short time the world was astonished to learn that we could photograph +the skeleton in a living man's body, locate a penny in the interior of a +child that had swallowed one, or take an impression of a coin through a +slab of stone. + +And what are these X-rays? They are not a form of matter; they are not +material particles. X-rays were found to be a new variety of _light_ +with a remarkable power of penetration. We have seen what the +spectroscope reveals about the varying nature of light wave-lengths. +Light-waves are set up by vibrations in ether,[2] and, as we shall see, +these ether disturbances are all of the same kind; they only differ as +regards wave-lengths. The X-rays which Röntgen discovered, then, are +light, but a variety of light previously unknown to us; they are ether +waves of very short length. X-rays have proved of great value in many +directions, as all the world knows, but that we need not discuss at this +point. Let us see what followed Röntgen's discovery. + + [2] We refer throughout to the "ether" because, although modern + theories dispense largely with this conception, the theories of + physics are so inextricably interwoven with it that it is necessary, + in an elementary exposition, to assume its existence. The modern + view will be explained later in the article on Einstein's Theory. + +While the world wondered at these marvels, the men of science were +eagerly following up the new clue to the mystery of matter which was +exercising the mind of Crookes and other investigators. In 1896 +Becquerel brought us to the threshold of the great discovery. + +Certain substances are phosphorescent--they become luminous after they +have been exposed to sunlight for some time, and Becquerel was trying to +find if any of these substances give rise to X-rays. One day he chose a +salt of the metal uranium. He was going to see if, after exposing it to +sunlight, he could photograph a cross with it through an opaque +substance. He wrapped it up and laid it aside, to wait for the sun, but +he found the uranium salt did not wait for the sun. Some strong +radiation from it went through the opaque covering and made an +impression of the cross upon the plate underneath. Light or darkness was +immaterial. The mysterious rays streamed night and day from the salt. +This was something new. Here was a substance which appeared to be +producing X-rays; the rays emitted by uranium would penetrate the same +opaque substances as the X-rays discovered by Röntgen. + + +Discovery of Radium + +Now, at the same time as many other investigators, Professor Curie and +his Polish wife took up the search. They decided to find out whether +the emission came from the uranium itself or _from something associated +with it_, and for this purpose they made a chemical analysis of great +quantities of minerals. They found a certain kind of pitchblende which +was very active, and they analysed tons of it, concentrating always on +the radiant element in it. After a time, as they successively worked out +the non-radiant matter, the stuff began to glow. In the end they +extracted from eight tons of pitchblende about half a teaspoonful of +something _that was a million times more radiant than uranium_. There +was only one name for it--Radium. + +That was the starting-point of the new development of physics and +chemistry. From every laboratory in the world came a cry for radium +salts (as pure radium was too precious), and hundreds of brilliant +workers fastened on the new element. The inquiry was broadened, and, as +year followed year, one substance after another was found to possess the +power of emitting rays, that is, to be radio-active. We know to-day that +nearly every form of matter can be stimulated to radio-activity; which, +as we shall see, means that _its atoms break up into smaller and +wonderfully energetic particles which we call "electrons."_ This +discovery of electrons has brought about a complete change in our ideas +in many directions. + +So, instead of atoms being indivisible, they are actually dividing +themselves, spontaneously, and giving off throughout the universe tiny +fragments of their substance. We shall explain presently what was later +discovered about the electron; meanwhile we can say that every glowing +metal is pouring out a stream of these electrons. Every arc-lamp is +discharging them. Every clap of thunder means a shower of them. Every +star is flooding space with them. We are witnessing the spontaneous +breaking up of atoms, atoms which had been thought to be indivisible. +The sun not only pours out streams of electrons from its own atoms, but +the ultra-violet light which it sends to the earth is one of the most +powerful agencies for releasing electrons from the surface-atoms of +matter on the earth. It is fortunate for us that our atmosphere absorbs +most of this ultra-violet or invisible light of the sun--a kind of light +which will be explained presently. It has been suggested that, if we +received the full flood of it from the sun, our metals would +disintegrate under its influence and this "steel civilisation" of ours +would be impossible! + +But we are here anticipating, we are going beyond radium to the +wonderful discoveries which were made by the chemists and physicists of +the world who concentrated upon it. The work of Professor and Mme. Curie +was merely the final clue to guide the great search. How it was followed +up, how we penetrated into the very heart of the minute atom and +discovered new and portentous mines of energy, and how we were able to +understand, not only matter, but electricity and light, will be told in +the next chapter. + + +THE DISCOVERY OF THE ELECTRON AND HOW IT EFFECTED A REVOLUTION IN IDEAS + +What the discovery of radium implied was only gradually realised. Radium +captivated the imagination of the world; it was a boon to medicine, but +to the man of science it was at first a most puzzling and most +attractive phenomenon. It was felt that some great secret of nature was +dimly unveiled in its wonderful manifestations, and there now +concentrated upon it as gifted a body of men--conspicuous amongst them +Sir J. J. Thomson, Sir Ernest Rutherford, Sir W. Ramsay, and Professor +Soddy--as any age could boast, with an apparatus of research as far +beyond that of any other age as the _Aquitania_ is beyond a Roman +galley. Within five years the secret was fairly mastered. Not only were +all kinds of matter reduced to a common basis, but the forces of the +universe were brought into a unity and understood as they had never been +understood before. + +[Illustration: ELECTRIC DISCHARGE IN A VACUUM TUBE + +The two ends, marked + and -, of a tube from which nearly all air has +been exhausted are connected to electric terminals, thus producing an +electric discharge in the vacuum tube. This discharge travels straight +along the tube, as in the upper diagram. When a magnetic field is +applied, however, the rays are deflected, as shown in the lower diagram. +The similarity of the behaviour of the electric discharge with the +radium rays (see diagram of deflection of radium rays, _post_) shows +that the two phenomena may be identified. It was by this means that the +characteristics of electrons were first discovered.] + +[Illustration: THE RELATIVE SIZES OF ATOMS AND ELECTRONS + +An atom is far too small to be seen. In a bubble of hydrogen gas no +larger than the letter "O" there are billions of atoms, whilst an +electron is more than a thousand times smaller than the smallest atom. +How their size is ascertained is described in the text. In this diagram +a bubble of gas is magnified to the size of the world. Adopting this +scale, _each atom_ in the bubble would then be as large as a tennis +ball.] + +[Illustration: IF AN ATOM WERE MAGNIFIED TO THE SIZE OF ST. PAUL'S +CATHEDRAL, EACH ELECTRON IN THE ATOM (AS REPRESENTED BY THE CATHEDRAL) +WOULD THEN BE ABOUT THE SIZE OF A SMALL BULLET] + +[Illustration: ELECTRONS STREAMING FROM THE SUN TO THE EARTH + +There are strong reasons for supposing that sun-spots are huge +electronic cyclones. The sun is constantly pouring out vast streams of +electrons into space. Many of these streams encounter the earth, giving +rise to various electrical phenomena.] + + +§ 5 + +The Discovery of the Electron + +Physicists did not take long to discover that the radiation from radium +was very like the radiation in a "Crookes tube." It was quickly +recognised, moreover, that both in the tube and in radium (and other +metals) the atoms of matter were somehow breaking down. + +However, the first step was to recognise that there were three distinct +and different rays that were given off by such metals as radium and +uranium. Sir Ernest Rutherford christened them, after the first three +letters of the Greek alphabet, the Alpha, the Beta, and Gamma rays. We +are concerned chiefly with the second group and purpose here to deal +with that group only.[3] + + [3] The "Alpha rays" were presently recognised as atoms of helium + gas, shot out at the rate of 12,000 miles a second. + +The "Gamma rays" are _waves_, like the X-rays, not material particles. +They appear to be a type of X-rays. They possess the remarkable power of +penetrating opaque substances; they will pass through a foot of solid +iron, for example. + +The "Beta rays," as they were at first called, have proved to be one of +the most interesting discoveries that science ever made. They proved +what Crookes had surmised about the radiations he discovered in his +vacuum tube. But it was _not_ a fourth state of matter that had been +found, but a new _property_ of matter, a property common to all atoms of +matter. The Beta rays were later christened Electrons. They are +particles of disembodied electricity, here spontaneously liberated from +the atoms of matter: only when the electron was isolated from the atom +was it recognised for the first time as a separate entity. Electrons, +therefore, are a constituent of the atoms of matter, and we have +discovered that they can be released from the atom by a variety of +agencies. Electrons are to be found everywhere, forming part of every +atom. + +"An electron," Sir William Bragg says, "can only maintain a separate +existence if it is travelling at an immense rate, from one +three-hundredth of the velocity of light upwards, that is to say, at +least 600 _miles a second, or thereabouts_. Otherwise the electron +sticks to the first atom it meets." These amazing particles may travel +with the enormous velocity of from 10,000 to more than 100,000 miles a +second. It was first learned that they are of an electrical nature, +because they are bent out of their normal path if a magnet is brought +near them. And this fact led to a further discovery: to one of those +sensational estimates which the general public is apt to believe to be +founded on the most abstruse speculations. The physicist set up a little +chemical screen for the "Beta rays" to hit, and he so arranged his tube +that only a narrow sheaf of the rays poured on to the screen. He then +drew this sheaf of rays out of its course with a magnet, and he +accurately measured the shift of the luminous spot on the screen where +the rays impinged on it. But when he knows the exact intensity of his +magnetic field--which he can control as he likes--and the amount of +deviation it causes, and the mass of the moving particles, he can tell +the speed of the moving particles which he thus diverts. These particles +were being hurled out of the atoms of radium, or from the negative pole +in a vacuum tube, at a speed which, in good conditions, reached nearly +the velocity of light, i.e. nearly 186,000 miles a second. + +Their speed has, of course, been confirmed by numbers of experiments; +and another series of experiments enabled physicists to determine the +size of the particles. Only one of these need be described, to give the +reader an idea how men of science arrived at their more startling +results. + +Fog, as most people know, is thick in our great cities because the +water-vapour gathers on the particles of dust and smoke that are in the +atmosphere. This fact was used as the basis of some beautiful +experiments. Artificial fogs were created in little glass tubes, by +introducing dust, in various proportions, for supersaturated vapour to +gather on. In the end it was possible to cause tiny drops of rain, each +with a particle of dust at its core, to fall upon a silver mirror and be +counted. It was a method of counting the quite invisible particles of +dust in the tube; and the method was now successfully applied to the new +rays. Yet another method was to direct a slender stream of the particles +upon a chemical screen. The screen glowed under the cannonade of +particles, and a powerful lens resolved the glow into distinct sparks, +which could be counted. + +In short, a series of the most remarkable and beautiful experiments, +checked in all the great laboratories of the world, settled the nature +of these so-called rays. They were streams of particles more than a +thousand times smaller than the smallest known atom. The mass of each +particle is, according to the latest and finest measurements 1/1845 of +that of an atom of hydrogen. The physicist has not been able to find any +character except electricity in them, and the name "electrons" has been +generally adopted. + + +The Key to many Mysteries + +The Electron is an atom, of disembodied electricity; it occupies an +exceedingly small volume, and its "mass" is entirely electrical. These +electrons are the key to half the mysteries of matter. Electrons in +rapid motion, as we shall see, explain what we mean by an "electric +current," not so long ago regarded as one of the most mysterious +manifestations in nature. + +"What a wonder, then, have we here!" says Professor R. K. Duncan. "An +innocent-looking little pinch of salt and yet possessed of special +properties utterly beyond even the fanciful imaginings of men of past +time; for nowhere do we find in the records of thought even the hint of +the possibility of things which we now regard as established fact. This +pinch of salt projects from its surface bodies [i.e. electrons] +possessing the inconceivable velocity of over 100,000 miles a second, a +velocity sufficient to carry them, if unimpeded, five times around the +earth in a second, and possessing with this velocity, masses a thousand +times smaller than the smallest atom known to science. Furthermore, +they are charged with negative electricity; they pass straight through +bodies considered opaque with a sublime indifference to the properties +of the body, with the exception of its mere density; they cause bodies +which they strike to shine out in the dark; they affect a photographic +plate; they render the air a conductor of electricity; they cause clouds +in moist air; they cause chemical action and have a peculiar +physiological action. Who, to-day, shall predict the ultimate service to +humanity of the beta-rays from radium!" + + +§ 6 + +THE ELECTRON THEORY, OR THE NEW VIEW OF MATTER + +The Structure of the Atom + +There is general agreement amongst all chemists, physicists, and +mathematicians upon the conclusions which we have so far given. We know +that the atoms of matter are constantly--either spontaneously or under +stimulation--giving off electrons, or breaking up into electrons; and +they therefore contain electrons. Thus we have now complete proof of the +independent existence of atoms and also of electrons. + +When, however, the man of science tries to tell us _how_ electrons +compose atoms, he passes from facts to speculation, and very difficult +speculation. Take the letter "o" as it is printed on this page. In a +little bubble of hydrogen gas no larger than that letter there are +_trillions_ of atoms; and they are not packed together, but are +circulating as freely as dancers in a ball-room. We are asking the +physicist to take one of these minute atoms and tell us how the still +smaller electrons are arranged in it. Naturally he can only make mental +pictures, guesses or hypotheses, which he tries to fit to the facts, and +discards when they will _not_ fit. + +At present, after nearly twenty years of critical discussion, there are +two chief theories of the structure of the atom. At first Sir J. J. +Thomson imagined the electrons circulating in shells (like the layers of +an onion) round the nucleus of the atom. This did not suit, and Sir E. +Rutherford and others worked out a theory that the electrons circulated +round a nucleus rather like the planets of our solar system revolving +round the central sun. Is there a nucleus, then, round which the +electrons revolve? The electron, as we saw, is a disembodied atom of +electricity; we should say, of "negative" electricity. Let us picture +these electrons all moving round in orbits with great velocity. Now it +is suggested that there is a nucleus of "positive" electricity +attracting or pulling the revolving electrons to it, and so forming an +equilibrium, otherwise the electrons would fly off in all directions. +This nucleus has been recently named the proton. We have thus two +electricities in the atom: the positive = the nucleus; the negative = +the electron. Of recent years Dr. Langmuir has put out a theory that the +electrons do not _revolve round_ the nucleus, but remain in a state of +violent agitation of some sort at fixed distances from the nucleus. + +[Illustration: PROFESSOR SIR J. J. THOMSON + +Experimental discoverer of the electronic constitution of matter, in the +Cavendish Physical Laboratory, Cambridge. A great investigator, noted +for the imaginative range of his hypotheses and his fertility in +experimental devices.] + +[Illustration: _From the Smithsonian Report_, 1915. + +ELECTRONS PRODUCED BY PASSAGE OF X-RAYS THROUGH AIR + +A photograph clearly showing that electrons are definite entities. As +electrons leave atoms they may traverse matter or pass through the air +in a straight path The illustration shows the tortuous path of electrons +resulting from collision with atoms.] + +[Illustration: MAGNETIC DEFLECTION OF RADIUM RAYS + +The radium rays are made to strike a screen, producing visible spots of +light. When a magnetic field is applied the rays are seen to be +deflected, as in the diagram. This can only happen if the rays carry an +electric charge, and it was by experiments of this kind that we obtained +our knowledge respecting the electric charges carried by radium rays.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission of "Scientific American."_ + +PROFESSOR R. A. MILLIKAN'S APPARATUS FOR COUNTING ELECTRONS] + +But we will confine ourselves here to the facts, and leave the +contending theories to scientific men. It is now pretty generally +accepted that an atom of matter consists of a number of electrons, or +charges of negative electricity, held together by a charge of positive +electricity. It is not disputed that these electrons are in a state of +violent motion or strain, and that therefore a vast energy is locked up +in the atoms of matter. To that we will return later. Here, rather, we +will notice another remarkable discovery which helps us to understand +the nature of matter. + +A brilliant young man of science who was killed in the war, Mr. Moseley, +some years ago showed that, when the atoms of different substances are +arranged in order of their weight, _they are also arranged in the order +of increasing complexity of structure_. That is to say, the heavier the +atom, the more electrons it contains. There is a gradual building up of +atoms containing more and more electrons from the lightest atom to the +heaviest. Here it is enough to say that as he took element after +element, from the lightest (hydrogen) to the heaviest (uranium) he found +a strangely regular relation between them. If hydrogen were represented +by the figure one, helium by two, lithium three, and so on up to +uranium, then uranium should have the figure ninety-two. This makes it +probable that there are in nature ninety-two elements--we have found +eighty-seven--and that the number Mr. Moseley found is the number of +electrons in the atom of each element; that is to say, the number is +arranged in order of the atomic numbers of the various elements. + + +§ 7 + +The New View of Matter + +Up to the point we have reached, then, we see what the new view of +Matter is. Every atom of matter, of whatever kind throughout the whole +universe, is built up of electrons in conjunction with a nucleus. From +the smallest atom of all--the atom of hydrogen--which consists of one +electron, rotating round a positively charged nucleus, to a heavy +complicated atom, such as the atom of gold, constituted of many +electrons and a complex nucleus, _we have only to do with positive and +negative units of electricity_. The electron and its nucleus are +particles of electricity. All Matter, therefore, is nothing but a +manifestation of electricity. The atoms of matter, as we saw, combine +and form molecules. Atoms and molecules are the bricks out of which +nature has built up everything; ourselves, the earth, the stars, the +whole universe. + +But more than bricks are required to build a house. There are other +fundamental existences, such as the various forms of energy, which give +rise to several complex problems. And we have also to remember, that +there are more than eighty distinct elements, each with its own definite +type of atom. We shall deal with energy later. Meanwhile it remains to +be said that, although we have discovered a great deal about the +electron and the constitution of matter, and that while the physicists +of our own day seem to see a possibility of explaining positive and +negative electricity, the nature of them both is unknown. There exists +the theory that the particles of positive and negative electricity, +which make up the atoms of matter, are points or centres of disturbances +of some kind in a universal ether, and that all the various forms of +energy are, in some fundamental way, aspects of the same primary entity +which constitutes matter itself. + +But the discovery of the property of radio-activity has raised many +other interesting questions, besides that which we have just dealt with. +In radio-active elements, such as uranium for example, the element is +breaking down; in what we call radio-activity we have a manifestation of +the spontaneous change of elements. What is really taking place is a +transmutation of one element into another, from a heavier to a lighter. +The element uranium spontaneously becomes radium, and radium passes +through a number of other stages until it, in turn, becomes lead. Each +descending element is of lighter atomic weight than its predecessor. The +changing process, of course, is a very slow one. It may be that all +matter is radio-active, or can be made so. This raises the question +whether all the matter in the universe may not undergo disintegration. + +There is, however, another side of the question, which the discovery of +radio-activity has brought to light, and which has effected a revolution +in our views. We have seen that in radio-active substances the elements +are breaking down. Is there a process of building up at work? If the +more complicated atoms are breaking down into simpler forms, may there +not be a converse process--a building up from simpler elements to more +complicated elements? It is probably the case that both processes are at +work. + +There are some eighty-odd chemical elements on the earth to-day: are +they all the outcome of an inorganic evolution, element giving rise to +element, going back and back to some primeval stuff from which they +were all originally derived infinitely long ago? Is there an evolution +in the inorganic world which may be going on, parallel to that of the +evolution of living things; or is organic evolution a continuation of +inorganic evolution? We have seen what evidence there is of this +inorganic evolution in the case of the stars. We cannot go deeply into +the matter here, nor has the time come for any direct statement that can +be based on the findings of modern investigation. Taking it altogether +the evidence is steadily accumulating, and there are authorities who +maintain that already the evidence of inorganic evolution is convincing +enough. The heavier atoms would appear to behave as though they were +evolved from the lighter. The more complex forms, it is supposed, have +_evolved_ from the simpler forms. Moseley's discovery, to which +reference has been made, points to the conclusion that the elements are +built up one from another. + + +§ 8 + +Other New Views + +We may here refer to another new conception to which the discovery of +radio-activity has given rise. Lord Kelvin, who estimated the age of the +earth at twenty million years, reached this estimate by considering the +earth as a body which is gradually cooling down, "losing its primitive +heat, like a loaf taken from the oven, at a rate which could be +calculated, and that the heat radiated by the sun was due to +contraction." Uranium and radio-activity were not known to Kelvin, and +their discovery has upset both his arguments. Radio-active substances, +which are perpetually giving out heat, introduce an entirely new factor. +We cannot now assume that the earth is necessarily cooling down; it may +even, for all we know, be getting hotter. At the 1921 meeting of the +British Association, Professor Rayleigh stated that further knowledge +had extended the probable period during which there had been life on +this globe to about one thousand million years, and the total age of +the earth to some small multiple of that. The earth, he considers, is +not cooling, but "contains an internal source of heat from the +disintegration of uranium in the outer crust." On the whole the estimate +obtained would seem to be in agreement with the geological estimates. +The question, of course, cannot, in the present state of our knowledge, +be settled within fixed limits that meet with general agreement. + +[Illustration: MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE + +Radium, as explained in the text, emits rays--the "Alpha," the "Beta" +(electrons), and "Gamma" rays. The above illustration indicates the +method by which these invisible rays are made visible, and enables the +nature of the rays to be investigated. To the right of the diagram is +the instrument used, the Spinthariscope, making the impact of radium +rays visible on a screen. + +The radium rays shoot out in all directions; those that fall on the +screen make it glow with points of light. These points of light are +observed by the magnifying lens. + +A. Magnifying lens. B. A zinc sulphite screen. C. A needle on whose +point is placed a speck of radium. + +The lower picture shows the screen and needle magnified.] + +[Illustration: THE THEORY OF ELECTRONS + +An atom of matter is composed of electrons. We picture an atom as a sort +of miniature solar system, the electrons (particles of negative +electricity) rotating round a central nucleus of positive electricity, +as described in the text. In the above pictorial representation of an +atom the whirling electrons are indicated in the outer ring. Electrons +move with incredible speed as they pass from one atom to another.] + +[Illustration: ARRANGEMENTS OF ATOMS IN A DIAMOND + +The above is a model (seen from two points of view) of the arrangement +of the atoms in a diamond. The arrangement is found by studying the +X-ray spectra of the diamond.] + +As we have said, there are other fundamental existences which give rise +to more complex problems. The three great fundamental entities in the +physical universe are matter, ether, and energy; so far as we know, +outside these there is nothing. We have dealt with matter, there remain +ether and energy. We shall see that just as no particle of matter, +however small, may be created or destroyed, and just as there is no such +thing as empty space--ether pervades everything--so there is no such +thing as _rest_. Every particle that goes to make up our solid earth is +in a state of perpetual unremitting vibration; energy "is the universal +commodity on which all life depends." Separate and distinct as these +three fundamental entities--matter, ether, and energy--may appear, it +may be that, after all, they are only different and mysterious phases of +an essential "oneness" of the universe. + + +§ 9 + +The Future + +Let us, in concluding this chapter, give just one illustration of the +way in which all this new knowledge may prove to be as valuable +practically as it is wonderful intellectually. We saw that electrons are +shot out of atoms at a speed that may approach 160,000 miles a second. +Sir Oliver Lodge has written recently that a seventieth of a grain of +radium discharges, at a speed a thousand times that of a rifle bullet, +thirty million electrons a second. Professor Le Bon has calculated that +it would take 1,340,000 barrels of powder to give a bullet the speed of +one of these electrons. He shows that the smallest French copper +coin--smaller than a farthing--contains an energy equal to eighty +million horsepower. A few pounds of matter contain more energy than we +could extract from millions of tons of coal. Even in the atoms of +hydrogen at a temperature which we could produce in an electric furnace +the electrons spin round at a rate of nearly a hundred trillion +revolutions a second! + +Every man asks at once: "Will science ever tap this energy?" If it does, +no more smoke, no mining, no transit, no bulky fuel. The energy of an +atom is of course only liberated when an atom passes from one state to +another. The stored up energy is fortunately fast bound by the electrons +being held together as has been described. If it were not so "the earth +would explode and become a gaseous nebula"! It is believed that some day +we shall be able to release, harness, and utilise atomic energy. "I am +of opinion," says Sir William Bragg, "that atom energy will supply our +future need. A thousand years may pass before we can harness the atom, +or to-morrow might see us with the reins in our hands. That is the +peculiarity of Physics--research and 'accidental' discovery go hand in +hand." Half a brick contains as much energy as a small coal-field. The +difficulties are tremendous, but, as Sir Oliver Lodge reminds us, there +was just as much scepticism at one time about the utilisation of steam +or electricity. "Is it to be supposed," he asks, "that there can be no +fresh invention, that all the discoveries have been made?" More than one +man of science encourages us to hope. Here are some remarkable words +written by Professor Soddy, one of the highest authorities on +radio-active matter, in our chief scientific weekly (_Nature_, November +6, 1919): + + The prospects of the successful accomplishment of artificial + transmutation brighten almost daily. The ancients seem to have had + something more than an inkling that the accomplishment of + transmutation would confer upon men powers hitherto the prerogative + of the gods. But now we know definitely that the material aspect of + transmutation would be of small importance in comparison with the + control over the inexhaustible stores of internal atomic energy to + which its successful accomplishment would inevitably lead. It has + become a problem, no longer redolent of the evil associations of the + age of alchemy, but one big with the promise of a veritable physical + renaissance of the whole world. + +If that "promise" is ever realised, the economic and social face of the +world will be transformed. + +Before passing on to the consideration of ether, light, and energy, let +us see what new light the discovery of the electron has thrown on the +nature and manipulation of electricity. + + +WHAT IS ELECTRICITY? + +The Nature of Electricity + +There is at least one manifestation in nature, and so late as twenty +years ago it seemed to be one of the most mysterious manifestations of +all, which has been in great measure explained by the new discoveries. +Already, at the beginning of this century, we spoke of our "age of +electricity," yet there were few things in nature about which we knew +less. The "electric current" rang our bells, drove our trains, lit our +rooms, but none knew what the current was. There was a vague idea that +it was a sort of fluid that flowed along copper wires as water flows in +a pipe. We now suppose that it is _a rapid movement of electrons from +atom to atom_ in the wire or wherever the current is. + +Let us try to grasp the principle of the new view of electricity and see +how it applies to all the varied electrical phenomena in the world about +us. As we saw, the nucleus of an atom of matter consists of positive +electricity which holds together a number of electrons, or charges of +negative electricity.[4] This certainly tells us to some extent what +electricity is, and how it is related to matter, but it leaves us with +the usual difficulty about fundamental realities. But we now know that +electricity, like matter, is atomic in structure; a charge of +electricity is made up of a number of small units or charges of a +definite, constant amount. It has been suggested that the two kinds of +electricity, i.e. positive and negative, are right-handed and +left-handed vortices or whirlpools in ether, or rings in ether, but +there are very serious difficulties, and we leave this to the future. + + [4] The words "positive" and "negative" electricity belong to the + days when it was regarded as a fluid. A body overcharged with the + fluid was called positive; an undercharged body was called negative. + A positively-electrified body is now one whose atoms have lost some + of their outlying electrons, so that the positive charge of + electricity predominates. The negatively-electrified body is one + with more than the normal number of electrons. + + +§ 10 + +What an Electric Current is + +The discovery of these two kinds of electricity has, however, enabled us +to understand very fairly what goes on in electrical phenomena. The +outlying electrons, as we saw, may pass from atom to atom, and this, on +a large scale, is the meaning of the electric current. In other words, +we believe an electric current to be a flow of electrons. Let us take, +to begin with, a simple electrical "cell," in which a feeble current is +generated: such a cell as there is in every house to serve its electric +bells. + +In the original form this simple sort of "battery" consisted of a plate +of zinc and a plate of copper immersed in a chemical. Long before +anything was known about electrons it was known that, if you put zinc +and copper together, you produce a mild current of electricity. We know +now what this means. Zinc is a metal the atoms of which are particularly +disposed to part with some of their outlying electrons. Why, we do not +know; but the fact is the basis of these small batteries. Electrons from +the atoms of zinc pass to the atoms of copper, and their passage is a +"current." Each atom gives up an electron to its neighbour. It was +further found long ago that if the zinc and copper were immersed in +certain chemicals, which slowly dissolve the zinc, and the two metals +were connected by a copper wire, the current was stronger. In modern +language, there is a brisker flow of electrons. The reason is that +the atoms of zinc which are stolen by the chemical leave their +detachable electrons behind them, and the zinc has therefore more +electrons to pass on to the copper. + +[Illustration: DISINTEGRATION OF ATOMS + +An atom of Uranium, by ejecting an Alpha particle, becomes Uranium X. +This substance, by ejecting Beta and Gamma rays, becomes Radium. Radium +passes through a number of further changes, as shown in the diagram, and +finally becomes lead. Some radio-active substances disintegrate much +faster than others. Thus Uranium changes very slowly, taking +5,000,000,000 years to reach the same stage of disintegration that +Radium A reaches in 3 minutes. As the disintegration proceeds, the +substances become of lighter and lighter atomic weights. Thus Uranium +has an atomic weight of 238, whereas lead has an atomic weight of only +206. The breaking down of atoms is fully explained in the text.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission from "The Interpretation of +Radium" (John Murray)._ + +SILK TASSEL ELECTRIFIED + +The separate threads of the tassel, being each electrified with the same +kind of electricity, repel one another, and thus the tassel branches out +as in the photograph.] + +[Illustration: SILK TASSEL DISCHARGED BY THE RAYS FROM RADIUM + +When the radium rays, carrying an opposite electric charge to that on +the tassel, strikes the threads, the threads are neutralised, and hence +fall together again.] + +[Illustration: A HUGE ELECTRIC SPARK + +This is an actual photograph of an electric spark. It is leaping a +distance of about 10 feet, and is the discharge of a million volts. It +is a graphic illustration of the tremendous energy of electrons.] + +[Illustration: _From "Scientific Ideas of To-day_." + +ELECTRICAL ATTRACTION BETWEEN COMMON OBJECTS + +Take an ordinary flower-vase well dried and energetically rub it with a +silk handkerchief. The vase which thus becomes electrified will attract +any light body, such as a feather, as shown in the above illustration.] + +Such cells are now made of zinc and carbon, immersed in sal-ammoniac, +but the principle is the same. The flow of electricity is a flow of +electrons; though we ought to repeat that they do not flow in a body, as +molecules of water do. You may have seen boys place a row of bricks, +each standing on one end, in such order that the first, if it is pushed, +will knock over the second, the second the third, and so on to the last. +There is a flow of _movement_ all along the line, but each brick moves +only a short distance. So an electron merely passes to the next atom, +which sends on an electron to a third atom, and so on. In this case, +however, the movement from atom to atom is so rapid that the ripple of +movement, if we may call it so, may pass along at an enormous speed. We +have seen how swiftly electrons travel. + +But how is this turned into power enough even to ring a bell? The actual +mechanical apparatus by which the energy of the electron current is +turned into sound, or heat, or light will be described in a technical +section later in this work. We are concerned here only with the +principle, which is clear. While zinc is very apt to part with +electrons, copper is just as obliging in facilitating their passage +onward. Electrons will travel in this way in most metals, but copper is +one of the best "conductors." So we lengthen the copper wire between the +zinc and the carbon until it goes as far as the front door and the bell, +which are included in the circuit. When you press the button at the +door, two wires are brought together, and the current of electrons +rushes round the circuit; and at the bell its energy is diverted into +the mechanical apparatus which rings the bell. + +Copper is a good conductor--six times as good as iron--and is therefore +so common in electrical industries. Some other substances are just as +stubborn as copper is yielding, and we call them "insulators," because +they resist the current instead of letting it flow. Their atoms do not +easily part with electrons. Glass, vulcanite, and porcelain are very +good insulators for this reason. + + +What the Dynamo does + +But even several cells together do not produce the currents needed in +modern industry, and the flow is produced in a different manner. As the +invisible electrons pass along a wire they produce what we call a +magnetic field around the wire, they produce a disturbance in the +surrounding ether. To be exact, it is through the ether surrounding the +wire that the energy originated by the electrons is transmitted. To set +electrons moving on a large scale we use a "dynamo." By means of the +dynamo it is possible to transform mechanical energy into electrical +energy. The modern dynamo, as Professor Soddy puts it, may be looked +upon as an electron pump. We cannot go into the subject deeply here, we +would only say that a large coil of copper wire is caused to turn round +rapidly between the poles of a powerful magnet. That is the essential +construction of the "dynamo," which is used for generating strong +currents. We shall see in a moment how magnetism differs from +electricity, and will say here only that round the poles of a large +magnet there is a field of intense disturbance which will start a flow +of electrons in any copper that is introduced into it. On account of the +speed given to the coil of wire its atoms enter suddenly this magnetic +field, and they give off crowds of electrons in a flash. + +It is found that a similar disturbance is caused, though the flow is in +the _opposite_ direction, when the coil of wire leaves the magnetic +field. And as the coil is revolving very rapidly we get a powerful +current of electricity that runs in alternate directions--an +"alternating" current. Electricians have apparatus for converting it +into a continuous current where this is necessary. + +A current, therefore, means a steady flow of the electrons from atom to +atom. Sometimes, however, a number of electrons rush violently and +explosively from one body to another, as in the electric spark or the +occasional flash from an electric tram or train. The grandest and most +spectacular display of this phenomenon is the thunderstorm. As we saw +earlier, a portentous furnace like the sun is constantly pouring floods +of electrons from its atoms into space. The earth intercepts great +numbers of these electrons. In the upper regions of the air the stream +of solar electrons has the effect of separating positively-electrified +atoms from negatively-electrified ones, and the water-vapour, which is +constantly rising from the surface of the sea, gathers more freely round +the positively-electrified atoms, and brings them down, as rain, to the +earth. Thus the upper air loses a proportion of positive electricity, or +becomes "negatively electrified." In the thunderstorm we get both kinds +of clouds--some with large excesses of electrons, and some deficient in +electrons--and the tension grows until at last it is relieved by a +sudden and violent discharge of electrons from one cloud to another or +to the earth--an electric spark on a prodigious scale. + + +§ 11 + +Magnetism + +We have seen that an electric current is really a flow of electrons. Now +an electric current exhibits a magnetic effect. The surrounding space is +endowed with energy which we call electro-magnetic energy. A piece of +magnetised iron attracting other pieces of iron to it is the popular +idea of a magnet. If we arrange a wire to pass vertically through a +piece of cardboard and then sprinkle iron filings on the cardboard we +shall find that, on passing an electric current through the wire, the +iron filings arrange themselves in circles round it. The magnetic force, +due to the electric current, seems to exist in circles round the wire, +an ether disturbance being set up. Even a single electron, when in +movement, creates a magnetic "field," as it is called, round its path. +There is no movement of electrons without this attendant field of +energy, and their motion is not stopped until that field of energy +disappears from the ether. The modern theory of magnetism supposes that +all magnetism is produced in this way. All magnetism is supposed to +arise from the small whirling motions of the electrons contained in the +ultimate atoms of matter. We cannot here go into the details of the +theory nor explain why, for instance, iron behaves so differently from +other substances, but it is sufficient to say that here, also, the +electron theory provides the key. This theory is not yet definitely +_proved_, but it furnishes a sufficient theoretical basis for future +research. The earth itself is a gigantic magnet, a fact which makes the +compass possible, and it is well known that the earth's magnetism is +affected by those great outbreaks on the sun called sun-spots. Now it +has been recently shown that a sun-spot is a vast whirlpool of electrons +and that it exerts a strong magnetic action. There is doubtless a +connection between these outbreaks of electronic activity and the +consequent changes in the earth's magnetism. The precise mechanism of +the connection, however, is still a matter that is being investigated. + + +ETHER AND WAVES + +Ether and Waves + +The whole material universe is supposed to be embedded in a vast medium +called the ether. It is true that the notion of the ether has been +abandoned by some modern physicists, but, whether or not it is +ultimately dispensed with, the conception of the ether has entered so +deeply into the scientific mind that the science of physics cannot be +understood unless we know something about the properties attributed to +the ether. The ether was invented to explain the phenomena of light, and +to account for the flow of energy across empty space. Light takes time +to travel. We see the sun at any moment by the light that left it 8 +minutes before. It has taken that 8 minutes for the light from the +sun to travel that 93,000,000 miles odd which separates it from our +earth. Besides the fact that light takes time to travel, it can be shown +that light travels in the form of waves. We know that sound travels in +waves; sound consists of waves in the air, or water or wood or whatever +medium we hear it through. If an electric bell be put in a glass jar and +the air be pumped out of the jar, the sound of the bell becomes feebler +and feebler until, when enough air has been taken out, we do not hear +the bell at all. Sound cannot travel in a vacuum. We continue to _see_ +the bell, however, so that evidently light can travel in a vacuum. The +invisible medium through which the waves of light travel is the ether, +and this ether permeates all space _and all matter_. Between us and the +stars stretch vast regions empty of all matter. But we see the stars; +their light reaches us, even though it may take centuries to do so. We +conceive, then, that it is the universal ether which conveys that light. +All the energy which has reached the earth from the sun and which, +stored for ages in our coal-fields, is now used to propel our trains and +steamships, to heat and light our cities, to perform all the +multifarious tasks of modern life, was conveyed by the ether. Without +that universal carrier of energy we should have nothing but a stagnant, +lifeless world. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Leadbeater._ + +AN ELECTRIC SPARK + +An electric spark consists of a rush of electrons across the space +between the two terminals. A state of tension is established in the +ether by the electric charges, and when this tension passes a certain +limit the discharge takes place.] + +[Illustration: _From "Scientific Ideas of To-day."_ + +AN ETHER DISTURBANCE AROUND AN ELECTRON CURRENT + +In the left-hand photograph an electric current is passing through the +coil, thus producing a magnetic field and transforming the poker into a +magnet. The poker is then able to support a pair of scissors. As soon as +the electric current is broken off, as in the second photograph, the +ether disturbance ceases. The poker loses its magnetism, and the +scissors fall.] + +We have said that light consists of waves. The ether may be considered +as resembling, in some respects, a jelly. It can transmit vibrations. +The waves of light are really excessively small ripples, measuring from +crest to crest. The distance from crest to crest of the ripples in a +pond is sometimes no more than an inch or two. This distance is +enormously great compared to the longest of the wave-lengths that +constitute light. We say the longest, for the waves of light differ in +length; the colour depends upon the length of the light. Red light has +the longest waves and violet the shortest. The longest waves, the waves +of deep-red light, are seven two hundred and fifty thousandths of an +inch in length (7/250,000 inch). This is nearly twice the length of +deep-violet light-waves, which are 1/67,000 inch. But light-waves, the +waves that affect the eye, are not the only waves carried by the ether. +Waves too short to affect the eye can affect the photographic plate, and +we can discover in this way the existence of waves only half the length +of the deep-violet waves. Still shorter waves can be discovered, until +we come to those excessively minute rays, the X-rays. + + +Below the Limits of Visibility + +But we can extend our investigations in the other direction; we find +that the ether carries many waves longer than light-waves. Special +photographic emulsions can reveal the existence of waves five times +longer than violet-light waves. Extending below the limits of visibility +are waves we detect as heat-waves. Radiant heat, like the heat from a +fire, is also a form of wave-motion in the ether, but the waves our +senses recognise as heat are longer than light-waves. There are longer +waves still, but our senses do not recognise them. But we can detect +them by our instruments. These are the waves used in wireless +telegraphy, and their length may be, in some cases, measured in miles. +These waves are the so-called electro-magnetic waves. Light, radiant +heat, and electro-magnetic waves are all of the same nature; they differ +only as regards their wave-lengths. + + +LIGHT--VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE + +If Light, then, consists of waves transmitted through the ether, what +gives rise to the waves? Whatever sets up such wonderfully rapid series +of waves must be something with an enormous vibration. We come back to +the electron: all atoms of matter, as we have seen, are made up of +electrons revolving in a regular orbit round a nucleus. These electrons +may be affected by out-side influences, they may be agitated and their +speed or vibration increased. + + +Electrons and Light + +The particles even of a piece of cold iron are in a state of vibration. +No nerves of ours are able to feel and register the waves they emit, but +your cold poker is really radiating, or sending out a series of +wave-movements, on every side. After what we saw about the nature of +matter, this will surprise none. Put your poker in the fire for a time. +The particles of the glowing coal, which are violently agitated, +communicate some of their energy to the particles of iron in the poker. +They move to and fro more rapidly, and the waves which they create are +now able to affect your nerves and cause a sensation of heat. Put the +poker again in the fire, until its temperature rises to 500° C. It +begins to glow with a dull red. Its particles are now moving very +violently, and the waves they send out are so short and rapid that they +can be picked up by the eye--we have _visible_ light. They would still +not affect a photographic plate. Heat the iron further, and the crowds +of electrons now send out waves of various lengths which blend into +white light. What is happening is the agitated electrons flying round in +their orbits at a speed of trillions of times a second. Make the iron +"blue hot," and it pours out, in addition to light, the _invisible_ +waves which alter the film on the photographic plate. And beyond these +there is a long range of still shorter waves, culminating in the X-rays, +which will pass between the atoms of flesh or stone. + +Nearly two hundred and fifty years ago it was proved that light +travelled at least 600,000 times faster than sound. Jupiter, as we saw, +has moons, which circle round it. They pass behind the body of the +planet, and reappear at the other side. But it was noticed that, when +Jupiter is at its greatest distance from us, the reappearance of the +moon from behind it is 16 minutes and 36 seconds later than when the +planet is nearest to us. Plainly this was because light took so long to +cover the additional distance. The distance was then imperfectly known, +and the speed of light was underrated. We now know the distance, and we +easily get the velocity of light. + +No doubt it seems far more wonderful to discover this within the walls +of a laboratory, but it was done as long ago as 1850. A cogged wheel is +so mounted that a ray of light passes between two of the teeth and is +reflected back from a mirror. Now, slight as is the fraction of a second +which light takes to travel that distance, it is possible to give such +speed to the wheel that the next tooth catches the ray of light on its +return and cuts it off. The speed is increased still further until the +ray of light returns to the eye of the observer through the notch _next_ +to the one by which it had passed to the mirror! The speed of the wheel +was known, and it was thus possible again to gather the velocity of +light. If the shortest waves are 1/67,000 of an inch in length, and +light travels at 186,000 miles a second, any person can work out that +about 800 trillion waves enter the eye in a second when we see "violet." + + +Sorting out Light-waves + +The waves sent out on every side by the energetic electrons become +faintly visible to us when they reach about 1/35,000 of an inch. As they +become shorter and more rapid, as the electrons increase their speed, we +get, in succession, the colours red, orange, yellow, green, blue, +indigo, and violet. Each distinct sensation of colour means a wave of +different length. When they are all mingled together, as in the light of +the sun, we get white light. When this white light passes through glass, +the speed of the waves is lessened; and, if the ray of light falls +obliquely on a triangular piece of glass, the waves of different lengths +part company as they travel through it, and the light is spread out in a +band of rainbow-colour. The waves are sorted out according to their +lengths in the "obstacle race" through the glass. Anyone may see this +for himself by holding up a wedge-shaped piece of crystal between the +sunlight and the eye; the prism separates the sunlight into its +constituent colours, and these various colours will be seen quite +readily. Or the thing may be realised in another way. If the seven +colours are painted on a wheel as shown opposite page 280 (in the +proportion shown), and the wheel rapidly revolved on a pivot, the wheel +will appear a dull white, the several colours will not be seen. But +_omit_ one of the colours, then the wheel, when revolved, will not +appear white, but will give the impression of one colour, corresponding +to what the union of six colours gives. Another experiment will show +that some bodies held up between the eye and a white light will not +permit all the rays to pass through, but will intercept some; a body +that intercepts all the seven rays except red will give the impression +of red, or if all the rays except violet, then violet will be the colour +seen. + +[Illustration: _Photo: H. J. Shepstone._ + +LIGHTNING + +In a thunderstorm we have the most spectacular display in lightning of a +violent and explosive rush of electrons (electricity) from one body to +another, from cloud to cloud, or to the earth. In this wonderful +photograph of an electrical storm note the long branched and undulating +flashes of lightning. Each flash lasts no longer than the one +hundred-thousandth part of a second of time.] + +[Illustration: LIGHT WAVES + +Light consists of waves transmitted through the ether. Waves of light +differ in length. The colour of the light depends on the wave-length. +Deep-red waves (the longest) are 7/250000 inch and deep-violet waves +1/67000 inch. The diagram shows two wave-motions of different +wave-lengths. From crest to crest, or from trough to trough, is the +length of the wave.] + +[Illustration: THE MAGNETIC CIRCUIT OF AN ELECTRIC CURRENT + +The electric current passing in the direction of the arrow round the +electric circuit generates in the surrounding space circular magnetic +circuits as shown in the diagram. It is this property which lies at the +base of the electro-magnet and of the electric dynamo.] + +[Illustration: THE MAGNET + +The illustration shows the lines of force between two magnets. The lines +of force proceed from the north pole of one magnet to the south pole of +the other. They also proceed from the north to the south poles of the +same magnet. These facts are shown clearly in the diagram. The north +pole of a magnet is that end of it which turns to the north when the +magnet is freely suspended.] + + +The Fate of the World + +Professor Soddy has given an interesting picture of what might happen +when the sun's light and heat is no longer what it is. The human eye +"has adapted itself through the ages to the peculiarities of the sun's +light, so as to make the most of that wave-length of which there is +most.... Let us indulge for a moment in these gloomy prognostications, +as to the consequences to this earth of the cooling of the sun with the +lapse of ages, which used to be in vogue, but which radio-activity has +so rudely shaken. Picture the fate of the world when the sun has become +a dull red-hot ball, or even when it has cooled so far that it would no +longer emit light to us. That does not all mean that the world would be +in inky darkness, and that the sun would not emit light to the people +then inhabiting this world, if any had survived and could keep +themselves from freezing. To such, if the eye continued to adapt itself +to the changing conditions, our blues and violets would be ultra-violet +and invisible, but our dark heat would be light and hot bodies would be +luminous to them which would be dark to us." + + +§ 12 + +What the Blue "Sky" means + +We saw in a previous chapter how the spectroscope splits up light-waves +into their colours. But nature is constantly splitting the light into +its different-lengthed waves, its colours. The rainbow, where dense +moisture in the air acts as a spectroscope, is the most familiar +example. A piece of mother-of-pearl, or even a film of oil on the street +or on water, has the same effect, owing to the fine inequalities in its +surface. The atmosphere all day long is sorting out the waves. The blue +"sky" overhead means that the fine particles in the upper atmosphere +catch the shorter waves, the blue waves, and scatter them. We can make a +tubeful of blue sky in the laboratory at any time. The beautiful +pink-flush on the Alps at sunrise, the red glory that lingers in the +west at sunset, mean that, as the sun's rays must struggle through +denser masses of air when it is low on the horizon, the long red waves +are sifted out from the other shafts. + +Then there is the varied face of nature which, by absorbing some waves +and reflecting others, weaves its own beautiful robe of colour. Here and +there is a black patch, which _absorbs_ all the light. White surfaces +_reflect_ the whole of it. What is reflected depends on the period of +vibration of the electrons in the particular kind of matter. Generally, +as the electrons receive the flood of trillions of waves, they absorb +either the long or the medium or the short, and they give us the +wonderful colour-scheme of nature. In some cases the electrons continue +to radiate long after the sunlight has ceased to fall upon them. We get +from them "black" or invisible light, and we can take photographs by it. +Other bodies, like glass, vibrate in unison with the period of the +light-waves and let them stream through. + + +Light without Heat + +There are substances--"phosphorescent" things we call them--which give +out a mysterious cold light of their own. It is one of the problems +of science, and one of profound practical interest. If we could produce +light without heat our "gas bill" would shrink amazingly. So much energy +is wasted in the production of heat-waves and ultra-violet waves which +we do not want, that 90 per cent. or more of the power used in +illumination is wasted. Would that the glow-worm, or even the dead +herring, would yield us its secret! Phosphorus is the one thing we know +as yet that suits the purpose, and--it smells! Indeed, our artificial +light is not only extravagant in cost, but often poor in colour. The +unwary person often buys a garment by artificial light, and is disgusted +next morning to find in it a colour which is not wanted. The colour +disclosed by the sun was not in the waves of the artificial light. + +[Illustration: ROTATING DISC OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON FOR MIXING COLOURS + +The Spectroscope sorts out the above seven colours from sunlight (which +is compounded of these seven colours). If painted in proper proportions +on a wheel, as shown in the coloured illustration, and the wheel be +turned rapidly on a pivot through its centre, only a dull white will be +perceived. If one colour be omitted, the result will be one colour--the +result of the union of the remaining six.] + +Beyond the waves of violet light are the still shorter and more rapid +waves--the "ultra-violet" waves--which are precious to the photographer. +As every amateur knows, his plate may safely be exposed to light that +comes through a red or an orange screen. Such a screen means "no +thoroughfare" for the blue and "beyond-blue" waves, and it is these +which arrange the little grains of silver on the plate. It is the same +waves which supply the energy to the little green grains of matter +(chlorophyll) in the plant, preparing our food and timber for us, as +will be seen later. The tree struggles upward and spreads out its leaves +fanwise to the blue sky to receive them. In our coal-measures, the +mighty dead forests of long ago, are vast stores of sunlight which we +are prodigally using up. + +The X-rays are the extreme end, the highest octave, of the series of +waves. Their power of penetration implies that they are excessively +minute, but even these have not held their secret from the modern +physicist. From a series of beautiful experiments, in which they were +made to pass amongst the atoms of a crystal, we learned their length. It +is about the ten-millionth of a millimetre, and a millimetre is about +the 1/25 of an inch! + +One of the most recent discoveries, made during a recent eclipse of the +sun, is that light is subject to gravitation. A ray of light from a star +is bent out of its straight path when it passes near the mass of the +sun. Professor Eddington tells us that we have as much right to speak of +a pound of light as of a pound of sugar. Professor Eddington even +calculates that the earth receives 160 tons of light from the sun every +year! + + +ENERGY: HOW ALL LIFE DEPENDS ON IT + +As we have seen in an earlier chapter, one of the fundamental entities +of the universe is matter. A second, not less important, is called +energy. Energy is indispensable if the world is to continue to exist, +since all phenomena, including life, depend on it. Just as it is humanly +impossible to create or to destroy a particle of matter, so is it +impossible to create or to destroy energy. This statement will be more +readily understood when we have considered what energy is. + +Energy, like matter, is indestructible, and just as matter exists in +various forms so does energy. And we may add, just as we are ignorant of +what the negative and positive particles of electricity which constitute +matter really are, so we are ignorant of the true nature of energy. At +the same time, energy is not so completely mysterious as it once was. It +is another of nature's mysteries which the advance of modern science has +in some measure unveiled. It was only during the nineteenth century that +energy came to be known as something as distinct and permanent as matter +itself. + + +Forms of Energy + +The existence of various forms of energy had been known, of course, for +ages; there was the energy of a falling stone, the energy produced by +burning wood or coal or any other substance, but the essential +_identity_ of all these forms of energy had not been suspected. The +conception of energy as something which, like matter, was constant in +amount, which could not be created nor destroyed, was one of the great +scientific acquisitions of the past century. + +[Illustration: WAVE SHAPES + +Wave-motions are often complex. The above illustration shows some fairly +complicated wave shapes. All such wave-motions can be produced by +superposing a number of simple wave forms.] + +[Illustration: THE POWER OF A MAGNET + +The illustration is that of a "Phoenix" electric magnet lifting scrap +from railway trucks. The magnet is 52 inches in diameter and lifts a +weight of 26 tons. The same type of magnet, 62 inches in diameter, lifts +a weight of 40 tons.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: The Locomotive Publishing Co., Ltd._ + +THE SPEED OF LIGHT + +A train travelling at the rate of sixty miles per hour would take rather +more than seventeen and a quarter days to go round the earth at the +equator, i.e. a distance of 25,000 miles. Light, which travels at the +rate of 186,000 miles per second, would take between one-seventh and +one-eighth of a second to go the same distance.] + +[Illustration: ROTATING DISC OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON FOR MIXING COLOURS + +The Spectroscope sorts out the above seven colours from sunlight (which +is compounded of these seven colours). If painted in proper proportions +on a wheel, as shown in the coloured illustration, and the wheel turned +rapidly on a pivot through its centre, only a dull white will be +perceived. If one colour be omitted, the result will be one colour--the +result of the union of the remaining six.] + +It is not possible to enter deeply into this subject here. It is +sufficient if we briefly outline its salient aspects. Energy is +recognised in two forms, kinetic and potential. The form of energy which +is most apparent to us is the _energy of motion_; for example, a rolling +stone, running water, a falling body, and so on. We call the energy of +motion _kinetic energy_. Potential energy is the energy a body has in +virtue of its position--it is its capacity, in other words, to acquire +kinetic energy, as in the case of a stone resting on the edge of a +cliff. + +Energy may assume different forms; one kind of energy may be converted +directly or indirectly into some other form. The energy of burning coal, +for example, is converted into heat, and from heat energy we have +mechanical energy, such as that manifested by the steam-engine. In this +way we can transfer energy from one body to another. There is the energy +of the great waterfalls of Niagara, for instance, which are used to +supply the energy of huge electric power stations. + + +What Heat is + +An important fact about energy is, that all energy _tends to take the +form of heat energy_. The impact of a falling stone generates heat; a +waterfall is hotter at the bottom than at the top--the falling particles +of water, on striking the ground, generate heat; and most chemical +changes are attended by heat changes. Energy may remain latent +indefinitely in a lump of wood, but in combustion it is liberated, and +we have heat as a result. The atom of radium or of any other +radio-active substance, as it disintegrates, generates heat. "Every hour +radium generates sufficient heat to raise the temperature of its own +weight of water, from the freezing point to the boiling point." And what +is heat? _Heat is molecular motion._ The molecules of every substance, +as we have seen on a previous page, are in a state of continual motion, +and the more vigorous the motion the hotter the body. As wood or coal +burns, the invisible molecules of these substances are violently +agitated, and give rise to ether waves which our senses interpret as +light and heat. In this constant movement of the molecules, then, we +have a manifestation of the energy of motion and of heat. + +That energy which disappears in one form reappears in another has been +found to be universally true. It was Joule who, by churning water, first +showed that a measurable quantity of mechanical energy could be +transformed into a measurable quantity of heat energy. By causing an +apparatus to stir water vigorously, that apparatus being driven by +falling weights or a rotating flywheel or by any other mechanical means, +the water became heated. A certain amount of mechanical energy had been +used up and a certain amount of heat had appeared. The relation between +these two things was found to be invariable. Every physical change in +nature involves a transformation of energy, but the total quantity of +energy in the universe remains unaltered. This is the great doctrine of +the Conservation of Energy. + + +§ 13 + +Substitutes for Coal + +Consider the source of nearly all the energy which is used in modern +civilisation--coal. The great forests of the Carboniferous epoch now +exists as beds of coal. By the burning of coal--a chemical +transformation--the heat energy is produced on which at present our +whole civilisation depends. Whence is the energy locked up in the coal +derived? From the sun. For millions of years the energy of the sun's +rays had gone to form the vast vegetation of the Carboniferous era and +had been transformed, by various subtle processes, into the potential +energy that slumbers in those immense fossilized forests. + +The exhaustion of our coal deposits would mean, so far as our knowledge +extends at present, the end of the world's civilisation. There are other +known sources of energy, it is true. There is the energy of falling +water; the great falls of Niagara are used to supply the energy of huge +electric power stations. Perhaps, also, something could be done to +utilise the energy of the tides--another instance of the energy of +moving water. And attempts have been made to utilise directly the energy +of the sun's rays. But all these sources of energy are small compared +with the energy of coal. A suggestion was made at a recent British +Association meeting that deep borings might be sunk in order to utilise +the internal heat of the earth, but this is not, perhaps, a very +practical proposal. By far the most effective substitutes for coal would +be found in the interior energy of the atom, a source of energy which, +as we have seen, is practically illimitable. If the immense electrical +energy in the interior of the atom can ever be liberated and controlled, +then our steadily decreasing coal supply will no longer be the bugbear +it now is to all thoughtful men. + +The stored-up energy of the great coal-fields can be used up, but we +cannot replace it or create fresh supplies. As we have seen, energy +cannot be destroyed, but it can become _unavailable_. Let us consider +what this important fact means. + + +§ 14 + +Dissipation of Energy + +Energy may become dissipated. Where does it go? since if it is +indestructible it must still exist. It is easier to ask the question +than to give a final answer, and it is not possible in this OUTLINE, +where an advanced knowledge of physics is not assumed on the part of the +reader, to go fully into the somewhat difficult theories put forward by +physicists and chemists. We may raise the temperature, say, of iron, +until it is white-hot. If we stop the process the temperature of the +iron will gradually settle down to the temperature of surrounding +bodies. As it does so, where does its previous energy go? In some +measure it may pass to other bodies in contact with the piece of iron, +but ultimately the heat becomes radiated away in space where we cannot +follow it. It has been added to the vast reservoir of _unavailable_ heat +energy of uniform temperature. It is sufficient here to say that if all +bodies had a uniform temperature we should experience no such thing as +heat, because heat only travels from one body to another, having the +effect of cooling the one and warming the other. In time the two bodies +acquire the same temperature. The sum-total of the heat in any body is +measured in terms of the kinetic energy of its moving molecules. + +There must come a time, so far as we can see at present, when, even if +all the heat energy of the universe is not radiated away into empty +infinite space, yet a uniform temperature will prevail. If one body is +hotter than another it radiates heat to that body until both are at the +same temperature. Each body may still possess a considerable quantity of +heat energy, which it has absorbed, but that energy, so far as reactions +between those two bodies are concerned, _is now unavailable_. The same +principle applies whatever number of bodies we consider. Before heat +energy can be utilised we must have bodies with different temperature. +If the whole universe were at some uniform temperature, then, although +it might possess an enormous amount of heat energy, this energy would be +unavailable. + + +What a Uniform Temperature would mean + +And what does this imply? It implies a great deal: for if all the energy +in the world became unavailable, the universe, as it now is, would cease +to be. It is possible that, by the constant interchange of heat +radiations, the whole universe is tending to some uniform temperature, +in which case, although all molecular motion would not have ceased, it +would have become unavailable. In this sense it may be said that the +universe is running down. + +[Illustration: NIAGARA FALLS + +The energy of this falling water is prodigious. It is used to generate +thousands of horse-power in great electrical installations. The power is +used to drive electric trams in cities 150 to 250 miles away.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Stephen Cribb._ + +TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY + +An illustration of Energy. The chemical energy brought into existence by +firing the explosive manifesting itself as mechanical energy, sufficient +to impart violent motion to tons of water.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Underwood & Underwood._ + +"BOILING" A KETTLE ON ICE + +When a kettle containing liquid air is placed on ice it "boils" because +the ice is intensely hot _when compared with the very low temperature of +the liquid air_.] + +If all the molecules of a substance were brought to a standstill, that +substance would be at the absolute zero of temperature. There could be +nothing colder. The temperature at which all molecular motions would +cease is known: it is -273° C. No body could possibly attain a lower +temperature than this: a lower temperature could not exist. Unless there +exists in nature some process, of which we know nothing at present, +whereby energy is renewed, our solar system must one day sink to this +absolute zero of temperature. The sun, the earth, and every other body +in the universe is steadily radiating heat, and this radiation cannot go +on for ever, because heat continually tends to diffuse and to equalise +temperatures. + +But we can see, theoretically, that there is a way of evading this law. +If the chaotic molecular motions which constitute heat could be +_regulated_, then the heat energy of a body could be utilised directly. +Some authorities think that some of the processes which go on in the +living body do not involve any waste energy, that the chemical energy of +food is transformed directly into work without any of it being +dissipated as useless heat energy. It may be, therefore, that man will +finally discover some way of escape from the natural law that, while +energy cannot be destroyed, it has a tendency to become unavailable. + +The primary reservoir of energy is the atom; it is the energy of the +atom, the atom of elements in the sun, the stars, the earth, from which +nature draws for all her supply of energy. Shall we ever discover how we +can replenish the dwindling resources of energy, or find out how we can +call into being the at present unavailable energy which is stored up in +uniform temperature? + + It looks as if our successors would witness an interesting race, + between the progress of science on the one hand and the depletion of + natural resources upon the other. The natural rate of flow of energy + from its primary atomic reservoirs to the sea of waste heat energy + of uniform temperature, allows life to proceed at a complete pace + sternly regulated by the inexorable laws of supply and demand, + which the biologists have recognised in their field as the struggle + for existence.[5] + + [5] _Matter and Energy_, by Professor Soddy. + +It is certain that energy is an actual entity just as much as matter, +and that it cannot be created or destroyed. Matter and ether are +receptacles or vehicles of energy. As we have said, what these entities +really are in themselves we do not know. It may be that all forms of +energy are in some fundamental way aspects of the same primary entity +which constitutes matter: how all matter is constituted of particles of +electricity we have already seen. The question to which we await an +answer is: What is electricity? + + +§ 15 + +MATTER, ETHER, AND EINSTEIN + +The supreme synthesis, the crown of all this progressive conquest of +nature, would be to discover that the particles of positive and negative +electricity, which make up the atoms of matter, are points or centres of +disturbances of some kind in a universal ether, and that all our +"energies" (light, magnetism, gravitation, etc.) are waves or strains of +some kind set up in the ether by these clusters of electrons. + +It is a fascinating, tantalising dream. Larmor suggested in 1900 that +the electron is a tiny whirlpool, or "vortex," in ether; and, as such a +vortex may turn in either of two opposite ways, we seem to see a +possibility of explaining positive and negative electricity. But the +difficulties have proved very serious, and the nature of the electron is +unknown. A recent view is that it is "a ring of negative electricity +rotating about its axis at a high speed," though that does not carry us +very far. The unit of positive electricity is even less known. We must +be content to know the general lines on which thought is moving toward +the final unification. + +We say "unification," but it would be a grave error to think that ether +is the only possible basis for such unity, or to make it an essential +part of one's philosophy of the universe. Ether was never more than an +imagined entity to which we ascribed the most extraordinary properties, +and which seemed then to promise considerable aid. It was conceived as +an elastic solid of very great density, stretching from end to end of +the universe, transmitting waves from star to star at the rate of +186,000 miles a second; yet it was believed that the most solid matter +passed through it as if it did not exist. + +Some years ago a delicate experiment was tried for the purpose of +detecting the ether. Since the earth, in travelling round the sun, must +move through the ether if the ether exists, there ought to be a stream +of ether flowing through every laboratory; just as the motion of a ship +through a still atmosphere will make "a wind." In 1887 Michelson and +Morley tried to detect this. Theoretically, a ray of light in the +direction of the stream ought to travel at a different rate from a ray +of light against the stream or across it. They found no difference, and +scores of other experiments have failed. This does not prove that there +is no ether, as there is reason to suppose that our instruments would +appear to shrink in precisely the same proportion as the alteration of +the light; but the fact remains that we have no proof of the existence +of ether. J. H. Jeans says that "nature acts as if no such thing +existed." Even the phenomena of light and magnetism, he says, do not +imply ether; and he thinks that the hypothesis may be abandoned. The +primary reason, of course, for giving up the notion of the ether is +that, as Einstein has shown, there is no way of detecting its existence. +If there is an ether, then, since the earth is moving through it, there +should be some way of detecting this motion. The experiment has been +tried, as we have said, but, although the method used was very +sensitive, no motion was discovered. It is Einstein who, by +revolutionising our conceptions of space and time, showed that no such +motion ever could be discovered, whatever means were employed, and that +the usual notion of the ether must be abandoned. We shall explain this +theory more fully in a later section. + + +INFLUENCE OF THE TIDES: ORIGIN OF THE MOON: THE EARTH SLOWING DOWN + +§ 16 + +Until comparatively recent times, until, in fact, the full dawn of +modern science, the tides ranked amongst the greatest of nature's +mysteries. And, indeed, what agency could be invoked to explain this +mysteriously regular flux and reflux of the waters of the ocean? It is +not surprising that that steady, rhythmical rise and fall suggested to +some imaginative minds the breathing of a mighty animal. And even when +man first became aware of the fact that this regular movement was +somehow associated with the moon, was he much nearer an explanation? +What bond could exist between the movements of that distant world and +the diurnal variation of the waters of the earth? It is reported that an +ancient astronomer, despairing of ever resolving the mystery, drowned +himself in the sea. + + +The Earth Pulled by the Moon + +But it was part of the merit of Newton's mighty theory of gravitation +that it furnished an explanation even of this age-old mystery. We can +see, in broad outlines at any rate, that the theory of universal +attraction can be applied to this case. For the moon, Newton taught us, +pulls every particle of matter throughout the earth. If we imagine that +part of the earth's surface which comprises the Pacific Ocean, for +instance, to be turned towards the moon, we see that the moon's pull, +_acting on the loose and mobile water_, would tend to heap it up into a +sort of mound. The whole earth is pulled by the moon, but the water +is more free to obey this pull than is the solid earth, although small +tides are also caused in the earth's solid crust. It can be shown also +that a corresponding hump would tend to be produced on the other side of +the earth, owing, in this case, to the tendency of the water, being more +loosely connected, to lag behind the solid earth. If the earth's surface +were entirely fluid the rotation of the earth would give the impression +that these two humps were continually travelling round the world, once +every day. At any given part of the earth's surface, therefore, there +would be two humps daily, i.e. two periods of high water. Such is the +simplest possible outline of the gravitational theory of the tides. + +[Illustration: THE CAUSE OF TIDES + +The tides of the sea are due to the pull of the moon, and, in lesser +degree, of the sun. The whole earth is pulled by the moon, but the loose +and mobile water is more free to obey this pull than is the solid earth, +although small tides are also caused in the earth's solid crust. The +effect which the tides have on slowing down the rotation of the earth is +explained in the text.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: G. Brocklehurst._ + +THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT + +An exceptionally smooth formation due to perfect weather conditions. The +wall-like formation of these tidal waves (see next page also) will be +noticed. The reason for this is that the downward current in the river +heads the sea-water back, and thus helps to exaggerate the advancing +slope of the wave. The exceptional spring tides are caused by the +combined operation of the moon and the sun, as is explained in the +text.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: G. Brocklehurst._ + +A BIG SPRING TIDE, THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT] + +The actually observed phenomena are vastly more complicated, and the +complete theory bears very little resemblance to the simple form we have +just outlined. Everyone who lives in the neighbourhood of a port knows, +for instance, that high water seldom coincides with the time when the +moon crosses the meridian. It may be several hours early or late. High +water at London Bridge, for instance, occurs about one and a half hours +after the moon has passed the meridian, while at Dublin high water +occurs about one and a half hours before the moon crosses the meridian. +The actually observed phenomena, then, are far from simple; they have, +nevertheless, been very completely worked out, and the times of high +water for every port in the world can now be prophesied for a +considerable time ahead. + + +The Action of Sun and Moon + +It would be beyond our scope to attempt to explain the complete theory, +but we may mention one obvious factor which must be taken into account. +Since the moon, by its gravitational attraction, produces tides, we +should expect that the sun, whose gravitational attraction is so much +stronger, should also produce tides and, we would suppose at first +sight, more powerful tides than the moon. But while it is true that the +sun produces tides, it is not true that they are more powerful than +those produced by the moon. The sun's tide-producing power is, as a +matter of fact, less than half that of the moon. The reason of this is +that _distance_ plays an enormous rôle in the production of tides. The +mass of the sun is 26,000,000 times that of the moon; on the other hand +it is 386 times as far off as the moon. This greater distance more than +counterbalances its greater mass, and the result, as we have said, is +that the moon is more than twice as powerful. Sometimes the sun and moon +act together, and we have what are called spring tides; sometimes they +act against one another, and we have neap tides. These effects are +further complicated by a number of other factors, and the tides, at +various places, vary enormously. Thus at St. Helena the sea rises and +falls about three feet, whereas in the Bay of Fundy it rises and falls +more than fifty feet. But here, again, the reasons are complicated. + + +§ 17 + +Origin of the Moon + +But there is another aspect of the tides which is of vastly greater +interest and importance than the theory we have just been discussing. In +the hands of Sir George H. Darwin, the son of Charles Darwin, the tides +had been made to throw light on the evolution of our solar system. In +particular, they have illustrated the origin and development of the +system formed by our earth and moon. It is quite certain that, long ages +ago, the earth was rotating immensely faster than it is now, and that +the moon was so near as to be actually in contact with the earth. In +that remote age the moon was just on the point of separating from the +earth, of being thrown off by the earth. Earth and moon were once one +body, but the high rate of rotation caused this body to split up into +two pieces; one piece became the earth we now know, and the other became +the moon. Such is the conclusion to which we are led by an examination +of the tides. In the first place let us consider the energy produced by +the tides. We see evidences of this energy all round the word's +coastlines. Estuaries are scooped out, great rocks are gradually reduced +to rubble, innumerable tons of matter are continually being set in +movement. Whence is this energy derived? Energy, like matter, cannot be +created from nothing; what, then, is the source which makes this +colossal expenditure possible. + + +The Earth Slowing down + +The answer is simple, but startling. _The source of tidal energy is the +rotation of the earth._ The massive bulk of the earth, turning every +twenty-four hours on its axis, is like a gigantic flywheel. In virtue of +its rotation it possesses an enormous store of energy. But even the +heaviest and swiftest flywheel, if it is doing work, or even if it is +only working against the friction of its bearings, cannot dispense +energy for ever. It must, gradually, slow down. There is no escape from +this reasoning. It is the rotation of the earth which supplies the +energy of the tides, and, as a consequence, the tides must be slowing +down the earth. The tides act as a kind of brake on the earth's +rotation. These masses of water, _held back by the moon_, exert a kind +of dragging effect on the rotating earth. Doubtless this effect, +measured by our ordinary standards, is very small; it is, however, +continuous, and in the course of the millions of years dealt with in +astronomy, this small but constant effect may produce very considerable +results. + +But there is another effect which can be shown to be a necessary +mathematical consequence of tidal action. It is the moon's action on the +earth which produces the tides, but they also react on the moon. The +tides are slowing down the earth, and they are also driving the moon +farther and farther away. This result, strange as it may seem, does not +permit of doubt, for it is the result of an indubitable dynamical +principle, which cannot be made clear without a mathematical discussion. +Some interesting consequences follow. + +Since the earth is slowing down, it follows that it was once rotating +faster. There was a period, a long time ago, when the day comprised only +twenty hours. Going farther back still we come to a day of ten hours, +until, inconceivable ages ago, the earth must have been rotating on its +axis in a period of from three to four hours. + +At this point let us stop and inquire what was happening to the moon. We +have seen that at present the moon is getting farther and farther away. +It follows, therefore, that when the day was shorter the moon was +nearer. As we go farther back in time we find the moon nearer and nearer +to an earth rotating faster and faster. When we reach the period we have +already mentioned, the period when the earth completed a revolution in +three or four hours, we find that the moon was so near as to be almost +grazing the earth. This fact is very remarkable. Everybody knows that +there is a _critical velocity_ for a rotating flywheel, a velocity +beyond which the flywheel would fly into pieces because the centrifugal +force developed is so great as to overcome the cohesion of the molecules +of the flywheel. We have already likened our earth to a flywheel, and we +have traced its history back to the point where it was rotating with +immense velocity. We have also seen that, at that moment, the moon was +barely separated from the earth. The conclusion is irresistible. In an +age more remote the earth _did_ fly in pieces, and one of those pieces +is the moon. Such, in brief outline, is the tidal theory of the origin +of the earth-moon system. + + +The Day Becoming Longer + +At the beginning, when the moon split off from the earth, it obviously +must have shared the earth's rotation. It flew round the earth in the +same time that the earth rotated, that is to say, the month and the day +were of equal length. As the moon began to get farther from the earth, +the month, because the moon took longer to rotate round the earth, began +to get correspondingly longer. The day also became longer, because the +earth was slowing down, taking longer to rotate on its axis, but the +month increased at a greater rate than the day. Presently the month +became equal to two days, then to three, and so on. It has been +calculated that this process went on until there were twenty-nine days +in the month. After that the number of days in the month began to +decrease until it reached its present value or magnitude, and will +continue to decrease until once more the month and the day are equal. In +that age the earth will be rotating very slowly. The braking action of +the tides will cause the earth always to keep the same face to the moon; +it will rotate on its axis in the same time that the moon turns round +the earth. If nothing but the earth and moon were involved this state of +affairs would be final. But there is also the effect of the solar tides +to be considered. The moon makes the day equal to the month, but the sun +has a tendency, by still further slowing down the earth's rotation on +its axis, to make the day equal to the year. It would do this, of +course, by making the earth take as long to turn on its axis as to go +round the sun. It cannot succeed in this, owing to the action of the +moon, but it can succeed in making the day rather longer than the month. + +Surprising as it may seem, we already have an illustration of this +possibility in the satellites of Mars. The Martian day is about one +half-hour longer than ours, but when the two minute satellites of Mars +were discovered it was noticed that the inner one of the two revolved +round Mars in about seven hours forty minutes. In one Martian day, +therefore, one of the moons of Mars makes more than three complete +revolutions round that planet, so that, to an inhabitant of Mars, there +would be more than three months in a day. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + ARRHENIUS, SVANTE, _Worlds in the Making_. + CLERK-MAXWELL, JAMES, _Matter and Motion_. + DANIELL, ALFRED, _A Text-Book of the Principles of Physics_. + DARWIN, SIR G. H., _The Tides_. + HOLMAN, _Matter, Energy, Force and Work_. + KAPP, GISBERT, _Electricity_. + KELVIN, LORD, _Popular Lectures and Addresses_. Vol. i. _Constitution + of Matter._ + LOCKYER, SIR NORMAN, _Inorganic Evolution_. + LODGE, SIR OLIVER, _Electrons_ and _The Ether of Space_. + PERRIN, JEAN, _Brownian Movement and Molecular Reality_. + SODDY, FREDERICK, _Matter and Energy_ and _The Interpretation of Radium_. + THOMPSON, SILVANUS P., _Light, Visible and Invisible_. + THOMSON, SIR J. J., _The Corpuscular Theory of Matter_. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4), by +J. 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Arthur + Thomson.</title> +<style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + body p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; + clear: both; + } + h3.dim {font-weight:100; + margin-top:2em;} + h4.sect {text-align: left; + font-weight: bold; + margin-top: 2em; + } + + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table { margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + } + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .pagenum {display: inline; + font-size:80%; + text-align: right; + position: absolute; right: 1%; + padding: 0 0 0 0 ; + margin: 0 0 0 0; + } + + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + + .imag { margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; + text-align: center; + margin-bottom: 2em; } + img { border: none; + padding: 0;} + div.caption p { + margin: 0 10% 0.4em 10%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align:center; + } + div.caption p.wide {text-align:justify;} + + .center { text-align: center; } + + .footnote {font-size: 90%; + margin-right:5%; margin-left:5%; + } + .footnote .label { + float:left; + text-align:left; + width:2em; + } + .footnote a {text-decoration:none; + } + .fnanchor { + font-size: 80%; + text-decoration: none; + vertical-align: 0.25em; + } + + + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ +</style> +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4), by +J. Arthur Thomson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) + A Plain Story Simply Told + +Author: J. Arthur Thomson + +Release Date: January 22, 2007 [EBook #20417] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUTLINE OF SCIENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Brian Janes, Leonard Johnson and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + <div class="imag"> + <a id="image001" name="image001"></a> <a href= + "images/image001.jpg"><img src="images/image001_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE GREAT SCARLET SOLAR PROMINENCES" title= + "THE GREAT SCARLET SOLAR PROMINENCES" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p class="wide">THE GREAT SCARLET SOLAR PROMINENCES, WHICH ARE SUCH A + NOTABLE FEATURE OF THE SOLAR PHENOMENA, ARE IMMENSE OUTBURSTS OF FLAMING + HYDROGEN RISING SOMETIMES TO A HEIGHT OF 500,000 MILES</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h1>THE + <br /> + OUTLINE OF SCIENCE</h1> + + <h3>A PLAIN STORY SIMPLY TOLD</h3> + + <h3>EDITED BY + <br /> + J. ARTHUR THOMSON + <br /> + REGIUS PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN THE + <br /> + UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN</h3> + + <p class="center">WITH OVER 800 ILLUSTRATIONS + <br /> + OF WHICH ABOUT 40 ARE IN COLOUR</p> + + <h4>IN FOUR VOLUMES</h4> + + <h4>G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS + <br /> + NEW YORK AND LONDON + <br /> + The Knickerbocker press</h4> + <hr /> + + <p class="center">Copyright, 1922 + <br /> + by + <br /> + G. P. Putnam's Sons</p> + + <p class="center"><i>First Printing April, 1922 + <br /> + Second Printing April, 1922 + <br /> + Third Printing April, 1922 + <br /> + Fourth Printing April, 1922 + <br /> + Fifth Printing June, 1922 + <br /> + Sixth Printing June, 1922 + <br /> + Seventh Printing June, 1922 + <br /> + Eighth Printing June, 1922 + <br /> + Ninth Printing August, 1922 + <br /> + Tenth Printing September, 1922 + <br /> + Eleventh Printing Sept., 1922 + <br /> + Twelfth Printing, May</i>, 1924</p> + + <p class="center">Made in the United States of America<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_iii" id="Page_iii">[Pg iii]</a></span></p> + <hr /> + + <h2>INTRODUCTORY NOTE</h2> + + <p class="center">By Professor J. Arthur Thomson</p> + + <p>Was it not the great philosopher and mathematician Leibnitz who said that + the more knowledge advances the more it becomes possible to condense it into + little books? Now this "Outline of Science" is certainly not a + little book, and yet it illustrates part of the meaning of Leibnitz's + wise saying. For here within reasonable compass there is a library of little + books—an outline of many sciences.</p> + + <p>It will be profitable to the student in proportion to the discrimination + with which it is used. For it is not in the least meant to be of the nature + of an Encyclopædia, giving condensed and comprehensive articles with a big + full stop at the end of each. Nor is it a collection of "primers," + beginning at the very beginning of each subject and working methodically + onwards. That is not the idea.</p> + + <p>What then is the aim of this book? It is to give the intelligent + student-citizen, otherwise called "the man in the street," a bunch + of intellectual keys by which to open doors which have been hitherto shut to + him, partly because he got no glimpse of the treasures behind the doors, and + partly because the portals were made forbidding by an unnecessary display of + technicalities. Laying aside conventional modes of treatment and seeking + rather to open up the subject as one might on a walk with a friend, the work + offers the student what might be called informal introductions to the various + departments of knowledge. To put it in another way, the articles are meant to + be clues which the reader may follow till he has left his starting point very + far behind. Perhaps when he has gone far on his own he will not be ungrateful + to the simple book of "instructions to travellers" which + this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_iv" id="Page_iv">[Pg iv]</a></span> + "Outline of Science" is intended to be. The simple + "bibliographies" appended to the various articles will be enough to + indicate "first books." Each article is meant to be an invitation + to an intellectual adventure, and the short lists of books are merely + finger-posts for the beginning of the journey.</p> + + <p>We confess to being greatly encouraged by the reception that has been + given to the English serial issue of "The Outline of Science." It + has been very hearty—we might almost say enthusiastic. For we agree + with Professor John Dewey, that "the future of our civilisation depends + upon the widening spread and deepening hold of the scientific habit of + mind." And we hope that this is what "The Outline of Science" + makes for. Information is all to the good; interesting information is better + still; but best of all is the education of the scientific habit of mind. + Another modern philosopher, Professor L. T. Hobhouse, has declared that the + evolutionist's mundane goal is "the mastery by the human mind of the + conditions, internal as well as external, of its life and growth." Under + the influence of this conviction "The Outline of Science" has been + written. For life is not for science, but science for life. And even more + than science, to our way of thinking, is the individual development of the + scientific way of looking at things. Science is our legacy; we must use it if + it is to be our very own.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_v" id= + "Page_v">[Pg v]</a></span></p> + <hr /> + + <h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + <table border="0" cellpadding="0" summary="Table of Contents"> + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td><span class="smcap">Introduction</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_3">3</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>I.</td> + + <td><span class="smcap">The Romance of the Heavens</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td>The scale of the universe—The solar system—Regions of the + sun—The surface of the sun—Measuring the speed of + light—Is the sun dying?—The planets—Venus—Is there + life on Mars?—Jupiter and Saturn—The moon—The mountains + of the moon—Meteors and comets—Millions of meteorites—A + great comet—The stellar universe—The evolution of + stars—The age of stars—The nebular theory—Spiral + nebulæ—The birth and death of stars—The shape of our + universe—Astronomical instruments.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>II.</td> + + <td><span class="smcap">The Story of Evolution</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_53">53</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td>The beginning of the earth—Making a home for life—The first + living creatures—The first plants—The first + animals—Beginnings of bodies—Evolution of sex—Beginning + of natural death—Procession of life through the ages—Evolution + of land animals—The flying dragons—The first known + bird—Evidences of evolution—Factors in evolution.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>III.</td> + + <td><span class="smcap">Adaptations to Environment</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_113">113</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td>The shore of the sea—The open sea—The deep sea—The + fresh waters—The dry land—The air.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>IV.</td> + + <td><span class="smcap">The Struggle for Existence</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_135">135</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td>Animal and bird mimicry and disguise—Other kinds of + elusiveness.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>V.</td> + + <td><span class="smcap">The Ascent of Man</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_153">153</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td>Anatomical proof of man's relationship with a Simian + stock—Physiological proof—Embryological proof—Man's + pedigree—Man's arboreal apprenticeship—Tentative + men—Primitive men—Races of mankind—Steps in human + evolution—Factors in human progress.</td> + + <td><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vi" id="Page_vi">[Pg + vi]</a></span></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>VI.</td> + + <td><span class="smcap">Evolution Going on</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td>Evolutionary prospect for man—The fountain of change; + variability—Evolution of plants—Romance of wheat—Changes + in animal life—Story of the salmon—Forming new + habits—Experiments in locomotion; new devices.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>VII.</td> + + <td><span class="smcap">The Dawn of Mind</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_205">205</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td>A caution in regard to instinct—A useful law—Senses of + fishes—The mind of a minnow—The mind and senses of + amphibians—The reptilian mind—Mind in birds—Intelligence + co-operating with instinct—The mind of the mammal—Instinctive + aptitudes—Power of association—Why is there not more + intelligence?—The mind of monkeys—Activity for activity's + sake—Imitation—The mind of man—Body and mind.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>VIII.</td> + + <td><span class="smcap">Foundations of the Universe</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#Page_243">243</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td>The world of atoms—The energy of atoms—The discovery of + X-rays—The discovery of radium—The discovery of the + electron—The electron theory—The structure of the + atom—The new view of matter—Other new views—The nature of + electricity—Electric current—The + dynamo—Magnetism—Ether and waves—Light—What the + blue "sky" means—Light without heat—Forms of + energy—What heat is—Substitutes for coal—Dissipation of + energy—What a uniform temperature would mean—Matter, ether, and + Einstein—The tides—Origin of the moon—The earth slowing + down—The day becoming longer.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + </table> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_vii" id="Page_vii">[Pg + vii]</a></span></p> + <hr /> + + <h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + <table border="0" cellpadding="0" summary="List of Illustrations"> + <tbody valign="top"> + <tr> + <td> </td> + + <td>FACING</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> </td> + + <td>PAGE</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Great Scarlet Solar Prominences, Which are + Such a Notable Feature of the Solar Phenomena, are Immense Outbursts of + Flaming Hydrogen Rising Sometimes to a Height of 500,000 Miles</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image001"><i>Coloured + Frontispiece</i></a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Laplace</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image032a">10</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Professor J. C. Adams</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image032b">10</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Royal Astronomical Society.</td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Professor Eddington of Cambridge + University</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image032c">10</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Elliot & Fry, Ltd.</td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Planets, Showing their Relative Distances and + Dimensions</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image033a">11</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Milky Way</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image038a">14</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Harvard College Observatory.</td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Moon Entering the Shadow Cast by the + Earth</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image038b">14</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Great Nebula in Andromeda, Messier + 31</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image039">15</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> From a photograph taken at the Yerkes + Observatory.</td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Diagram Showing the Main Layers of the + Sun</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image044a">18</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Solar Prominences Seen at Total Solar Eclipse, May + 29, 1919.</span> <span class="smcap">Taken at Sobral, Brazil</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image044b">18</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich.</td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Visible Surface of the Sun</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image045a">19</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory.</td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Sun Photographed in the Light of Glowing + Hydrogen</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image045b">19</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory.</td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Aurora Borealis</span> (<i>Coloured + Illustration</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image048">20</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Reproduced from <i>The Forces of Nature</i> + (Messrs. Macmillan)</td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Great Sun-Spot of July 17, 1905</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image052a">22</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Yerkes Observatory.</td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Solar Prominences</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image052b">22</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> From photographs taken at the Yerkes + Observatory.</td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Mars, October 5, 1909</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image053a">23</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_viii" id="Page_viii">[Pg viii]</a></span></td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Jupiter</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image053b">23</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Saturn, November 19, 1911</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image053c">23</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Professor E. E. Barnard, Yerkes + Observatory.</td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Spectroscope, an Instrument for Analysing + Light; it Provides Means for Identifying Substances</span> (<i>Coloured + Illustration</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image056">24</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Moon</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image062">28</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Mars</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image063a">29</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Drawings by Professor Percival Lowell.</td> + + <td> </td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Moon, at Nine and Three Quarter + Days</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image063b">29</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Map of the Chief Plains and Craters of the + Moon</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image068a">32</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Diagram of a Stream of Meteors Showing the Earth + Passing Through Them</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image068b">32</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Comet, September 29, 1908</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image069a">33</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Comet, October</span> 3, 1908</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image069b">33</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Typical Spectra</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image074">36</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Harvard College Observatory.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Nebular Region South of Zeta Orionis</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image075a">37</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Star Cluster in Hercules</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image075b">37</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria, + British Columbia.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Great Nebula in Orion</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image080">40</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Yerkes Observatory.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Giant Spiral Nebula, March 23, 1914</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image081">41</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Lick Observatory.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Spiral Nebula Seen Edge-on</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image086">44</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">100-Inch Telescope, Mount Wilson</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image087">45</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: H. J. Shepstone.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Yerkes 40-Inch Refractor</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image092">48</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Double-Slide Plate-Holder on Yerkes 40-Inch + Refracting Telescope</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image093a">49</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: H. J. Shepstone.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_ix" id="Page_ix">[Pg ix]</a></span></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Modern Direct-Reading Spectroscope</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image093b">49</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> By A. Hilger, Ltd.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Charles Darwin</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image102a">56</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Rischgitz Collection.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Lord Kelvin</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image102b">56</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Rischgitz Collection.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Giant Spiral Nebula</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image103a">57</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Lick Observatory.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Meteorite Which Fell Near Scarborough and is now + to be Seen in the Natural History Museum</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image103b">57</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Natural History Museum.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Limestone Canyon</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image108">60</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Reproduced from the Smithsonian Report, + 1915.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Geological Tree of Animals</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image109a">61</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Diagram of Amœba</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image109b">61</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Piece of a Reef-Building Coral, Built up by a + Large Colony of Small Sea-Anemone-Like Polyps, Each of which Forms from + the Salts of the Sea a Skeleton or Shell of Lime</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image114">64</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> From the Smithsonian Report, 1917.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Group of Chalk-Forming Animals, or Foraminifera, + Each about the Size of a Very Small Pin's Head</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image115">65</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Common Foraminifer (Polystomella) Showing the + Shell in the Centre and the Outflowing Network of Living Matter, Along + which Granules are Continually Travelling, and by which Food Particles are + Entangled and Drawn in</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image115">65</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Reproduced by permission of the Natural + History Museum (after Max Schultze).</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Plant-Like Animal, or Zoophyte, Called + Obelia</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image120">68</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Trypanosoma Gambiense</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image121a">69</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Reproduced by permission of <i>The Quart. + Journ. Mic. Sci.</i></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Volvox</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image121b">69</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Proterospongia</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image121c">69</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Green Hydra</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image126a">72</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Diagram Illustrating the Beginning of Individual + Life</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_x" id="Page_x">[Pg + x]</a></span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image126c">72</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Earthworm</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image126b">72</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Glass Model of a Sea-Anemone</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image126d">72</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Reproduced from the Smithsonian Report, + 1917.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">This Drawing Shows the Evolution of the Brain from + Fish to Man</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image127">73</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Okapi and Giraffe</span> (<i>Coloured + Illustration</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image130">74</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Diagram of a Simple Reflex Arc in a Backboneless + Animal Like an Earthworm</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image134a">76</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Yucca Moth</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image134b">76</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: British Museum (Natural History).</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Inclined Plane of Animal Behaviour</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image134c">76</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Venus' Fly-Trap</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image135a">77</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Spider Sunning Her Eggs</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image135b">77</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Reproduced by permission from <i>The Wonders + of Instinct</i> by J. H. Fabre.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Hoatzin Inhabits British Guiana</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image142">82</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Peripatus</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image143a">83</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photograph, from the British Museum (Natural + History), of a drawing by Mr. E. Wilson.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Rock Kangaroo Carrying its Young in a + Pouch</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image143b">83</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Professor Thomas Henry Huxley + (1825-95)</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image148a">86</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Rischgitz.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Baron Cuvier, 1769-1832</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image148b">86</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">An Illustration Showing Various Methods of Flying + and Swooping</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image149">87</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Animals of the Cambrian Period</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image154a">90</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> From Knipe's <i>Nebula to Man</i>.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Trilobite</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image154b">90</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Gambian Mud-Fish, Protopterus</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image155a">91</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: British Museum (Natural History).</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Archæopteryx</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image155b">91</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> After William Leche of Stockholm.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_xi" id="Page_xi">[Pg xi]</a></span></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Wing of a Bird, Showing the Arrangement of the + Feathers</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image155c">91</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Pictorial Representation of Strata of the + Earth's Crust, with Suggestions of Characteristic Fossils</span> + (<i>Coloured Illustration</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image158">92</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Fossil of a Pterodactyl or Extinct Flying + Dragon</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image162a">94</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: British Museum (Natural History).</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Pariasaurus: An Extinct Vegetarian Triassic + Reptile</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image162b">94</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> From Knipe's <i>Nebula to Man</i>.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Triceratops: A Huge Extinct Reptile</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image163a">95</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> From Knipe's <i>Nebula to Man</i>.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Duckmole or Duck-Billed Platypus of + Australia</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image163b">95</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: <i>Daily Mail</i>.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Skeleton of an Extinct Flightless Toothed Bird, + Hesperornis</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image170">100</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> After Marsh.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Six Stages in the Evolution of the Horse, Showing + Gradual Increase in Size</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image171">101</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> After Lull and Matthew.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Diagram Showing Seven Stages in the Evolution of + the Fore-Limbs and Hind-Limbs of the Ancestors of the Modern Horse, + Beginning with the Earliest Known Predecessors of the Horse and + Culminating with the Horse of To-Day</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image176">104</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> After Marsh and Lull.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">What is Meant by Homology? Essential Similarity of + Architecture, though the Appearances May be Very Different</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image177">105</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">An Eight-Armed Cuttlefish or Octopus Attacking a + Small Crab</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image190a">116</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Common Starfish, which has Lost Three Arms and + is Regrowing Them</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image190b">116</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> After Professor W. C. McIntosh.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Paper Nautilus (Argonauta), an Animal of the + Open Sea</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image191b">117</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Photograph Showing a Starfish</span> + (<i>Asterias Forreri</i>) <span class="smcap">which has Captured a Large + Fish</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image191a">117</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Ten-Armed Cuttlefish or Squid in the Act of + Capturing a Fish</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image194a">118</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Greenland Whale</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image194b">118</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Minute Transparent Early Stage of a + Sea-Cucumber</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image195a">119</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">An Intricate Colony of Open-Sea Animals</span> + (<i>Physophora Hydrostatica</i>) <span class="smcap">Related to the + Portuguese Man-of-War</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image195b">119</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: British Museum (Natural + History).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xii" id="Page_xii">[Pg + xii]</a></span></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Scene in the Great Depths</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image195c">119</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Sea-Horse in Sargasso Weed</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image198">120</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Large Marine Lampreys</span> (<i>Petromyzon + Marinus</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image198">120</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Deep-Sea Fish</span> <i>Chiasmodon + Niger</i></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image198">120</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Deep-Sea Fishes</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image198">120</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Flinty Skeleton of Venus' Flower Basket</span> + (<i>Euplectella</i>), <span class="smcap">a Japanese Deep-Sea + Sponge</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image199a">121</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Egg Depository of</span> <i>Semotilus + Atromaculatus</i></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image199b">121</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Bitterling</span> (<i>Rhodeus Amarus</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image204a">124</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Woolly Opossum Carrying her Family</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image204b">124</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: W. S. Berridge.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Surinam Toad</span> (<i>Pipa Americana</i>) + <span class="smcap">with Young Ones Hatching out of Little Pockets on her + Back</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image205a">125</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Storm Petrel or Mother Carey's Chicken</span> + (<i>Procellaria Pelagica</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image205b">125</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Albatross: A Characteristic Pelagic Bird of the + Southern Sea</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image210">128</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Praying Mantis</span> (<i>Mantis + Religiosa</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image222a">138</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Protective Coloration: A Winter Scene in North + Scandinavia</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image222b">138</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Variable Monitor</span> (<i>Varanus</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image223">139</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: A. A. White.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Banded Krait: A Very Poisonous Snake with + Alternating Yellow and Dark Bands</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image226a">140</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Warty Chameleon</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image226b">140</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photos: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Seasonal Colour-Change: Summer Scene in North + Scandinavia</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image227">141</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Protective Resemblance</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image230">142</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">When Only a Few Days Old, Young Bittern Begin to + Strike the Same Attitude as their Parents, Thrusting their Bills upwards + and Drawing their Bodies up so that they Resemble a Bunch of + Reeds</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image231">143</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Protective Coloration or Camouflaging, Giving + Animals a Garment of Invisibility</span> (<i>Coloured + Illustration</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image234">144</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Another Example of Protective Coloration</span> + (<i>Coloured Illustration</i>)<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xiii" + id="Page_xiii">[Pg xiii]</a></span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image234">144</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Dead-Leaf Butterfly</span> (<i>Kallima + Inachis</i>) <span class="smcap">from India</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image238a">146</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Protective Resemblance between a Small + Spider</span> (<i>to the left</i>) <span class="smcap">and an Ant</span> + (<i>to the right</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image238b">146</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Wasp Beetle, which, when Moving amongst the + Branches, Gives a Wasp-Like Impression</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image239a">147</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Hermit-Crab with Partner Sea-Anemones</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image239b">147</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Cuckoo-Spit</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image239c">147</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: G. P. Duffus.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Chimpanzee, Sitting</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image250a">156</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: New York Zoological Park.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Chimpanzee, Illustrating Walking + Powers</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image250b">156</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: New York Zoological Park.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Surface View of the Brains of Man and + Chimpanzee</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image251a">157</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Side-View of Chimpanzee's Head</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image251b">157</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: New York Zoological Park.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Profile View of Head of Pithecanthropus, the Java + Ape-Man, Reconstructed from the Skull-Cap</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image251b1">157</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> After a model by J. H. McGregor.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Flipper of a Whale and the Hand of a + Man</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image251c">157</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Gorilla, Inhabiting the Forest Tract of the + Gaboon in Africa</span> (<i>Coloured Illustration</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image254">158</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">"Darwin's Point" on Human + Ear</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image258">160</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Professor Sir Arthur Keith, M.D., LL.D., + F.R.S.</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image259a">161</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: J. Russell & Sons.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Skeletons of the Gibbon, Orang, Chimpanzee, + Gorilla, Man</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image259b">161</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> After T. H. Huxley (by permission of Messrs. + Macmillan).</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Side-View of Skull of Man and Gorilla</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image264a">164</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Skull and Brain-Case of Pithecanthropus, the + Java Ape-Man, as Restored by J. H. McGregor from the Scanty + Remains</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image264b">164</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Suggested Genealogical Tree of Man and Anthropoid + Apes</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image265">165</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Gibbon is Lower than the Other Apes as Regards + its Skull and Dentition, but it is highly Specialized in the Adaptation of + its Limbs to Arboreal Life</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image268a">166</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: New York Zoological Park.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_xiv" id="Page_xiv">[Pg xiv]</a></span></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Orang Has a High Rounded Skull and a Long + Face</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image268b">166</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: New York Zoological Park.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Comparisons of the Skeletons of Horse and + Man</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image269">167</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: British Museum (Natural History).</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Reconstruction of the Java Man</span> + (<i>Coloured Illustration</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image272">168</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Profile View of the Head of Pithecanthropus, the + Java Ape-Man—an Early Offshoot from the Main Line of Man's + Ascent</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image276a">170</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> After a model by J. H. McGregor.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Piltdown Skull</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image276b">170</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> From the reconstruction by J. H. + McGregor.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Sand-Pit at Mauer, near Heidelberg: Discovery Site + of the Jaw of Heidelberg Man</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image277">171</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Reproduced by permission from Osborn's + <i>Men of the Old Stone Age</i>.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Paintings on the Roof of the Altamira Cave in + Northern Spain, Showing a Bison and a Galloping Boar</span> (<i>Coloured + Illustration</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image280">172</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Piltdown Man, Preceding Neanderthal Man, Perhaps + 100,000 to 150,000 Years Ago</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image284">174</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> After the restoration modelled by J. H. + McGregor.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Neanderthal Man of La + Chapelle-aux-Saints</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image285">175</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> After the restoration modelled by J. H. + McGregor.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Restoration by A. Forestier of the Rhodesian Man + whose Skull was Discovered in 1921</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image288">176-177</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Side View of a Prehistoric Human Skull Discovered + in 1921 in Broken Hill Cave, Northern Rhodesia</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image292a">178</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: British Museum (Natural History).</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Cromagnon Man or Cromagnard, Representative of a + Strong Artistic Race Living in the South of France in the Upper + Pleistocene, Perhaps 25,000 Years Ago</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image292b">178</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> After the restoration modelled by J. H. + McGregor.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Photograph Showing a Narrow Passage in the Cavern + of Font-de-Gaume on the Beune</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image293a">179</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Reproduced by permission from Osborn's + <i>Men of the Old Stone Age</i>.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Mammoth Drawn on the Wall of the Font-de-Gaume + Cavern</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image293b">179</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Grazing Bison, Delicately and Carefully Drawn, + Engraved on a Wall of the Altamira Cave, Northern Spain</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image293c">179</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Photograph of a Median Section through the Shell + of the Pearly Nautilus</span><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xv" id= + "Page_xv">[Pg xv]</a></span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image302a">186</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Photograph of the Entire Shell of the Pearly + Nautilus</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image302b">186</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Nautilus</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image302c">186</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Shoebill</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image303">187</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: W. S. Berridge.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Walking-Fish or Mud-Skipper</span> + (<i>Periophthalmus</i>), <span class="smcap">Common at the Mouths of + Rivers in Tropical Africa, Asia, and North-West Australia</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image308a">190</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Australian More-Pork or Podargus</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image308b">190</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: <i>The Times</i>.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Pelican's Bill, Adapted for Catching and + Storing Fishes</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image309a">191</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Spoonbill's Bill, Adapted for Sifting the Mud + and Catching the Small Animals, e.g. Fishes, Crustaceans, Insect Larvæ, + which Live there</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image309b">191</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Avocet's Bill, Adapted for a Curious Sideways + Scooping in the Shore-Pools and Catching Small Animals</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image309c">191</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Hornbill's Bill, Adapted for Excavating a Nest + in a Tree, and Also for Seizing and Breaking Diverse Forms of Food, from + Mammals to Tortoises, from Roots to Fruits</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image309d">191</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Falcon's Bill, Adapted for Seizing, Killing, + and Tearing Small Mammals and Birds</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image309e">191</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Puffin's Bill, Adapted for Catching Small + Fishes near the Surface of the Sea, and for Holding them when Caught and + Carrying them to the Nest</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image309f">191</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Life-History of a Frog</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image312a">192</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Hind-Leg of Whirligig Beetle which has Become + Beautifully Modified for Aquatic Locomotion</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image312b">192</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Big Robber-Crab</span> (<i>Birgus Latro</i>), + <span class="smcap">that Climbs the Coconut Palm and Breaks off the + Nuts</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image313">193</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Early Life-History of the Salmon</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image318">196</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Salmon Leaping at the Fall is a Most + Fascinating Spectacle</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image319">197</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Diagram of the Life-History of the Common + Eel</span> (<i>Anguilla Vulgaris</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image324">200</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Cassowary</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image325a">201</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Gambier Bolton.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_xvi" id="Page_xvi">[Pg xvi]</a></span></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Kiwi, Another Flightless Bird, of Remarkable + Appearance, Habits, and Structure</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image325b">201</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Gambier Bolton.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Australian Frilled Lizard, which is at Present + Trying to Become a Biped</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image328a">202</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Carpet of Gossamer</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image328b">202</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Water Spider</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image329a">203</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Jackdaw Balancing on a Gatepost</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image336a">208</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: O. J. Wilkinson.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Two Opossums Feigning Death</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image336b">208</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> From Ingersoll's <i>The Wit of the + Wild</i>.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Male of Three-Spined Stickleback, Making a Nest of + Water-Weed, Glued Together by Viscid Threads Secreted from the Kidneys at + the Breeding Season</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image337a">209</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Female Stickleback Enters the Nest which the + Male has Made, Lays the Eggs Inside, and then Departs</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image337b">209</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Homing Pigeon</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image342a">212</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Imperial War Museum.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Carrier Pigeon</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image342b">212</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Imperial War Museum.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Yellow-Crowned Penguin</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image343a">213</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: James's Press Agency.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Penguins are "A Peculiar + People"</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image343b">213</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Cagcombe & Co.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Harpy-Eagle</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image348a">216</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: W. S. Berridge.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Dingo or Wild Dog of Australia, Perhaps an + Indigenous Wild Species, Perhaps a Domesticated Dog that has Gone Wild or + Feral</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image348b">216</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Woodpecker Hammering at a Cotton-Reel, Attached to + a Tree</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image349">217</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Beaver</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image354">220</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Thrush at its Anvil</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image355">221</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: F. R. Hinkins & Son.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Alsatian Wolf-Dog</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image362">226</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Lafayette.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_xvii" id="Page_xvii">[Pg xvii]</a></span></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Polar Bear of the Far North</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image363a">227</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: W. S. Berridge.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">An Alligator "Yawning" in Expectation of + Food</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image363b">227</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> From the Smithsonian Report, 1914.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Baby Orang</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image370a">232</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: W. P. Dando.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Orang-Utan</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image370b">232</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Gambier Bolton.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Chimpanzee</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image371">233</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: James's Press Agency.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Baby Orang-Utan</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image371">233</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: James's Press Agency.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Orang-Utan</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image371">233</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: James's Press Agency.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Baby Chimpanzees</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image371">233</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: James's Press Agency.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Chimpanzee</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image378a">238</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: W. P. Dando.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Young Cheetahs, or Hunting Leopards</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image378b">238</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: W. S. Berridge.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Common Otter</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image379">239</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: C. Reid.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Sir Ernest Rutherford</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image388a">246</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Elliott & Fry.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">J. Clerk-Maxwell</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image388b">246</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Rischgitz Collection.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Sir William Crookes</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image389a">247</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Ernest H. Mills.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Professor Sir W. H. Bragg</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image389b">247</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Photo Press.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Comparative Sizes of Molecules</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image394a">250</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Inconceivable Numbers and Inconceivably Small + Particles</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image394b">250</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">What is a Million?</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image394c">250</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Brownian Movement</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image395">251</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Soap Bubble</span> (<i>Coloured + Illustration</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image398">252</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Reproduced from <i>The Forces of Nature</i> + (Messrs. Macmillan).<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xviii" id= + "Page_xviii">[Pg xviii]</a></span></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Detecting a Small Quantity of Matter</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image402a">254</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> From <i>Scientific Ideas of To-day</i>.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">This X-Ray Photograph is that of a Hand of a + Soldier Wounded in the Great War</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image402b">254</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Reproduced by permission of X-Rays Ltd.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">An X-Ray Photograph of a Golf Ball, Revealing an + Imperfect Core</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image402c">254</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: National Physical Laboratory.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Wonderful X-Ray Photograph</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image403">255</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Reproduced by permission of X-Rays Ltd.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Electric Discharge in a Vacuum Tube</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image408a">258</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Relative Sizes of Atoms and + Electrons</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image408b">258</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Electrons Streaming from the Sun to the + Earth</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image409">259</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Professor Sir J. J. Thomson</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image414a">262</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Electrons Produced by Passage of X-Rays through + Air</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image414b">262</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> From the Smithsonian Report, 1915.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Magnetic Deflection of Radium Rays</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image415a">263</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Professor R. A. Millikan's Apparatus for + Counting Electrons</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image415b">263</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Reproduced by permission of <i>Scientific + American</i>.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Making the Invisible Visible</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image420">266</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Theory of Electrons</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image421a">267</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Arrangements of Atoms in a Diamond</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image421b">267</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Disintegration of Atoms</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image426a">270</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Silk Tassel Electrified</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image426b">270</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Reproduced by permission from <i>The + Interpretation of Radium</i> (John Murray).</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Silk Tassel Discharged by the Rays from + Radium</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image426c">270</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Huge Electric Spark</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image427a">271</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Electrical Attraction between Common + Objects</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image427b">271</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> From <i>Scientific Ideas of To-day</i>.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">An Electric Spark</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image432">274</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Leadbeater.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">An Ether Disturbance around an Electron + Current</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image433">275</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> From <i>Scientific Ideas of + To-day</i>.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xix" id="Page_xix">[Pg + xix]</a></span></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Lightning</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image438">278</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: H. J. Shepstone.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Light Waves</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image439a">279</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Magnetic Circuit of an Electric + Current</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image439b">279</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Magnet</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image439c">279</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Rotating Disc of Sir Isaac Newton for Mixing + Colours</span> (<i>Coloured Illustration</i>)</td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image442">280</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Wave Shapes</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image446a">282</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Power of a Magnet</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image446b">282</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Speed of Light</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image447a">283</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: The Locomotive Publishing Co., + Ltd.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Rotating Disc of Sir Isaac Newton for Mixing + Colours</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image447b">283</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Niagara Falls</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image452">286</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">Transformation of Energy</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image453a">287</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Stephen Cribb.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">"Boiling" a Kettle on Ice</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image453b">287</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: Underwood & Underwood.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Cause of Tides</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image458a">290</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">The Aegir on the Trent</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image458b">290</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: G. Brocklehurst.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td></td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><span class="smcap">A Big Spring Tide, the Aegir on the + Trent</span></td> + + <td align="right"><a href="#image459">291</a></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td> Photo: G. Brocklehurst.</td> + + <td></td> + </tr> + </tbody> + </table> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_xx" id="Page_xx">[Pg + xx]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p> + <hr /> + + <h1>The Outline of Science</h1> + <hr /> + + <h2>INTRODUCTION</h2> + + <p>There is abundant evidence of a widened and deepened interest in modern + science. How could it be otherwise when we think of the magnitude and the + eventfulness of recent advances?</p> + + <p>But the interest of the general public would be even greater than it is if + the makers of new knowledge were more willing to expound their discoveries in + ways that could be "understanded of the people." No one objects + very much to technicalities in a game or on board a yacht, and they are + clearly necessary for terse and precise scientific description. It is + certain, however, that they can be reduced to a minimum without sacrificing + accuracy, when the object in view is to explain "the gist of the + matter." So this <span class="smcap">Outline of Science</span> is meant + for the general reader, who lacks both time and opportunity for special + study, and yet would take an intelligent interest in the progress of science + which is making the world always new.</p> + + <p>The story of the triumphs of modern science is one of which Man may well + be proud. Science reads the secret of the distant star and anatomises the + atom; foretells the date of the comet's return and predicts the kinds of + chickens that will hatch from a dozen eggs; discovers the laws of the wind + that bloweth where it listeth and reduces to order the disorder of disease. + Science is always setting forth on Columbus voyages, discovering new worlds + and conquering them by understanding. For Knowledge means Foresight and + Foresight means Power.</p> + + <p>The idea of Evolution has influenced all the sciences, forcing us to think + of <i>everything</i> as with a history behind it, for we have travelled far + since Darwin's day. The solar system, the earth, the mountain ranges, and + the great deeps, the rocks and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id= + "Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span> crystals, the plants and animals, man himself and + his social institutions—all must be seen as the outcome of a long + process of Becoming. There are some eighty-odd chemical elements on the earth + to-day, and it is now much more than a suggestion that these are the outcome + of an inorganic evolution, element giving rise to element, going back and + back to some primeval stuff, from which they were all originally derived, + infinitely long ago. No idea has been so powerful a tool in the fashioning of + New Knowledge as this simple but profound idea of Evolution, that the present + is the child of the past and the parent of the future. And with the picture + of a continuity of evolution from nebula to social systems comes a promise of + an increasing control—a promise that Man will become not only a more + accurate student, but a more complete master of his world.</p> + + <p>It is characteristic of modern science that the whole world is seen to be + more vital than before. Everywhere there has been a passage from the static + to the dynamic. Thus the new revelations of the constitution of matter, which + we owe to the discoveries of men like Professor Sir J. J. Thomson, Professor + Sir Ernest Rutherford, and Professor Frederick Soddy, have shown the very + dust to have a complexity and an activity heretofore unimagined. Such phrases + as "dead" matter and "inert" matter have gone by the + board.</p> + + <p>The new theory of the atom amounts almost to a new conception of the + universe. It bids fair to reveal to us many of nature's hidden secrets. + The atom is no longer the indivisible particle of matter it was once + understood to be. We know now that there is an atom within the + atom—that what we thought was elementary can be dissociated and broken + up. The present-day theories of the atom and the constitution of matter are + the outcome of the comparatively recent discovery of such things as radium, + the X-rays, and the wonderful revelations of such instruments as the + spectroscope and other highly perfected scientific instruments.</p> + + <p>The advent of the electron theory has thrown a flood of light on what + before was hidden or only dimly guessed at. It has given us a new conception + of the framework of the universe. We are beginning to know and realise of + what matter is made<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg + 5]</a></span> and what electric phenomena mean. We can glimpse the vast + stores of energy locked up in matter. The new knowledge has much to tell us + about the origin and phenomena, not only of our own planet, but other + planets, of the stars, and the sun. New light is thrown on the source of the + sun's heat; we can make more than guesses as to its probable age. The + great question to-day is: is there <i>one</i> primordial substance from which + all the varying forms of matter have been evolved?</p> + + <p>But the discovery of electrons is only one of the revolutionary changes + which give modern science an entrancing interest.</p> + + <p>As in chemistry and physics, so in the science of living creatures there + have been recent advances that have changed the whole prospect. A good + instance is afforded by the discovery of the "hormones," or + chemical messengers, which are produced by ductless glands, such as the + thyroid, the supra-renal, and the pituitary, and are distributed throughout + the body by the blood. The work of physiologists like Professor Starling and + Professor Bayliss has shown that these chemical messengers regulate what may + be called the "pace" of the body, and bring about that regulated + harmony and smoothness of working which we know as health. It is not too much + to say that the discovery of hormones has changed the whole of physiology. + Our knowledge of the human body far surpasses that of the past + generation.</p> + + <p>The persistent patience of microscopists and technical improvements like + the "ultramicroscope" have greatly increased our knowledge of the + invisible world of life. To the bacteria of a past generation have been added + a multitude of microscopic <i>animal</i> microbes, such as that which causes + Sleeping Sickness. The life-histories and the weird ways of many important + parasites have been unravelled; and here again knowledge means mastery. To a + degree which has almost surpassed expectations there has been a revelation of + the intricacy of the stones and mortar of the house of life, and the + microscopic study of germ-cells has wonderfully supplemented the epoch-making + experimental study of heredity which began with Mendel. It goes without + saying that no one can call himself educated who does not understand the + central and simple ideas of Mendelism and other new departures in + biology.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg + 6]</a></span></p> + + <p>The procession of life through the ages and the factors in the sublime + movement; the peopling of the earth by plants and animals and the linking of + life to life in subtle inter-relations, such as those between flowers and + their insect-visitors; the life-histories of individual types and the + extraordinary results of the new inquiry called "experimental + embryology"—these also are among the subjects with which this + <span class="smcap">Outline</span> will deal.</p> + + <p>The behaviour of animals is another fascinating study, leading to a + provisional picture of the dawn of mind. Indeed, no branch of science + surpasses in interest that which deals with the ways and habits—the + truly wonderful devices, adaptations, and instincts—of insects, birds, + and mammals. We no longer deny a degree of intelligence to some members of + the animal world—even the line between intelligence and reason is + sometimes difficult to find.</p> + + <p>Fresh contacts between physiology and the study of man's mental life; + precise studies of the ways of children and wild peoples; and new methods + like those of the psycho-analyst must also receive the attention they + deserve, for they are giving us a "New Psychology" and the claims + of psychical research must also be recognised by the open-minded.</p> + + <p>The general aim of the <span class="smcap">Outline</span> is to give the + reader a clear and concise view of the essentials of present-day science, so + that he may follow with intelligence the modern advance and share + appreciatively in man's continued conquest of his kingdom.</p> + + <p><span class="smcap">J. Arthur Thomson.</span><span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> + <hr /> + + <h2>I</h2> + + <h2>THE ROMANCE OF THE HEAVENS</h2> + <hr /> + + <h3>THE SCALE OF THE UNIVERSE—THE SOLAR SYSTEM</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <p>The story of the triumphs of modern science naturally opens with + Astronomy. The picture of the Universe which the astronomer offers to us is + imperfect; the lines he traces are often faint and uncertain. There are many + problems which have been solved, there are just as many about which there is + doubt, and notwithstanding our great increase in knowledge, there remain just + as many which are entirely unsolved.</p> + + <div class="blockquot"> + <p>The problem of the structure and duration of the universe [said the great + astronomer Simon Newcomb] is the most far-reaching with which the mind has + to deal. Its solution may be regarded as the ultimate object of stellar + astronomy, the possibility of reaching which has occupied the minds of + thinkers since the beginning of civilisation. Before our time the problem + could be considered only from the imaginative or the speculative point of + view. Although we can to-day attack it to a limited extent by scientific + methods, it must be admitted that we have scarcely taken more than the first + step toward the actual solution.... What is the duration of the universe in + time? Is it fitted to last for ever in its present form, or does it contain + within itself the seeds of dissolution? Must it, in the course of time, in + we know not how many millions of ages, be transformed into something very + different from what it now is? This question is intimately associated with + the question whether the stars form<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" + id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span> a system. If they do, we may suppose that + system to be permanent in its general features; if not, we must look further + for our conclusions.</p> + </div> + + <h4 class="sect">The Heavenly Bodies</h4> + + <p>The heavenly bodies fall into two very distinct classes so far as their + relation to our Earth is concerned; the one class, a very small one, + comprises a sort of colony of which the Earth is a member. These bodies are + called <i>planets</i>, or wanderers. There are eight of them, including the + Earth, and they all circle round the sun. Their names, in the order of their + distance from the sun, are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, + Uranus, Neptune, and of these Mercury, the nearest to the sun, is rarely seen + by the naked eye. Uranus is practically invisible, and Neptune quite so. + These eight planets, together with the sun, constitute, as we have said, a + sort of little colony; this colony is called the Solar System.</p> + + <p>The second class of heavenly bodies are those which lie <i>outside</i> the + solar system. Every one of those glittering points we see on a starlit night + is at an immensely greater distance from us than is any member of the Solar + System. Yet the members of this little colony of ours, judged by terrestrial + standards, are at enormous distances from one another. If a shell were shot + in a straight line from one side of Neptune's orbit to the other it would + take five hundred years to complete its journey. Yet this distance, the + greatest in the Solar System as now known (excepting the far swing of some of + the comets), is insignificant compared to the distances of the stars. One of + the nearest stars to the earth that we know of is Alpha Centauri, estimated + to be some twenty-five million millions of miles away. Sirius, the brightest + star in the firmament, is double this distance from the earth.</p> + + <p>We must imagine the colony of planets to which we belong as a compact + little family swimming in an immense void. At distances which would take our + shell, not hundreds, but millions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id= + "Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span> of years to traverse, we reach the + stars—or rather, a star, for the distances between stars are as great + as the distance between the nearest of them and our Sun. The Earth, the + planet on which we live, is a mighty globe bounded by a crust of rock many + miles in thickness; the great volumes of water which we call our oceans lie + in the deeper hollows of the crust. Above the surface an ocean of invisible + gas, the atmosphere, rises to a height of about three hundred miles, getting + thinner and thinner as it ascends.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image032a" id="image032a"></a> <a href= + "images/image032a.jpg"><img src="images/image032a_sm.jpg" alt="LAPLACE" + title="LAPLACE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>LAPLACE</p> + + <p class="wide">One of the greatest mathematical astronomers of all time + and the originator of the nebular theory.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image032b" id="image032b"></a> <a href= + "images/image032b.jpg"><img src="images/image032b_sm.jpg" alt= + "PROFESSOR J. C. ADAMS" title="PROFESSOR J. C. ADAMS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Royal Astronomical Society.</i></p> + + <p>PROFESSOR J. C. ADAMS</p> + + <p class="wide">who, anticipating the great French mathematician, Le + Verrier, discovered the planet Neptune by calculations based on the + irregularities of the orbit of Uranus. One of the most dramatic discoveries + in the history of Science.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image032c" id="image032c"></a> <a href= + "images/image032c.jpg"><img src="images/image032c_sm.jpg" alt= + "PROFESSOR EDDINGTON" title="PROFESSOR EDDINGTON" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Elliott & Fry, Ltd.</i></p> + + <p>PROFESSOR EDDINGTON</p> + + <p>Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge. The most famous of the English + disciples of Einstein.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image033a" id="image033a"></a> <a href= + "images/image033a.jpg"><img src="images/image033a_sm.jpg" alt= + "DIAGRAMS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM" title="DIAGRAMS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>FIG. 1.—DIAGRAMS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM</p> + + <p>THE COMPARATIVE DISTANCES OF THE PLANETS</p> + + <p>(Drawn approximately to scale)</p> + + <p class="wide">The isolation of the Solar System is very great. On the + above scale the <i>nearest</i> star (at a distance of 25 trillions of + miles) would be over <i>one half mile</i> away. The hours, days, and years + are the measures of time as we use them; that is: Jupiter's + "Day" (one rotation of the planet) is made in ten of <i>our + hours</i>; Mercury's "Year" (one revolution of the planet + around the Sun) is eighty-eight of <i>our days</i>. Mercury's + "Day" and "Year" are the same. This planet turns always + the same side to the Sun.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image033b" id="image033b"></a> <a href= + "images/image033b.jpg"><img src="images/image033b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE COMPARATIVE SIZES OF THE SUN AND THE PLANETS" title= + "THE COMPARATIVE SIZES OF THE SUN AND THE PLANETS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE COMPARATIVE SIZES OF THE SUN AND THE PLANETS</p> + + <p>(Drawn approximately to scale)</p> + + <p class="wide">On this scale the Sun would be 17½ inches in diameter; it + is far greater than all the planets put together. Jupiter, in turn, is + greater than all the other planets put together.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Except when the winds rise to a high speed, we seem to live in a very + tranquil world. At night, when the glare of the sun passes out of our + atmosphere, the stars and planets seem to move across the heavens with a + stately and solemn slowness. It was one of the first discoveries of modern + astronomy that this movement is only apparent. The apparent creeping of the + stars across the heavens at night is accounted for by the fact that the earth + turns upon its axis once in every twenty-four hours. When we remember the + size of the earth we see that this implies a prodigious speed.</p> + + <p>In addition to this the earth revolves round the sun at a speed of more + than a thousand miles a minute. Its path round the sun, year in year out, + measures about 580,000,000 miles. The earth is held closely to this path by + the gravitational pull of the sun, which has a mass 333,432 times that of the + earth. If at any moment the sun ceased to exert this pull the earth would + instantly fly off into space straight in the direction in which it was moving + at the time, that is to say, at a tangent. This tendency to fly off at a + tangent is continuous. It is the balance between it and the sun's pull + which keeps the earth to her almost circular orbit. In the same way the seven + other planets are held to their orbits.</p> + + <p>Circling round the earth, in the same way as the earth circles round the + sun, is our moon. Sometimes the moon passes directly between us and the sun, + and cuts off the light from us.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id= + "Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span> We then have a total or partial eclipse of the + sun. At other times the earth passes directly between the sun and the moon, + and causes an eclipse of the moon. The great ball of the earth naturally + trails a mighty shadow across space, and the moon is "eclipsed" + when it passes into this.</p> + + <p>The other seven planets, five of which have moons of their own, circle + round the sun as the earth does. The sun's mass is immensely larger than + that of all the planets put together, and all of them would be drawn into it + and perish if they did not travel rapidly round it in gigantic orbits. So the + eight planets, spinning round on their axes, follow their fixed paths round + the sun. The planets are secondary bodies, but they are most important, + because they are the only globes in which there can be life, as we know + life.</p> + + <p>If we could be transported in some magical way to an immense distance in + space above the sun, we should see our Solar System as it is drawn in the + accompanying diagram (Fig. 1), except that the planets would be mere specks, + faintly visible in the light which they receive from the sun. (This diagram + is drawn approximately to scale.) If we moved still farther away, trillions + of miles away, the planets would fade entirely out of view, and the sun would + shrink into a point of fire, a star. And here you begin to realize the nature + of the universe. <i>The sun is a star. The stars are suns.</i> Our sun looks + big simply because of its comparative nearness to us. The universe is a + stupendous collection of millions of stars or suns, many of which may have + planetary families like ours.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Scale of the Universe</h4> + + <p>How many stars are there? A glance at a photograph of star-clouds will + tell at once that it is quite impossible to count them. The fine photograph + reproduced in Figure 2 represents<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id= + "Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span> a very small patch of that pale-white belt, the + Milky Way, which spans the sky at night. It is true that this is a + particularly rich area of the Milky Way, but the entire belt of light has + been resolved in this way into masses or clouds of stars. Astronomers have + counted the stars in typical districts here and there, and from these partial + counts we get some idea of the total number of stars. There are estimated to + be between two and three thousand million stars.</p> + + <p>Yet these stars are separated by inconceivable distances from each other, + and it is one of the greatest triumphs of modern astronomy to have mastered, + so far, the scale of the universe. For several centuries astronomers have + known the relative distances from each other of the sun and the planets. If + they could discover the actual distance of any one planet from any other, + they could at once tell all the distances within the Solar System.</p> + + <p>The sun is, on the latest measurements, at an average distance of + 92,830,000 miles from the earth, for as the orbit of the earth is not a true + circle, this distance varies. This means that in six months from now the + earth will be right at the opposite side of its path round the sun, or + 185,000,000 miles away from where it is now. Viewed or photographed from two + positions so wide apart, the nearest stars show a tiny "shift" + against the background of the most distant stars, and that is enough for the + mathematician. He can calculate the distance of any star near enough to show + this "shift." We have found that the nearest star to the earth, a + recently discovered star, is twenty-five trillion miles away. Only thirty + stars are known to be within a hundred trillion miles of us.</p> + + <p>This way of measuring does not, however, take us very far away in the + heavens. There are only a few hundred stars within five hundred trillion + miles of the earth, and at that distance the "shift" of a star + against the background (parallax, the astronomer calls it) is so minute that + figures are very uncertain. At this point the astronomer takes up a new + method. He learns the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg + 14]</a></span> different types of stars, and then he is able to deduce more + or less accurately the distance of a star of a known type from its faintness. + He, of course, has instruments for gauging their light. As a result of twenty + years work in this field, it is now known that the more distant stars of the + Milky Way are at least a hundred thousand trillion (100,000,000,000,000,000) + miles away from the sun.</p> + + <p>Our sun is in a more or less central region of the universe, or a few + hundred trillion miles from the actual centre. The remainder of the stars, + which are all outside our Solar System, are spread out, apparently, in an + enormous disc-like collection, so vast that even a ray of light, which + travels at the rate of 186,000 miles a second, would take 50,000 years to + travel from one end of it to the other. This, then is what we call our + universe.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Are there other Universes?</h4> + + <p>Why do we say "our universe"? Why not <i>the</i> universe? It is + now believed by many of our most distinguished astronomers that our colossal + family of stars is only one of many universes. By a universe an astronomer + means any collection of stars which are close enough to control each + other's movements by gravitation; and it is clear that there might be + many universes, in this sense, separated from each other by profound abysses + of space. Probably there are.</p> + + <p>For a long time we have been familiar with certain strange objects in the + heavens which are called "spiral nebulæ" (Fig 4). We shall see at a + later stage what a nebula is, and we shall see that some astronomers regard + these spiral nebulæ as worlds "in the making." But some of the most + eminent astronomers believe that they are separate + universes—"island-universes" they call them—or great + collections of millions of stars like our universe. There are certain + peculiarities in the structure of the Milky Way which lead these astronomers + to think that our universe may be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id= + "Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span> a spiral nebula, and that the other spiral + nebulæ are "other universes."</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image038a" id="image038a"></a> <a href= + "images/image038a.jpg"><img src="images/image038a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE MILKY WAY" title="THE MILKY WAY" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Harvard College Observatory.</i></p> + + <p>FIG. 2.—THE MILKY WAY</p> + + <p>Note the cloud-like effect.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image038b" id="image038b"></a> <a href= + "images/image038b.jpg"><img src="images/image038b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE MOON ENTERING THE SHADOW CAST BY THE EARTH" title= + "THE MOON ENTERING THE SHADOW CAST BY THE EARTH" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>FIG. 3—THE MOON ENTERING THE SHADOW CAST BY THE EARTH</p> + + <p>The diagram shows the Moon partially eclipsed.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image039" id="image039"></a> <a href= + "images/image039.jpg"><img src="images/image039_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE GREAT NEBULA IN ANDROMEDA, MESSIER 31" title= + "THE GREAT NEBULA IN ANDROMEDA, MESSIER 31" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>From a photograph taken at the Yerkes Observatory</i></p> + + <p>FIG. 4.—THE GREAT NEBULA IN ANDROMEDA, MESSIER 31</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Vast as is the Solar System, then, it is excessively minute in comparison + with the Stellar System, the universe of the Stars, which is on a scale far + transcending anything the human mind can apprehend.</p> + + <h3>THE SOLAR SYSTEM</h3> + + <h3>THE SUN</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <p>But now let us turn to the Solar System, and consider the members of our + own little colony.</p> + + <p>Within the Solar System there are a large number of problems that interest + us. What is the size, mass, and distance of each of the planets? What + satellites, like our Moon, do they possess? What are their temperatures? And + those other, sporadic members of our system, comets and meteors, what are + they? What are their movements? How do they originate? And the Sun itself, + what is its composition, what is the source of its heat, how did it + originate? Is it running down?</p> + + <p>These last questions introduce us to a branch of astronomy which is + concerned with the physical constitution of the stars, a study which, not so + very many years ago, may well have appeared inconceivable. But the + spectroscope enables us to answer even these questions, and the answer opens + up questions of yet greater interest. We find that the stars can be arranged + in an order of development—that there are stars at all stages of their + life-history. The main lines of the evolution of the stellar universe can be + worked out. In the sun and stars we have furnaces with temperatures + enormously high; it is in such conditions that substances are resolved into + their simplest forms, and it is thus we are enabled to obtain a knowledge of + the most primitive forms of matter. It is in this direction that the + spectroscope<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg + 16]</a></span> (which we shall refer to immediately) has helped us so much. + It is to this wonderful instrument that we owe our knowledge of the + composition of the sun and stars, as we shall see.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg + 17]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg + 18]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg + 19]</a></span></p> + + <div class="blockquot"> + <p>"That the spectroscope will detect the millionth of a milligram of + matter, and on that account has discovered new elements, commands our + admiration; but when we find in addition that it will detect the nature of + forms of matter trillions of miles away, and moreover, that it will measure + the velocities with which these forms of matter are moving with an absurdly + small per cent. of possible error, we can easily acquiesce in the statement + that it is the greatest instrument ever devised by the brain and hand of + man."</p> + </div> + + <p>Such are some of the questions with which modern astronomy deals. To + answer them requires the employment of instruments of almost incredible + refinement and exactitude and also the full resources of mathematical genius. + Whether astronomy be judged from the point of view of the phenomena studied, + the vast masses, the immense distances, the æons of time, or whether it be + judged as a monument of human ingenuity, patience, and the rarest type of + genius, it is certainly one of the grandest, as it is also one of the oldest, + of the sciences.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Solar System</h4> + + <p>In the Solar System we include all those bodies dependent on the sun which + circulate round it at various distances, deriving their light and heat from + the sun—the planets and their moons, certain comets and a multitude of + meteors: in other words, all bodies whose movements in space are determined + by the gravitational pull of the sun.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Sun</h4> + + <p>Thanks to our wonderful modern instruments and the ingenious methods used + by astronomers, we have to-day a remarkable knowledge of the sun.</p> + + <p>Look at the figure of the sun in the frontispiece. The picture represents + an eclipse of the sun; the dark body of the moon has screened the sun's + shining disc and taken the glare out of our eyes; we see a silvery halo + surrounding the great orb on every side. It is the sun's atmosphere, or + "crown" (corona), stretching for millions of miles into space in + the form of a soft silvery-looking light; probably much of its light is + sunlight reflected from particles of dust, although the spectroscope shows an + element in the corona that has not so far been detected anywhere else in the + universe and which in consequence has been named Coronium.</p> + + <p>We next notice in the illustration that at the base of the halo there are + red flames peeping out from the edges of the hidden disc. When one remembers + that the sun is 866,000 miles in diameter, one hardly needs to be told that + these flames are really gigantic. We shall see what they are presently.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Regions of the Sun</h4> + + <p>The astronomer has divided the sun into definite concentric regions or + layers. These layers envelop the nucleus or central body of the sun somewhat + as the atmosphere envelops our earth. It is through these vapour layers that + the bright white body of the sun is seen. Of the innermost region, the heart + or nucleus of the sun, we know almost nothing. The central body or nucleus is + surrounded by a brilliantly luminous envelope or layer of vaporous matter + which is what we see when we look at the sun and which the astronomer calls + the photosphere.</p> + + <p>Above—that is, overlying—the photosphere there is a second + layer of glowing gases, which is known as the reversing layer. This layer is + cooler than the underlying photosphere; it forms a veil of smoke-like haze + and is of from 500 to 1,000 miles in thickness.</p> + + <p>A third layer or envelope immediately lying over the last one is the + region known as the chromosphere. The chromosphere extends from 5,000 to + 10,000 miles in thickness—a "sea" of red tumultuous surging + fire. Chief among the glowing gases is the vapour of hydrogen. The intense + white heat of the photosphere beneath shines through this layer, overpowering + its brilliant redness. From the uppermost portion of the chromosphere great + fiery tongues of glowing hydrogen and calcium vapour shoot out for many + thousands of miles, driven outward by some prodigious expulsive force. It is + these red "prominences" which are such a notable feature in the + picture of the eclipse of the sun already referred to.</p> + + <p>During the solar eclipse of 1919 one of these red flames rose in less than + seven hours from a height of 130,000 miles to more than 500,000 miles above + the sun's surface. This immense column of red-hot gas, four or five times + the thickness of the earth, was soaring upward at the rate of 60,000 miles an + hour.</p> + + <p>These flaming jets or prominences shooting out from the chromosphere are + not to be seen every day by the naked eye; the dazzling light of the sun + obscures them, gigantic as they are. They can be observed, however, by the + spectroscope any day, and they are visible to us for a very short time during + an eclipse of the sun. Some extraordinary outbursts have been witnessed. Thus + the late Professor Young described one on September 7, 1871, when he had been + examining a prominence by the spectroscope:</p> + + <div class="blockquot"> + <p>It had remained unchanged since noon of the previous day—a long, + low, quiet-looking cloud, not very dense, or brilliant, or in any way + remarkable except for its size. At 12:30 p.m. the Professor left the + spectroscope for a short time, and on returning half an hour later to his + observations, he was astonished to find the gigantic Sun flame shattered to + pieces. The solar atmosphere was filled with flying debris, and some of + these portions reached a height of 100,000 miles above the solar surface. + Moving with a velocity which, even at the distance of 93,000,000 miles, was + almost perceptible to the eye, these fragments doubled their height in ten + minutes. On January 30, 1885, another distinguished solar observer, the late + Professor Tacchini of Rome, observed one of the greatest prominences ever + seen by man. Its height was no less than 142,000 miles—eighteen times + the diameter of the earth. Another mighty flame was so vast that supposing + the eight large planets of the solar system ranged one on top of the other, + the prominence would still tower above them.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id= + "FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href= + "#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> <i>The Romance of + Astronomy</i>, by H. Macpherson.</p> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image044a" id="image044a"></a> <a href= + "images/image044a.jpg"><img src="images/image044a_sm.jpg" alt= + "DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MAIN LAYERS OF THE SUN" title= + "DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MAIN LAYERS OF THE SUN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>FIG. 5.—DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MAIN LAYERS OF THE SUN</p> + + <p>Compare with frontispiece.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image044b" id="image044b"></a> <a href= + "images/image044b.jpg"><img src="images/image044b_sm.jpg" alt= + "SOLAR PROMINENCES SEEN AT TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE" title= + "SOLAR PROMINENCES SEEN AT TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich.</i></p> + + <p>FIG. 6.—SOLAR PROMINENCES SEEN AT TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE, May 29, + 1919. TAKEN AT SOBRAL, BRAZIL.</p> + + <p>The small Corona is also visible.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image045a" id="image045a"></a> <a href= + "images/image045a.jpg"><img src="images/image045a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE VISIBLE SURFACE OF THE SUN" title= + "THE VISIBLE SURFACE OF THE SUN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>FIG. 7.—THE VISIBLE SURFACE OF THE SUN</p> + + <p class="wide">A photograph taken at the Mount Wilson Observatory of the + Carnegie Institution at Washington.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image045b" id="image045b"></a> <a href= + "images/image045b.jpg"><img src="images/image045b_sm.jpg" alt="THE SUN" + title="THE SUN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>FIG. 8.—THE SUN</p> + + <p class="wide">Photographed in the light of glowing hydrogen, at the Mount + Wilson Observatory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington: vortex + phenomena near the spots are especially prominent.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>The fourth and uppermost layer or region is that of the corona, of immense + extent and fading away into the surrounding sky—this we have already + referred to. The diagram (Fig. 5) shows the dispositions of these various + layers of the sun. It is through these several transparent layers that we see + the white light body of the sun.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Surface of the Sun</h4> + + <p>Here let us return to and see what more we know about the + photosphere—the sun's surface. It is from the photosphere that we + have gained most of our knowledge of the composition of the sun, which is + believed not to be a solid body. Examination of the photosphere shows that + the outer surface is never at rest. Small bright cloudlets come and go in + rapid succession, giving the surface, through contrasts in luminosity, a + granular appearance. Of course, to be visible at all at 92,830,000 miles the + cloudlets cannot be small. They imply enormous activity in the photosphere. + If we might speak picturesquely the sun's surface resembles a boiling + ocean of white-hot metal vapours. We have to-day a wonderful instrument, + which will be described later, which dilutes, as it were, the general glare + of the sun, and enables us to observe these fiery eruptions at any hour. The + "oceans" of red-hot gas and white-hot metal vapour at the sun's + surface are constantly driven by great storms. Some unimaginable energy + streams out from the body or muscles of the sun and blows its outer layers + into gigantic shreds, as it were.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id= + "Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> + + <p>The actual temperature at the sun's surface, or what appears to us to + be the surface—the photosphere—is, of course, unknown, but + careful calculation suggests that it is from 5,000° C. to 7,000° C. The + interior is vastly hotter. We can form no conception of such temperatures as + must exist there. Not even the most obdurate solid could resist such + temperatures, but would be converted almost instantaneously into gas. But it + would not be gas as we know gases on the earth. The enormous pressures that + exist on the sun must convert even gases into thick treacly fluids. We can + only infer this state of matter. It is beyond our power to reproduce it.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Sun-spots</h4> + + <p>It is in the brilliant photosphere that the dark areas known as sun-spots + appear. Some of these dark spots—they are dark only by contrast with + the photosphere surrounding them—are of enormous size, covering many + thousands of square miles of surface. What they are we cannot positively say. + They look like great cavities in the sun's surface. Some think they are + giant whirlpools. Certainly they seem to be great whirling streams of glowing + gases with vapours above them and immense upward and downward currents within + them. Round the edges of the sun-spots rise great tongues of flame.</p> + + <p>Perhaps the most popularly known fact about sun-spots is that they are + somehow connected with what we call magnetic storms on earth. These magnetic + storms manifest themselves in interruptions of our telegraphic and telephonic + communications, in violent disturbances of the mariner's compass, and in + exceptional auroral displays. The connection between the two sets of + phenomena cannot be doubted, even although at times there may be a great spot + on the sun without any corresponding "magnetic storm" effects on + the earth.</p> + + <p>A surprising fact about sun-spots is that they show definite periodic + variations in number. The best-defined period is one of<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span> about eleven + years. During this period the spots increase to a maximum in number and then + diminish to a minimum, the variation being more or less regular. Now this can + only mean one thing. To be periodic the spots must have some deep-seated + connection with the fundamental facts of the sun's structure and + activities. Looked at from this point of view their importance becomes + great.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image048" id="image048"></a> <a href= + "images/image048.jpg"><img src="images/image048_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE AURORA BOREALIS" title="THE AURORA BOREALIS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Reproduction from "The Forces of Nature"</i> (<i>Messrs. + Macmillan</i>)</p> + + <p>THE AURORA BOREALIS</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>The aurora borealis is one of the most beautiful spectacles in the sky. + The colours and shape change every instant; sometimes a fan-like cluster of + rays, at other times long golden draperies gliding one over the other. Blue, + green, yellow, red, and white combine to give a glorious display of colour. + The theory of its origin is still, in part, obscure, but there can be no + doubt that the aurora is related to the magnetic phenomena of the earth and + therefore is connected with the electrical influence of the sun.]</p> + + <p>It is from the study of sun-spots that we have learned that the sun's + surface does not appear to rotate all at the same speed. The + "equatorial" regions are rotating quicker than regions farther + north or south. A point forty-five degrees from the equator seems to take + about two and a half days longer to complete one rotation than a point on the + equator. This, of course, confirms our belief that the sun cannot be a solid + body.</p> + + <p>What is its composition? We know that there are present, in a gaseous + state, such well-known elements as sodium, iron, copper, zinc, and magnesium; + indeed, we know that there is practically every element in the sun that we + know to be in the earth. How do we know?</p> + + <p>It is from the photosphere, as has been said, that we have won most of our + knowledge of the sun. The instrument used for this purpose is the + spectroscope; and before proceeding to deal further with the sun and the + source of its energy it will be better to describe this instrument.</p> + + <h4>A WONDERFUL INSTRUMENT AND WHAT IT REVEALS</h4> + + <p>The spectroscope is an instrument for analysing light. So important is it + in the revelations it has given us that it will be best to describe it fully. + Every substance to be examined must first be made to glow, made luminous; and + as nearly everything in the heavens <i>is</i> luminous the instrument has a + great range in Astronomy. And when we speak of analysing light, we mean + that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span> + the light may be broken up into waves of different lengths. What we call + light is a series of minute waves in ether, and these waves + are—measuring them from crest to crest, so to say—of various + lengths. Each wave-length corresponds to a colour of the rainbow. The + shortest waves give us a sensation of violet colour, and the largest waves + cause a sensation of red. The rainbow, in fact, is a sort of natural + spectrum. (The meaning of the rainbow is that the moisture-laden air has + sorted out these waves, in the sun's light, according to their length.) + Now the simplest form of spectroscope is a glass prism—a + triangular-shaped piece of glass. If white light (sunlight, for example) + passes through a glass prism, we see a series of rainbow-tinted colours. + Anyone can notice this effect when sunlight is shining through any kind of + cut glass—the stopper of a wine decanter, for instance. If, instead of + catching with the eye the coloured lights as they emerge from the glass + prism, we allow them to fall on a screen, we shall find that they pass, by + continuous gradations, from red at the one end of the screen, through orange, + yellow, green, blue, and indigo, to violet at the other end. <i>In other + words, what we call white light is composed of rays of these several colours. + They go to make up the effect which we call white.</i> And now just as water + can be split up into its two elements, oxygen and hydrogen, so sunlight can + be broken up into its primary colours, which are those we have just + mentioned.</p> + + <p>This range of colours, produced by the spectroscope, we call the solar + spectrum, and these are, from the spectroscopic point of view, primary + colours. Each shade of colour has its definite position in the spectrum. That + is to say, the light of each shade of colour (corresponding to its + wave-length) is reflected through a certain fixed angle on passing through + the glass prism. Every possible kind of light has its definite position, and + is denoted by a number which gives the wave-length of the vibrations + constituting that particular kind of light.</p> + + <p>Now, other kinds of light besides sunlight can be analysed.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span> Light from any + substance which has been made incandescent may be observed with the + spectroscope in the same way, and each element can be thus separated. It is + found that each substance (in the same conditions of pressure, etc.) gives a + constant spectrum of its own. <i>Each metal displays its own distinctive + colour. It is obvious, therefore, that the spectrum provides the means for + identifying a particular substance.</i> It was by this method that we + discovered in the sun the presence of such well-known elements as sodium, + iron, copper, zinc, and magnesium.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image052a" id="image052a"></a> <a href= + "images/image052a.jpg"><img src="images/image052a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE GREAT SUN-SPOT OF JULY 17, 1905" title= + "THE GREAT SUN-SPOT OF JULY 17, 1905" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Yerkes Observatory.</i></p> + + <p>FIG. 9.—THE GREAT SUN-SPOT OF JULY 17, 1905</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image052b" id="image052b"></a> <a href= + "images/image052b.jpg"><img src="images/image052b_sm.jpg" alt= + "SOLAR PROMINENCES" title="SOLAR PROMINENCES" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>From photographs taken at the Yerkes Observatory.</i></p> + + <p>FIG. 10.—SOLAR PROMINENCES</p> + + <p>These are about 60,000 miles in height. The two photographs show the + vast changes occurring in ten minutes. October 10, 1910.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image053a" id="image053a"></a> <a href= + "images/image053a.jpg"><img src="images/image053a_sm.jpg" alt= + "MARS, October 5, 1909" title="MARS, October 5, 1909" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory.</i></p> + + <p>FIG. 11.—MARS, October 5, 1909</p> + + <p>Showing the dark markings and the Polar Cap.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image053b" id="image053b"></a> <a href= + "images/image053b.jpg"><img src="images/image053b_sm.jpg" alt="JUPITER" + title="JUPITER" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>FIG. 12.—JUPITER</p> + + <p>Showing the belts which are probably cloud formations.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image053c" id="image053c"></a> <a href= + "images/image053c.jpg"><img src="images/image053c_sm.jpg" alt="SATURN" + title="SATURN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Professor E. E. Barnard, Yerkes Observatory.</i></p> + + <p>FIG. 13.—SATURN, November 19, 1911</p> + + <p>Showing the rings, mighty swarms of meteorites.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Every chemical element known, then, has a distinctive spectrum of its own + when it is raised to incandescence, and this distinctive spectrum is as + reliable a means of identification for the element as a human face is for its + owner. Whether it is a substance glowing in the laboratory or in a remote + star makes no difference to the spectroscope; if the light of any substance + reaches it, that substance will be recognised and identified by the + characteristic set of waves.</p> + + <p>The spectrum of a glowing mass of gas will consist in a number of bright + lines of various colours, and at various intervals; corresponding to each + kind of gas, there will be a peculiar and distinctive arrangement of bright + lines. But if the light from such a mass of glowing gas be made to pass + through a cool mass of the <i>same</i> gas it will be found that dark lines + replace the bright lines in the spectrum, the reason for this being that the + cool gas absorbs the rays of light emitted by the hot gas. Experiments of + this kind enable us to reach the important general statement that every gas, + when cold, absorbs the same rays of light which it emits when hot.</p> + + <p>Crossing the solar spectrum are hundreds and hundreds of dark lines. These + could not at first be explained, because this fact of discriminative + absorption was not known. We understand now. The sun's white light comes + from the photosphere, but between us and the photosphere there is, as we have + seen, another solar envelope of relatively cooler vapours—the + reversing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg + 24]</a></span> layer. Each constituent element in this outer envelope stops + its own kind of light, that is, the kind of light made by incandescent atoms + of the same element in the photosphere. The "stoppages" register + themselves in the solar spectrum as dark lines placed exactly where the + corresponding bright lines would have been. The explanation once attained, + dark lines became as significant as bright lines. The secret of the sun's + composition was out. We have found practically every element in the sun that + we know to be in the earth. We have identified an element in the sun before + we were able to isolate it on the earth. We have been able even to point to + the coolest places on the sun, the centres of sun-spots, where alone the + temperature seems to have fallen sufficiently low to allow chemical compounds + to form.</p> + + <p>It is thus we have been able to determine what the stars, comets, or + nebulæ are made of.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">A Unique Discovery</h4> + + <p>In 1868 Sir Norman Lockyer detected a light coming from the prominences of + the sun which was not given by any substance known on earth, and attributed + this to an unknown gas which he called helium, from the Greek <i>helios</i>, + the sun. <i>In 1895 Sir William Ramsay discovered in certain minerals the + same gas identified by the spectroscope.</i> We can say, therefore, that this + gas was discovered in the sun nearly thirty years before it was found on + earth; this discovery of the long-lost heir is as thrilling a chapter in the + detective story of science as any in the sensational stories of the day, and + makes us feel quite certain that our methods really tell us of what elements + sun and stars are built up. The light from the corona of the sun, as we have + mentioned indicates a gas still unknown on earth, which has been christened + Coronium.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Measuring the Speed of Light</h4> + + <p>But this is not all; soon a new use was found for the spectroscope. We + found that we could measure with it the most difficult<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span> of all speeds to + measure, speed in the line of sight. Movement at right angles to the + direction in which one is looking is, if there is sufficient of it, easy to + detect, and, if the distance of the moving body is known, easy to measure. + But movement in the line of vision is both difficult to detect and difficult + to measure. Yet, even at the enormous distances with which astronomers have + to deal, the spectroscope can detect such movement and furnish data for its + measurement. If a luminous body containing, say, sodium is moving rapidly + towards the spectroscope, it will be found that the sodium lines in the + spectrum have moved slightly from their usual definite positions towards the + violet end of the spectrum, the amount of the change of position increasing + with the speed of the luminous body. If the body is moving away from the + spectroscope the shifting of the spectral lines will be in the opposite + direction, towards the red end of the spectrum. In this way we have + discovered and measured movements that otherwise would probably not have + revealed themselves unmistakably to us for thousands of years. In the same + way we have watched, and measured the speed of, tremendous movements on the + sun, and so gained proof that the vast disturbances we should expect there + actually do occur.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image056" id="image056"></a> <a href= + "images/image056.jpg"><img src="images/image056_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" title= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT; IT PROVIDES THE + MEANS FOR IDENTIFYING DIFFERENT SUBSTANCES</p> + + <p class="wide">This pictorial diagram illustrates the principal of + Spectrum Analysis, showing how sunlight is decomposed into its primary + colours. What we call white light is composed of seven different colours. + The diagram is relieved of all detail which would unduly obscure the simple + process by which a ray of light is broken up by a prism into different + wave-lengths. The spectrum rays have been greatly magnified.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3>IS THE SUN DYING?</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 3</h3> + + <p>Now let us return to our consideration of the sun.</p> + + <p>To us on the earth the most patent and most astonishing fact about the sun + is its tremendous energy. Heat and light in amazing quantities pour from it + without ceasing.</p> + + <p>Where does this energy come from? Enormous jets of red glowing gases can + be seen shooting outwards from the sun, like flames from a fire, for + thousands of miles. Does this argue fire, as we know fire on the earth? On + this point the scientist is sure. The sun is not burning, and combustion is + not the source of its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg + 26]</a></span> heat. Combustion is a chemical reaction between atoms. The + conditions that make it possible are known and the results are predictable + and measurable. But no chemical reaction of the nature of combustion as we + know it will explain the sun's energy, nor indeed will any ordinary + chemical reaction of any kind. If the sun were composed of combustible + material throughout and the conditions of combustion as we understand them + were always present, the sun would burn itself out in some thousands of + years, with marked changes in its heat and light production as the process + advanced. There is no evidence of such changes. There is, instead, strong + evidence that the sun has been emitting light and heat in prodigious + quantities, not for thousands, but for millions of years. Every addition to + our knowledge that throws light on the sun's age seems to make for + increase rather than decrease of its years. This makes the wonder of its + energy greater.</p> + + <p>And we cannot avoid the issue of the source of the energy by saying merely + that the sun is gradually radiating away an energy that originated in some + unknown manner, away back at the beginning of things. Reliable calculations + show that the years required for the mere cooling of a globe like the sun + could not possibly run to millions. In other words, the sun's energy must + be subject to continuous and more or less steady renewal. However it may have + acquired its enormous energy in the past, it must have some source of energy + in the present.</p> + + <p>The best explanation that we have to-day of this continuous accretion of + energy is that it is due to shrinkage of the sun's bulk under the force + of gravity. Gravity is one of the most mysterious forces of nature, but it is + an obvious fact that bodies behave as if they attracted one another, and + Newton worked out the law of this attraction. We may say, without trying to + go too deeply into things, that every particle of matter attracts every other + throughout the universe. If the diameter of the sun were to shrink by one + mile all round, this would mean that all the millions of tons in + the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span> + outer one-mile thickness would have a straight drop of one mile towards the + centre. And that is not all, because obviously the layers below this outer + mile would also drop inwards, each to a less degree than the one above it. + What a tremendous movement of matter, however slowly it might take place! And + what a tremendous energy would be involved! Astronomers calculate that the + above shrinkage of one mile all round would require fifty years for its + completion, assuming, reasonably, that there is close and continuous + relationship between loss of heat by radiation and shrinkage. Even if this + were true we need not feel over-anxious on this theory; before the sun became + too cold to support life many millions of years would be required.</p> + + <p>It was suggested at one time that falls of meteoric matter into the sun + would account for the sun's heat. This position is hardly tenable now. + The mere bulk of the meteoric matter required by the hypothesis, apart from + other reasons, is against it. There is undoubtedly an enormous amount of + meteoric matter moving about within the bounds of the solar system, but most + of it seems to be following definite routes round the sun like the planets. + The stray erratic quantities destined to meet their doom by collision with + the sun can hardly be sufficient to account for the sun's heat.</p> + + <p>Recent study of radio-active bodies has suggested another factor that may + be working powerfully along with the force of gravitation to maintain the + sun's store of heat. In radio-active bodies certain atoms seem to be + undergoing disintegration. These atoms appear to be splitting up into very + minute and primitive constituents. But since matter may be split up into such + constituents, may it not be built up from them?</p> + + <p>The question is whether these "radio-active" elements are + undergoing disintegration, or formation, in the sun. If they are undergoing + disintegration—and the sun itself is undoubtedly + radio-active—then we have another source of heat for the sun that will + last indefinitely.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg + 28]</a></span></p> + + <h3>THE PLANETS</h3> + + <h3>LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS?</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <p>It is quite clear that there cannot be life on the stars. Nothing solid or + even liquid can exist in such furnaces as they are. Life exists only on + planets, and even on these its possibilities are limited. Whether all the + stars, or how many of them, have planetary families like our sun, we cannot + positively say. If they have, such planets would be too faint and small to be + visible tens of trillions of miles away. Some astronomers think that our sun + may be exceptional in having planets, but their reasons are speculative and + unconvincing. Probably a large proportion at least of the stars have planets, + and we may therefore survey the globes of our own solar system and in a + general way extend the results to the rest of the universe.</p> + + <p>In considering the possibility of life as we know it we may at once rule + out the most distant planets from the sun, Uranus and Neptune. They are + probably intrinsically too hot. We may also pass over the nearest planet to + the sun, Mercury. We have reason to believe that it turns on its axis in the + same period as it revolves round the sun, and it must therefore always + present the same side to the sun. This means that the heat on the sunlit side + of Mercury is above boiling-point, while the cold on the other side must be + between two and three hundred degrees below freezing-point.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Planet Venus</h4> + + <p>The planet Venus, the bright globe which is known to all as the morning + and evening "star," seems at first sight more promising as regards + the possibility of life. It is of nearly the same size as the earth, and it + has a good atmosphere, but there are many astronomers who believe that, like + Mercury, it always presents the same face to the sun, and it would therefore + have the same disadvantage—a broiling heat on the sunny side and the + cold of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg + 29]</a></span> space on the opposite side. We are not sure. The surface of + Venus is so bright—the light of the sun is reflected to us by such + dense masses of cloud and dust—that it is difficult to trace any + permanent markings on it, and thus ascertain how long it takes to rotate on + its axis. Many astronomers believe that they have succeeded, and that the + planet always turns the same face to the sun. If it does, we can hardly + conceive of life on its surface, in spite of the cloud-screen.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image062" id="image062"></a> <a href= + "images/image062.jpg"><img src="images/image062_sm.jpg" alt="THE MOON" + title="THE MOON" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>FIG. 14.—THE MOON</p> + + <p class="wide">Showing a great plain and some typical craters. There are + thousands of these craters, and some theories of their origin are explained + on page 34.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image063a" id="image063a"></a> <a href= + "images/image063a.jpg"><img src="images/image063a_sm.jpg" alt="MARS" title= + "MARS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>FIG. 15.—MARS</p> + + <p class="wide">1} Drawings by Prof. Lowell to accompany actual photographs + of Mars showing many of the + <br /> + 2} canals. Taken in 1907 by Mr. E. C. Slipher of the Lowell Observatory. + <br /> + 3 Drawing by Prof. Lowell made January 6, 1914. + <br /> + 4 Drawing by Prof. Lowell made January 21, 1914. + <br /> + Nos. 1 and 2 show the effect of the planet's rotation. Nos. 3 and 4 + depict quite different sections. Note the change in the polar snow-caps in + the last two.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image063b" id="image063b"></a> <a href= + "images/image063b.jpg"><img src="images/image063b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE MOON, AT NINE AND THREE-QUARTER DAYS" title= + "THE MOON, AT NINE AND THREE-QUARTER DAYS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>FIG. 16.—THE MOON, AT NINE AND THREE-QUARTER DAYS</p> + + <p class="wide">Note the mysterious "rays" diverging from the + almost perfectly circular craters indicated by the arrows (Tycho, upper; + Copernicus, lower), and also the mountains to the right with the lunar dawn + breaking on them.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>We turn to Mars; and we must first make it clear why there is so much + speculation about life on Mars, and why it is supposed that, if there + <i>is</i> life on Mars, it must be more advanced than life on the earth.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Is there Life on Mars?</h4> + + <p>The basis of this belief is that if, as we saw, all the globes in our + solar system are masses of metal that are cooling down, the smaller will have + cooled down before the larger, and will be further ahead in their + development. Now Mars is very much smaller than the earth, and must have + cooled at its surface millions of years before the earth did. Hence, if a + story of life began on Mars at all, it began long before the story of life on + the earth. We cannot guess what sort of life-forms would be evolved in a + different world, but we can confidently say that they would tend toward + increasing intelligence; and thus we are disposed to look for highly + intelligent beings on Mars.</p> + + <p>But this argument supposes that the conditions of life, namely air and + water, are found on Mars, and it is disputed whether they are found there in + sufficient quantity. The late Professor Percival Lowell, who made a lifelong + study of Mars, maintained that there are hundreds of straight lines drawn + across the surface of the planet, and he claimed that they are beds of + vegetation marking the sites of great channels or pipes by means of which the + "Martians" draw water from their polar ocean. Professor<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span> W. H. Pickering, + another high authority, thinks that the lines are long, narrow marshes fed by + moist winds from the poles. There are certainly white polar caps on Mars. + They seem to melt in the spring, and the dark fringe round them grows + broader.</p> + + <p>Other astronomers, however, say that they find no trace of water-vapour in + the atmosphere of Mars, and they think that the polar caps may be simply thin + sheets of hoar-frost or frozen gas. They point out that, as the atmosphere of + Mars is certainly scanty, and the distance from the sun is so great, it may + be too cold for the fluid water to exist on the planet.</p> + + <p>If one asks why our wonderful instruments cannot settle these points, one + must be reminded that Mars is never nearer than 34,000,000 miles from the + earth, and only approaches to this distance once in fifteen or seventeen + years. The image of Mars on the photographic negative taken in a big + telescope is very small. Astronomers rely to a great extent on the eye, which + is more sensitive than the photographic plate. But it is easy to have + differences of opinion as to what the eye sees, and so there is a good deal + of controversy.</p> + + <p>In August, 1924, the planet will again be well placed for observation, and + we may learn more about it. Already a few of the much-disputed lines, which + people wrongly call "canals," have been traced on photographs. + Astronomers who are sceptical about life on Mars are often not fully aware of + the extraordinary adaptability of life. There was a time when the climate of + the whole earth, from pole to pole, was semi-tropical for millions of years. + No animal could then endure the least cold, yet now we have plenty of Arctic + plants and animals. If the cold came slowly on Mars, as we have reason to + suppose, the population could be gradually adapted to it. On the whole, it is + possible that there is advanced life on Mars, and it is not impossible, in + spite of the very great difficulties of a code of communication, that our + "elder brothers" may yet flash across space the solution of many of + our problems.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg + 31]</a></span></p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Jupiter and Saturn</h4> + + <p>Next to Mars, going outward from the sun, is Jupiter. Between Mars and + Jupiter, however, there are more than three hundred million miles of space, + and the older astronomers wondered why this was not occupied by a planet. We + now know that it contains about nine hundred "planetoids," or small + globes of from five to five hundred miles in diameter. It was at one time + thought that a planet might have burst into these fragments (a theory which + is not mathematically satisfactory), or it may be that the material which is + scattered in them was prevented by the nearness of the great bulk of Jupiter + from uniting into one globe.</p> + + <p>For Jupiter is a giant planet, and its gravitational influence must extend + far over space. It is 1,300 times as large as the earth, and has nine moons, + four of which are large, in attendance on it. It is interesting to note that + the outermost moons of Jupiter and Saturn revolve round these planets in a + direction contrary to the usual direction taken by moons round planets, and + by planets round the sun. But there is no life on Jupiter.</p> + + <p>The surface which we see in photographs (Fig. 12) is a mass of cloud or + steam which always envelops the body of the planet. It is apparently red-hot. + A red tinge is seen sometimes at the edges of its cloud-belts, and a large + red region (the "red spot"), 23,000 miles in length, has been + visible on it for half a century. There may be a liquid or solid core to the + planet, but as a whole it is a mass of seething vapours whirling round on its + axis once in every ten hours. As in the case of the sun, however, different + latitudes appear to rotate at different rates. The interior of Jupiter is + very hot, but the planet is not self-luminous. The planets Venus and Jupiter + shine very brightly, but they have no light of their own; they reflect the + sunlight.</p> + + <p>Saturn is in the same interesting condition. The surface in the photograph + (Fig. 13) is steam, and Saturn is so far away<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span> from the sun that the vaporisation + of its oceans must necessarily be due to its own internal heat. It is too hot + for water to settle on its surface. Like Jupiter, the great globe turns on + its axis once in ten hours—a prodigious speed—and must be a + swirling, seething mass of metallic vapours and gases. It is instructive to + compare Jupiter and Saturn in this respect with the sun. They are smaller + globes and have cooled down more than the central fire.</p> + + <p>Saturn is a beautiful object in the telescope because it has ten moons (to + include one which is disputed) and a wonderful system of "rings" + round it. The so-called rings are a mighty swarm of meteorites—pieces + of iron and stone of all sorts and sizes, which reflect the light of the sun + to us. This ocean of matter is some miles deep, and stretches from a few + thousand miles from the surface of the planet to 172,000 miles out in space. + Some astronomers think that this is volcanic material which has been shot out + of the planet. Others regard it as stuff which would have combined to form an + eleventh moon but was prevented by the nearness of Saturn itself. There is no + evidence of life on Saturn.</p> + + <h3>THE MOON</h3> + + <p>Mars and Venus are therefore the only planets, besides the earth, on which + we may look for life; and in the case of Venus, the possibility is very + faint. But what about the moons which attend the planets? They range in size + from the little ten-miles-wide moons of Mars, to Titan, a moon of Saturn, and + Ganymede, a satellite of Jupiter, which are about 3,000 miles in diameter. + May there not be life on some of the larger of these moons? We will take our + own moon as a type of the class.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">A Dead World</h4> + + <p>The moon is so very much nearer to us than any other heavenly body that we + have a remarkable knowledge of it. In Fig. 14 you have a photograph, taken in + one of our largest telescopes,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id= + "Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span> of part of its surface. In a sense such a + telescope brings the moon to within about fifty miles of us. We should see a + city like London as a dark, sprawling blotch on the globe. We could just + detect a Zeppelin or a Diplodocus as a moving speck against the surface. But + we find none of these things. It is true that a few astronomers believe that + they see signs of some sort of feeble life or movement on the moon. Professor + Pickering thinks that he can trace some volcanic activity. He believes that + there are areas of vegetation, probably of a low order, and that the soil of + the moon may retain a certain amount of water in it. He speaks of a very thin + atmosphere, and of occasional light falls of snow. He has succeeded in + persuading some careful observers that there probably are slight changes of + some kind taking place on the moon.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image068a" id="image068a"></a> <a href= + "images/image068a.jpg"><img src="images/image068a_sm.jpg" alt= + "A MAP OF THE CHIEF PLAINS AND CRATERS OF THE MOON" title= + "A MAP OF THE CHIEF PLAINS AND CRATERS OF THE MOON" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>FIG. 17.—A MAP OF THE CHIEF PLAINS AND CRATERS OF THE MOON</p> + + <p>The plains were originally supposed to be seas: hence the name + "Mare."</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image068b" id="image068b"></a> <a href= + "images/image068b.jpg"><img src="images/image068b_sm.jpg" alt= + "A DIAGRAM OF A STREAM OF METEORS SHOWING THE EARTH PASSING THROUGH THEM" + title= + "A DIAGRAM OF A STREAM OF METEORS SHOWING THE EARTH PASSING THROUGH THEM" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>FIG. 18.—A DIAGRAM OF A STREAM OF METEORS SHOWING THE EARTH + PASSING THROUGH THEM</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image069a" id="image069a"></a> <a href= + "images/image069a.jpg"><img src="images/image069a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" title= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich.</i></p> + + <p>FIG. 19.—COMET, September 29, 1908</p> + + <p>Notice the tendency to form a number of tails. (See photograph + below.)</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image069b" id="image069b"></a> <a href= + "images/image069b.jpg"><img src="images/image069b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" title= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich.</i></p> + + <p>FIG. 20.—COMET, October 3, 1908</p> + + <p>The process has gone further and a number of distinct tails can now be + counted.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>But there are many things that point to absence of air on the moon. Even + the photographs we reproduce tell the same story. The edges of the shadows + are all hard and black. If there had been an appreciable atmosphere it would + have scattered the sun's light on to the edges and produced a gradual + shading off such as we see on the earth. This relative absence of air must + give rise to some surprising effects. There will be no sounds on the moon, + because sounds are merely air waves. Even a meteor shattering itself to a + violent end against the surface of the moon would make no noise. Nor would it + herald its coming by glowing into a "shooting star," as it would on + entering the earth's atmosphere. There will be no floating dust, no + scent, no twilight, no blue sky, no twinkling of the stars. The sky will be + always black and the stars will be clearly visible by day as by night. The + sun's wonderful corona, which no man on earth, even by seizing every + opportunity during eclipses, can hope to see for more than two hours in all + in a long lifetime, will be visible all day. So will the great red flames of + the sun. Of course, there will be no life, and no landscape effects and + scenery effects due to vegetation.</p> + + <p>The moon takes approximately twenty-seven of our days to<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span> turn once on its + axis. So for fourteen days there is continuous night, when the temperature + must sink away down towards the absolute cold of space. This will be followed + without an instant of twilight by full daylight. For another fourteen days + the sun's rays will bear straight down, with no diffusion or absorption + of their heat, or light, on the way. It does not follow, however, that the + temperature of the moon's surface must rise enormously. It may not even + rise to the temperature of melting ice. Seeing there is no air there can be + no check on radiation. The heat that the moon gets will radiate away + immediately. We know that amongst the coldest places on the earth are the + tops of very high mountains, the points that have reared themselves nearest + to the sun but farthest out of the sheltering blanket of the earth's + atmosphere. The actual temperature of the moon's surface by day is a moot + point. It may be below the freezing-point or above the boiling-point of + water.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Mountains of the Moon</h4> + + <p>The lack of air is considered by many astronomers to furnish the + explanation of the enormous number of "craters" which pit the + moon's surface. There are about a hundred thousand of these strange + rings, and it is now believed by many that they are spots where very large + meteorites, or even planetoids, splashed into the moon when its surface was + still soft. Other astronomers think that they are the remains of gigantic + bubbles which were raised in the moon's "skin," when the globe + was still molten, by volcanic gases from below. A few astronomers think that + they are, as is popularly supposed, the craters of extinct volcanoes. Our + craters, on the earth, are generally deep cups, whereas these ring-formations + on the moon are more like very shallow and broad saucers. Clavius, the + largest of them, is 123 miles across the interior, yet its encircling rampart + is not a mile high.</p> + + <p>The mountains on the moon (Fig. 16) rise to a great height,<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span> and are + extraordinarily gaunt and rugged. They are like fountains of lava, rising in + places to 26,000 and 27,000 feet. The lunar Apennines have three thousand + steep and weird peaks. Our terrestrial mountains are continually worn down by + frost acting on moisture and by ice and water, but there are none of these + agencies operating on the moon. Its mountains are comparatively + "everlasting hills."</p> + + <p>The moon is interesting to us precisely because it is a dead world. It + seems to show how the earth, or any cooling metal globe, will evolve in the + remote future. We do not know if there was ever life on the moon, but in any + case it cannot have proceeded far in development. At the most we can imagine + some strange lowly forms of vegetation lingering here and there in pools of + heavy gas, expanding during the blaze of the sun's long day, and frozen + rigid during the long night.</p> + + <h3>METEORS AND COMETS</h3> + + <p>We may conclude our survey of the solar system with a word about + "shooting stars," or meteors, and comets. There are few now who do + not know that the streak of fire which suddenly lights the sky overhead at + night means that a piece of stone or iron has entered our atmosphere from + outer space, and has been burned up by friction. It was travelling at, + perhaps, twenty or thirty miles a second. At seventy or eighty miles above + our heads it began to glow, as at that height the air is thick enough to + offer serious friction and raise it to a white heat. By the time the meteor + reached about twenty miles or so from the earth's surface it was entirely + dissipated, as a rule in fiery vapour.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Millions of Meteorites</h4> + + <p>It is estimated that between ten and a hundred million meteorites enter + our atmosphere and are cremated, every day.<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span> Most of them weigh only an ounce or + two, and are invisible. Some of them weigh a ton or more, but even against + these large masses the air acts as a kind of "torpedo-net." They + generally burst into fragments and fall without doing damage.</p> + + <p>It is clear that "empty space" is, at least within the limits of + our solar system, full of these things. They swarm like fishes in the seas. + Like the fishes, moreover, they may be either solitary or gregarious. The + solitary bit of cosmic rubbish is the meteorite, which we have just examined. + A "social" group of meteorites is the essential part of a comet. + The nucleus, or bright central part, of the head of a comet (Fig. 19) + consists of a swarm, sometimes thousands of miles wide, of these pieces of + iron or stone. This swarm has come under the sun's gravitational + influence, and is forced to travel round it. From some dark region of space + it has moved slowly into our system. It is not then a comet, for it has no + tail. But as the crowded meteors approach the sun, the speed increases. They + give off fine vapour-like matter and the fierce flood of light from the sun + sweeps this vapour out in an ever-lengthening tail. Whatever way the comet is + travelling, the tail always points away from the sun.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">A Great Comet</h4> + + <p>The vapoury tail often grows to an enormous length as the comet approaches + the sun. The great comet of 1843 had a tail two hundred million miles long. + It is, however, composed of the thinnest vapours imaginable. Twice during the + nineteenth century the earth passed through the tail of a comet, and nothing + was felt. The vapours of the tail are, in fact, so attenuated that we can + hardly imagine them to be white-hot. They may be lit by some electrical + force. However that may be, the comet dashes round the sun, often at three or + four hundred miles a second, then may pass gradually out of our system once + more. It may be a thousand years, or it may be fifty years, + before<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span> + the monarch of the system will summon it again to make its fiery journey + round his throne.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image074" id="image074"></a> <a href= + "images/image074.jpg"><img src="images/image074_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" title= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Harvard College Observatory.</i></p> + + <p>FIG. 21.—TYPICAL SPECTRA</p> + + <p class="wide">Six main types of stellar spectra. Notice the lines they + have in common, showing what elements are met with in different types of + stars. Each of these spectra corresponds to a different set of physical and + chemical conditions.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image075a" id="image075a"></a> <a href= + "images/image075a.jpg"><img src="images/image075a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" title= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory.</i></p> + + <p>FIG. 22.—A NEBULAR REGION SOUTH OF ZETA ORIONIS</p> + + <p>Showing a great projection of "dark matter" cutting off the + light from behind.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image075b" id="image075b"></a> <a href= + "images/image075b.jpg"><img src="images/image075b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" title= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria, British Columbia.</i></p> + + <p>FIG. 23.—STAR CLUSTER IN HERCULES</p> + + <p class="wide">A wonderful cluster of stars. It has been estimated that + the distance of this cluster is such that it would take light more than + 100,000 years to reach us.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3>THE STELLAR UNIVERSE</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <p>The immensity of the Stellar Universe, as we have seen, is beyond our + apprehension. The sun is nothing more than a very ordinary star, perhaps an + insignificant one. There are stars enormously greater than the sun. One such, + Betelgeux, has recently been measured, and its diameter is more than 300 + times that of the sun.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Evolution of Stars</h4> + + <p>The proof of the similarity between our sun and the stars has come to us + through the spectroscope. The elements that we find by its means in the sun + are also found in the same way in the stars. Matter, says the spectroscope, + is essentially the same everywhere, in the earth and the sun, in the comet + that visits us once in a thousand years, in the star whose distance is + incalculable, and in the great clouds of "fire-mist" that we call + nebulæ.</p> + + <p>In considering the evolution of the stars let us keep two points clearly + in mind. The starting-point, the nebula, is no figment of the scientific + imagination. Hundreds of thousands of nebulæ, besides even vaster irregular + stretches of nebulous matter, exist in the heavens. But the stages of the + evolution of this stuff into stars are very largely a matter of speculation. + Possibly there is more than one line of evolution, and the various theories + may be reconciled. And this applies also to the theories of the various + stages through which the stars themselves pass on their way to + extinction.</p> + + <p>The light of about a quarter of a million stars has been analysed in the + spectroscope, and it is found that they fall into about<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span> a dozen classes + which generally correspond to stages in their evolution (Fig. 21).</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Age of Stars</h4> + + <p>In its main lines the spectrum of a star corresponds to its colour, and we + may roughly group the stars into red, yellow, and white. This is also the + order of increasing temperature, the red stars being the coolest and the + white stars the hottest. We might therefore imagine that the white stars are + the youngest, and that as they grow older and cooler they become yellowish, + then red, and finally become invisible—just as a cooling white-hot iron + would do. But a very interesting recent research shows that there are two + kinds of red stars; some of them are amongst the oldest stars and some are + amongst the youngest. The facts appear to be that when a star is first formed + it is not very hot. It is an immense mass of diffuse gas glowing with a + dull-red heat. It contracts under the mutual gravitation of its particles, + and as it does so it grows hotter. It acquires a yellowish tinge. As it + continues to contract it grows hotter and hotter until its temperature + reaches a maximum as a white star. At this point the contraction process does + not stop, but the heating process does. Further contraction is now + accompanied by cooling, and the star goes through its colour changes again, + but this time in the inverse order. It contracts and cools to yellow and + finally to red. But when it again becomes a red star it is enormously denser + and smaller than when it began as a red star. Consequently the red stars are + divided into two classes called, appropriately, Giants and Dwarfs. This + theory, which we owe to an American astronomer, H. N. Russell, has been + successful in explaining a variety of phenomena, and there is consequently + good reason to suppose it to be true. But the question as to how the red + giant stars were formed has received less satisfactory and precise + answers.</p> + + <p>The most commonly accepted theory is the nebular theory.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span></p> + + <h3>THE NEBULAR THEORY</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <p>Nebulæ are dim luminous cloud-like patches in the heavens, more like wisps + of smoke in some cases than anything else. Both photography and the telescope + show that they are very numerous, hundreds of thousands being already known + and the number being continually added to. They are not small. Most of them + are immensely large. Actual dimensions cannot be given, because to estimate + these we must first know definitely the distance of the nebulæ from the + earth. The distances of some nebulæ are known approximately, and we can + therefore form some idea of size in these cases. The results are staggering. + The mere visible surface of some nebulæ is so large that the whole stretch of + the solar system would be too small to form a convenient unit for measuring + it. A ray of light would require to travel for years to cross from side to + side of such a nebula. Its immensity is inconceivable to the human mind.</p> + + <p>There appear to be two types of nebulæ, and there is evidence suggesting + that the one type is only an earlier form of the other; but this again we do + not know.</p> + + <p>The more primitive nebulæ would seem to be composed of gas in an extremely + rarified form. It is difficult to convey an adequate idea of the rarity of + nebular gases. The residual gases in a vacuum tube are dense by comparison. A + cubic inch of air at ordinary pressure would contain more matter than is + contained in millions of cubic inches of the gases of nebulæ. The light of + even the faintest stars does not seem to be dimmed by passing through a + gaseous nebula, although we cannot be sure on this point. The most remarkable + physical fact about these gases is that they are luminous. Whence they derive + their luminosity we do not know. It hardly seems possible to believe that + extremely thin gases exposed to the terrific cold of space can be so hot as + to be luminous and can retain their heat and their luminosity<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span> indefinitely. A + cold luminosity due to electrification, like that of the aurora borealis, + would seem to fit the case better.</p> + + <p>Now the nebular theory is that out of great "fire-mists," such + as we have described, stars are born. We do not know whether gravitation is + the only or even the main force at work in a nebula, but it is supposed that + under the action of gravity the far-flung "fire-mists" would begin + to condense round centres of greatest density, heat being evolved in the + process. Of course the condensation would be enormously slow, although the + sudden irruption of a swarm of meteors or some solid body might hasten + matters greatly by providing large, ready-made centres of condensation.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Spiral Nebulæ</h4> + + <p>It is then supposed that the contracting mass of gas would begin to rotate + and to throw off gigantic streamers, which would in their turn form centres + of condensation. The whole structure would thus form a spiral, having a dense + region at its centre and knots or lumps of condensed matter along its spiral + arms. Besides the formless gaseous nebulæ there are hundreds of thousands of + "spiral" nebulæ such as we have just mentioned in the heavens. They + are at all stages of development, and they are visible to us at all + angles—that is to say, some of them face directly towards us, others + are edge on, and some are in intermediate positions. It appears, therefore, + that we have here a striking confirmation of the nebular hypothesis. But we + must not go so fast. There is much controversy as to the nature of these + spiral nebulæ. Some eminent astronomers think they are other stellar + universes, comparable in size with our own. In any case they are vast + structures, and if they represent stars in process of condensation, they must + be giving birth to huge agglomerations of stars—to star clusters at + least. These vast and enigmatic objects do not throw much light on the origin + of our own solar system. The nebular hypothesis, which was invented + by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span> + Laplace to explain the origin of our solar system, has not yet met with + universal acceptance. The explanation offers grave difficulties, and it is + best while the subject is still being closely investigated, to hold all + opinions with reserve. It may be taken as probable, however, that the + universe has developed from masses of incandescent gas.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image080" id="image080"></a> <a href= + "images/image080.jpg"><img src="images/image080_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE GREAT NEBULA IN ORION" title="THE GREAT NEBULA IN ORION" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Yerkes Observatory.</i></p> + + <p>FIG. 24.—THE GREAT NEBULA IN ORION</p> + + <p class="wide">The most impressive nebula in the heavens. It is + inconceivably greater in dimensions than the whole solar system.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image081" id="image081"></a> <a href= + "images/image081.jpg"><img src="images/image081_sm.jpg" alt= + "GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA" title="GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Lick Observatory.</i></p> + + <p>FIG. 25—GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA, March 23, 1914</p> + + <p class="wide">This spiral nebula is seen full on. Notice the central + nucleus and the two spiral arms emerging from its opposite directions. Is + matter flowing out of the nucleus into the arms or along the arms into the + nucleus? In either case we should get two streams in opposite directions + within the nucleus.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3>THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF STARS</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 3</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Variable, New, and Dark Stars: Dying Suns</h4> + + <p>Many astronomers believe that in "variable stars" we have + another star, following that of the dullest red star, in the dying of suns. + The light of these stars varies periodically in so many days, weeks, or + years. It is interesting to speculate that they are slowly dying suns, in + which the molten interior periodically bursts through the shell of thick + vapours that is gathering round them. What we saw about our sun seems to + point to some such stage in the future. That is, however, not the received + opinion about variable stars. It may be that they are stars which + periodically pass through a great swarm of meteors or a region of space that + is rich in cosmic dust of some sort, when, of course, a great illumination + would take place.</p> + + <p>One class of these variable stars, which takes its name from the star + Algol, is of special interest. Every third night Algol has its light reduced + for several hours. Modern astronomy has discovered that in this case there + are really two stars, circulating round a common centre, and that every third + night the fainter of the two comes directly between us and its companion and + causes an "eclipse." This was until recently regarded as a most + interesting case in which a dead star revealed itself to us by passing before + the light of another star. But astronomers have in recent years invented + something, the "selenium-cell," which is even more sensitive than + the photographic plate, and on this the<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span> supposed dead star registers itself + as very much alive. Algol is, however, interesting in another way. The pair + of stars which we have discovered in it are hundreds of trillions of miles + away from the earth, yet we know their masses and their distances from each + other.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Death and Birth of Stars</h4> + + <p>We have no positive knowledge of dead stars; which is not surprising when + we reflect that a dead star means an invisible star! But when we see so many + individual stars tending toward death, when we behold a vast population of + all conceivable ages, we presume that there are many already dead. On the + other hand, there is no reason to suppose that the universe as a whole is + "running down." Some writers have maintained this, but their + argument implies that we know a great deal more about the universe than we + actually do. The scientific man does not know whether the universe is finite + or infinite, temporal or eternal; and he declines to speculate where there + are no facts to guide him. He knows only that the great gaseous nebulæ + promise myriads of worlds in the future, and he concedes the possibility that + new nebulæ may be forming in the ether of space.</p> + + <p>The last, and not the least interesting, subject we have to notice is the + birth of a "new star." This is an event which astronomers now + announce every few years; and it is a far more portentous event than the + reader imagines when it is reported in his daily paper. The story is much the + same in all cases. We say that the star appeared in 1901, but you begin to + realise the magnitude of the event when you learn that the distant + "blaze" had really occurred about the time of the death of Luther! + The light of the conflagration had been speeding toward us across space at + 186,000 miles a second, yet it has taken nearly three centuries to reach us. + To be visible at all to us at that distance the fiery outbreak must have been + stupendous. If a mass of petroleum ten times the size of the earth were + suddenly fired it would not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id= + "Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span> be seen at such a distance. The new star had + increased its light many hundredfold in a few days.</p> + + <p>There is a considerable fascination about the speculation that in such + cases we see the resurrection of a dead world, a means of renewing the + population of the universe. What happens is that in some region of the sky + where no star, or only a very faint star, had been registered on our charts, + we almost suddenly perceive a bright star. In a few days it may rise to the + highest brilliancy. By the spectroscope we learn that this distant blaze + means a prodigious outpour of white-hot hydrogen at hundreds of miles a + second. But the star sinks again after a few months, and we then find a + nebula round it on every side. It is natural to suppose that a dead or dying + sun has somehow been reconverted in whole or in part into a nebula. A few + astronomers think that it may have partially collided with another star, or + approached too closely to another, with the result we described on an earlier + page. The general opinion now is that a faint or dead star had rushed into + one of those regions of space in which there are immense stretches of + nebulous matter, and been (at least in part) vaporised by the friction.</p> + + <p>But the difficulties are considerable, and some astronomers prefer to + think that the blazing star may merely have lit up a dark nebula which + already existed. It is one of those problems on which speculation is most + tempting but positive knowledge is still very incomplete. We may be content, + even proud, that already we can take a conflagration that has occurred more + than a thousand trillion miles away and analyse it positively into an + outflame of glowing hydrogen gas at so many miles a second.</p> + + <h3>THE SHAPE OF OUR UNIVERSE</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 4</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Our Universe a Spiral Nebula</h4> + + <p>What is the shape of our universe, and what are its dimensions? This is a + tremendous question to ask. It is like asking<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span> an intelligent insect, living on a + single leaf in the midst of a great Brazilian forest, to say what is the + shape and size of the forest. Yet man's ingenuity has proved equal to + giving an answer even to this question, and by a method exactly similar to + that which would be adopted by the insect. Suppose, for instance, that the + forest was shaped as an elongated oval, and the insect lived on a tree near + the centre of the oval. If the trees were approximately equally spaced from + one another they would appear much denser along the length of the oval than + across its width. This is the simple consideration that has guided + astronomers in determining the shape of our stellar universe. There is one + direction in the heavens along which the stars appear denser than in the + directions at right angles to it. That direction is the direction in which we + look towards the Milky Way. If we count the number of stars visible all over + the heavens, we find they become more and more numerous as we approach the + Milky Way. As we go farther and farther from the Milky Way the stars thin out + until they reach a maximum sparseness in directions at right angles to the + plane of the Milky Way. We may consider the Milky Way to form, as it were, + the equator of our system, and the line at right angles to point to the north + and south poles.</p> + + <p>Our system, in fact, is shaped something like a lens, and our sun is + situated near the centre of this lens. In the remoter part of this lens, near + its edge, or possibly outside it altogether, lies the great series of star + clouds which make up the Milky Way. All the stars are in motion within this + system, but the very remarkable discovery has been made that these motions + are not entirely random. The great majority of the stars whose motions can be + measured fall into two groups drifting past one another in opposite + directions. The velocity of one stream relative to the other is about + twenty-five miles per second. The stars forming these two groups are + thoroughly well mixed; it is not a case of an inner stream going one way and + an outer stream the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg + 45]</a></span> other. But there are not quite as many stars going one way as + the other. For every two stars in one stream there are three in the other. + Now, as we have said, some eminent astronomers hold that the spiral nebulæ + are universes like our own, and if we look at the two photographs (Figs. 25 + and 26) we see that these spirals present features which, in the light of + what we have just said about our system, are very remarkable. The nebula in + Coma Berenices is a spiral edge-on to us, and we see that it has precisely + the lens-shaped middle and the general flattened shape that we have found in + our own system. The nebula in Canes Venatici is a spiral facing towards us, + and its shape irresistibly suggests motions along the spiral arms. This + motion, whether it is towards or away from the central, lens-shaped portion, + would cause a double streaming motion in that central portion of the kind we + have found in our own system. Again, and altogether apart from these + considerations, there are good reasons for supposing our Milky Way to possess + a double-armed spiral structure. And the great patches of dark absorbing + matter which are known to exist in the Milky Way (see Fig. 22) would give + very much the mottled appearance we notice in the arms (which we see edge-on) + of the nebula in Coma Berenices. The<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" + id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span> hypothesis, therefore, that our universe is a + spiral nebula has much to be said for it. If it be accepted it greatly + increases our estimate of the size of the material universe. For our central, + lens-shaped system is calculated to extend towards the Milky Way for more + than twenty thousand times a million million miles, and about a third of this + distance towards what we have called the poles. If, as we suppose, each + spiral nebula is an independent stellar universe comparable in size with our + own, then, since there are hundreds of thousands of spiral nebulæ, we see + that the size of the whole material universe is indeed beyond our + comprehension.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image086" id="image086"></a> <a href= + "images/image086.jpg"><img src="images/image086_sm.jpg" alt= + "A SPIRAL NEBULA SEEN EDGE-ON" title="A SPIRAL NEBULA SEEN EDGE-ON" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory.</i></p> + + <p>FIG. 26.—A SPIRAL NEBULA SEEN EDGE-ON</p> + + <p class="wide">Notice the lens-shaped formation of the nucleus and the arm + stretching as a band across it. See reference in the text to the + resemblance between this and our stellar universe.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image087" id="image087"></a> <a href= + "images/image087.jpg"><img src="images/image087_sm.jpg" alt= + "100-INCH TELESCOPE, MOUNT WILSON" title= + "100-INCH TELESCOPE, MOUNT WILSON" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: H. J. Shepstone.</i></p> + + <p>100-INCH TELESCOPE, MOUNT WILSON</p> + + <p class="wide">A reflecting telescope: the largest in the world. The + mirror is situated at the base of the telescope.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class='center'> + <table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary= + "The Solar System"> + <tr> + <th colspan="5" align="center">THE SOLAR SYSTEM</th> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='center'>NAME</td> + + <td align='center'>MEAN DISTANCE FROM SUN (IN MILLIONS OF MILES)</td> + + <td align='center'>PERIOD OF REVOLUTION AROUND SUN (IN YEARS)</td> + + <td align='center'>DIAMETER (IN MILES)</td> + + <td align='center'>NUMBER OF SATELLITES</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'>MERCURY</td> + + <td align='right'>36.0</td> + + <td align='right'>0.24</td> + + <td align='right'>3030</td> + + <td align='right'>0</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'>VENUS</td> + + <td align='right'>67.2</td> + + <td align='right'>0.62</td> + + <td align='right'>7700</td> + + <td align='right'>0</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'>EARTH</td> + + <td align='right'>92.9</td> + + <td align='right'>1.00</td> + + <td align='right'>7918</td> + + <td align='right'>1</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'>MARS</td> + + <td align='right'>141.5</td> + + <td align='right'>1.88</td> + + <td align='right'>4230</td> + + <td align='right'>2</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'>JUPITER</td> + + <td align='right'>483.3</td> + + <td align='right'>11.86</td> + + <td align='right'>86500</td> + + <td align='right'>9</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'>SATURN</td> + + <td align='right'>886.0</td> + + <td align='right'>29.46</td> + + <td align='right'>73000</td> + + <td align='right'>10</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'>URANUS</td> + + <td align='right'>1781.9</td> + + <td align='right'>84.02</td> + + <td align='right'>31900</td> + + <td align='right'>4</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'>NEPTUNE</td> + + <td align='right'>2971.6</td> + + <td align='right'>164.78</td> + + <td align='right'>34800</td> + + <td align='right'>1</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'>SUN</td> + + <td align='right'>———</td> + + <td align='right'>———</td> + + <td align='right'>866400</td> + + <td align='right'>—</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'>MOON</td> + + <td align='right'>———</td> + + <td align='right'>———</td> + + <td align='right'>2163</td> + + <td align='right'>—</td> + </tr> + </table> + </div> + + <p class="center">FIG. 27</p> + + <div class='center'> + <table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary="Star Distances"> + <tr> + <th align='center' colspan="2">STAR DISTANCES</th> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td><i>STAR</i></td> + + <td align='right'><i>DISTANCE IN LIGHT-YEARS</i></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>POLARIS</td> + + <td align='right'>76</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>CAPELLA</td> + + <td align='right'>49.4</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>RIGEL</td> + + <td align='right'>466</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>SIRIUS</td> + + <td align='right'>8.7</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>PROCYON</td> + + <td align='right'>10.5</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>REGULUS</td> + + <td align='right'>98.8</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>ARCTURUS</td> + + <td align='right'>43.4</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>[ALPHA] CENTAURI</td> + + <td align='right'>4.29</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>VEGA</td> + + <td align='right'>34.7</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>SMALLER MAGELLANIC CLOUD</td> + + <td align='right'>32,600[A]</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td>GREAT CLUSTER IN HERCULES</td> + + <td align='right'>108,600[A]</td> + </tr> + </table> + </div> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>[A] ESTIMATED</p> + + <p>FIG. 28</p> + + <p class="wide">The above distances are merely approximate and are subject to further + revision. A "light-year" is the distance that light, travelling at + the rate of 186,000 miles per second, would cover in one year.</p> + </div> + + <p>In this simple outline we have not touched on some of the more debatable + questions that engage the attention of modern astronomers. Many of these + questions have not yet passed the controversial stage; out of these will + emerge the astronomy of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id= + "Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span> future. But we have seen enough to convince us + that, whatever advances the future holds in store, the science of the heavens + constitutes one of the most important stones in the wonderful fabric of human + knowledge.</p> + + <h3>ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Telescope</h4> + + <p>The instruments used in modern astronomy are amongst the finest triumphs + of mechanical skill in the world. In a great modern observatory the different + instruments are to be counted by the score, but there are two which stand out + pre-eminent as the fundamental instruments of modern astronomy. These + instruments are the telescope and the spectroscope, and without them + astronomy, as we know it, could not exist.</p> + + <p>There is still some dispute as to where and when the first telescope was + constructed; as an astronomical instrument, however, it dates from the time + of the great Italian scientist Galileo, who, with a very small and imperfect + telescope of his own invention, first observed the spots on the sun, the + mountains of the moon, and the chief four satellites of Jupiter. A good pair + of modern binoculars is superior to this early instrument of Galileo's, + and the history of telescope construction, from that primitive instrument to + the modern giant recently erected on Mount Wilson, California, is an exciting + chapter in human progress. But the early instruments have only an historic + interest: the era of modern telescopes begins in the nineteenth century.</p> + + <p>During the last century telescope construction underwent an unprecedented + development. An immense amount of interest was taken in the construction of + large telescopes, and the different countries of the world entered on an + exciting race to produce the most powerful possible instruments. Besides + this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span> + rivalry of different countries there was a rivalry of methods. The telescope + developed along two different lines, and each of these two types has its + partisans at the present day. These types are known as <i>refractors</i> and + <i>reflectors</i>, and it is necessary to mention, briefly, the principles + employed in each. The <i>refractor</i> is the ordinary, familiar type of + telescope. It consists, essentially, of a large lens at one end of a tube, + and a small lens, called the eye-piece, at the other. The function of the + large lens is to act as a sort of gigantic eye. It collects a large amount of + light, an amount proportional to its size, and brings this light to a focus + within the tube of the telescope. It thus produces a small but bright image, + and the eye-piece magnifies this image. In the <i>reflector</i>, instead of a + large lens at the top of the tube, a large mirror is placed at the bottom. + This mirror is so shaped as to reflect the light that falls on it to a focus, + whence the light is again led to an eye-piece. Thus the refractor and the + reflector differ chiefly in their manner of gathering light. The powerfulness + of the telescope depends on the size of the light-gatherer. A telescope with + a lens four inches in diameter is four times as powerful as the one with a + lens two inches in diameter, for the amount of light gathered obviously + depends on the <i>area</i> of the lens, and the area varies as the + <i>square</i> of the diameter.</p> + + <p>The largest telescopes at present in existence are <i>reflectors</i>. It + is much easier to construct a very large mirror than to construct a very + large lens; it is also cheaper. A mirror is more likely to get out of order + than is a lens, however, and any irregularity in the shape of a mirror + produces a greater distorting effect than in a lens. A refractor is also more + convenient to handle than is a reflector. For these reasons great refractors + are still made, but the largest of them, the great Yerkes' refractor, is + much smaller than the greatest reflector, the one on Mount Wilson, + California. The lens of the Yerkes' refractor measures three feet four + inches in diameter, whereas the Mount Wilson reflector has a diameter of no + less than eight feet four inches.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image092" id="image092"></a> <a href= + "images/image092.jpg"><img src="images/image092_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTOR" title="THE YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTOR" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTOR</p> + + <p class="wide">(The largest <i>refracting</i> telescope in the world. Its + big lens weighs 1,000 pounds, and its mammoth tube, which is 62 feet long, + weighs about 12,000 pounds. The parts to be moved weigh approximately 22 + tons.</p> + + <p class="wide">The great <i>100-inch reflector</i> of the Mount Wilson + reflecting telescope—the largest <i>reflecting</i> instrument in the + world—weighs nearly 9,000 pounds and the moving parts of the + telescope weigh about 100 tons.</p> + + <p class="wide">The new <i>72-inch reflector</i> at the Dominion + Astrophysical Observatory, near Victoria, B. C., weighs nearly 4,500 + pounds, and the moving parts about 35 tons.)</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image093a" id="image093a"></a> <a href= + "images/image093a.jpg"><img src="images/image093a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE DOUBLE-SLIDE PLATE HOLDER ON YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTING TELESCOPE" + title="THE DOUBLE-SLIDE PLATE HOLDER ON YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTING TELESCOPE" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: H. J. Shepstone.</i></p> + + <p>THE DOUBLE-SLIDE PLATE HOLDER ON YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTING TELESCOPE</p> + + <p class="wide">The smaller telescope at the top of the picture acts as a + "finder"; the field of view of the large telescope is so + restricted that it is difficult to recognise, as it were, the part of the + heavens being surveyed. The smaller telescope takes in a larger area and + enables the precise object to be examined to be easily selected.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg + 49]</a></span></p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image093b" id="image093b"></a> <a href= + "images/image093b.jpg"><img src="images/image093b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" title= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>MODERN DIRECT-READING SPECTROSCOPE</p> + + <p>(<i>By A. Hilger, Ltd.</i>)</p> + + <p class="wide">The light is brought through one telescope, is split up by + the prism, and the resulting spectrum is observed through the other + telescope.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>But there is a device whereby the power of these giant instruments, great + as it is, can be still further heightened. That device is the simple one of + allowing the photographic plate to take the place of the human eye. Nowadays + an astronomer seldom spends the night with his eye glued to the great + telescope. He puts a photographic plate there. The photographic plate has + this advantage over the eye, that it builds up impressions. However long we + stare at an object too faint to be seen, we shall never see it. With the + photographic plate, however, faint impressions go on accumulating. As hour + after hour passes, the star which was too faint to make a perceptible + impression on the plate goes on affecting it until finally it makes an + impression which can be made visible. In this way the photographic plate + reveals to us phenomena in the heavens which cannot be seen even through the + most powerful telescopes.</p> + + <p>Telescopes of the kind we have been discussing, telescopes for exploring + the heavens, are mounted <i>equatorially</i>; that is to say, they are + mounted on an inclined pillar parallel to the axis of the earth so that, by + rotating round this pillar, the telescope is enabled to follow the apparent + motion of a star due to the rotation of the earth. This motion is effected by + clock-work, so that, once adjusted on a star, and the clock-work started, the + telescope remains adjusted on that star for any length of time that is + desired. But a great official observatory, such as Greenwich Observatory or + the Observatory at Paris, also has <i>transit</i> instruments, or telescopes + smaller than the equatorials and without the same facility of movement, but + which, by a number of exquisite refinements, are more adapted to accurate + measurements. It is these instruments which are chiefly used in the + compilation of the <i>Nautical Almanac</i>. They do not follow the apparent + motions of the stars. Stars are allowed to drift across the field of vision, + and as each star crosses a small group of parallel wires in the eye-piece its + precise time of passage is recorded. Owing to their relative fixity of + position these instruments can be constructed to record the<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span> <i>positions</i> + of stars with much greater accuracy than is possible to the more general and + flexible mounting of equatorials. The recording of transit is comparatively + dry work; the spectacular element is entirely absent; stars are treated + merely as mathematical points. But these observations furnish the very basis + of modern mathematical astronomy, and without them such publications as the + <i>Nautical Almanac</i> and the <i>Connaissance du Temps</i> would be robbed + of the greater part of their importance.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Spectroscope</h4> + + <p>We have already learnt something of the principles of the spectroscope, + the instrument which, by making it possible to learn the actual constitution + of the stars, has added a vast new domain to astronomy. In the simplest form + of this instrument the analysing portion consists of a single prism. Unless + the prism is very large, however, only a small degree of dispersion is + obtained. It is obviously desirable, for accurate analytical work, that the + dispersion—that is, the separation of the different parts of the + spectrum—should be as great as possible. The dispersion can be + increased by using a large number of prisms, the light emerging from the + first prism, entering the second, and so on. In this way each prism produces + its own dispersive effect and, when a number of prisms are employed, the + final dispersion is considerable. A considerable amount of light is absorbed + in this way, however, so that unless our primary source of light is very + strong, the final spectrum will be very feeble and hard to decipher.</p> + + <p>Another way of obtaining considerable dispersion is by using a + <i>diffraction grating</i> instead of a prism. This consists essentially of a + piece of glass on which lines are ruled by a diamond point. When the lines + are sufficiently close together they split up light falling on them into its + constituents and produce a spectrum.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" + id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span> The modern diffraction grating is a truly + wonderful piece of work. It contains several thousands of lines to the inch, + and these lines have to be spaced with the greatest accuracy. But in this + instrument, again, there is a considerable loss of light.</p> + + <p>We have said that every substance has its own distinctive spectrum, and it + might be thought that, when a list of the spectra of different substances has + been prepared, spectrum analysis would become perfectly straightforward. In + practice, however, things are not quite so simple. The spectrum emitted by a + substance is influenced by a variety of conditions. The pressure, the + temperature, the state of motion of the object we are observing, all make a + difference, and one of the most laborious tasks of the modern spectroscopist + is to disentangle these effects from one another. Simple as it is in its + broad outlines, spectroscopy is, in reality, one of the most intricate + branches of modern science.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>BIBLIOGRAPHY</h3> + + <p>(The following list of books may be useful to readers wishing to pursue + further the study of Astronomy.)</p> + + <p><span class="smcap">Ball</span>, <i>The Story of the Heavens</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Ball</span>, <i>The Story of the Sun</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Forbes</span>, <i>History of Astronomy</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Hincks</span>, <i>Astronomy</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Kippax</span>, <i>Call of the Stars</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Lowell</span>, <i>Mars and Its Canals</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Lowell</span>, <i>Evolution of Worlds</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">McKready</span>, <i>A Beginner's Star-Book</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Newcomb</span>, <i>Popular Astronomy</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Newcomb</span>, <i>The Stars: A Study of the + Universe</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Olcott</span>, <i>Field Book of the Stars</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Price</span>, <i>Essence of Astronomy</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Serviss</span>, <i>Curiosities of the Skies</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Webb</span>, <i>Celestial Objects for Common + Telescopes</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Young</span>, <i>Text-Book of General Astronomy</i>.</p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg + 52]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg + 53]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg + 54]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg + 55]</a></span></p> + <hr /> + + <h2>II</h2> + + <h2>THE STORY OF EVOLUTION</h2> + <hr /> + + <h3>INTRODUCTORY</h3> + + <h3>THE BEGINNING OF THE EARTH—MAKING A HOME FOR LIFE—THE FIRST + LIVING CREATURES</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <p>The Evolution-idea is a master-key that opens many doors. It is a luminous + interpretation of the world, throwing the light of the past upon the present. + Everything is seen to be an antiquity, with a history behind it—a + <i>natural history</i>, which enables us to understand in some measure how it + has come to be as it is. We cannot say more than "understand in some + measure," for while the <i>fact</i> of evolution is certain, we are only + beginning to discern the <i>factors</i> that have been at work.</p> + + <p>The evolution-idea is very old, going back to some of the Greek + philosophers, but it is only in modern times that it has become an essential + part of our mental equipment. It is now an everyday intellectual tool. It was + applied to the origin of the solar system and to the making of the earth + before it was applied to plants and animals; it was extended from these to + man himself; it spread to language, to folk-ways, to institutions. Within + recent years the evolution-idea has been applied to the chemical elements, + for it appears that uranium may change into radium, that radium may produce + helium, and that lead is the final stable result when the changes of uranium + are complete. Perhaps all the elements may be the outcome of an inorganic + evolution. Not less important is the extension of the evolution-idea to the + world within as well as to the world without. For alongside of the evolution + of bodies and brains is the evolution of feelings and emotions, ideas and + imagination.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg + 56]</a></span></p> + + <p>Organic evolution means that the present is the child of the past and the + parent of the future. It is not a power or a principle; it is a + process—a process of becoming. It means that the present-day animals + and plants and all the subtle inter-relations between them have arisen in a + natural knowable way from a preceding state of affairs on the whole somewhat + simpler, and that again from forms and inter-relations simpler still, and so + on backwards and backwards for millions of years till we lose all clues in + the thick mist that hangs over life's beginnings.</p> + + <p>Our solar system was once represented by a nebula of some sort, and we may + speak of the evolution of the sun and the planets. But since it has been + <i>the same material throughout</i> that has changed in its distribution and + forms, it might be clearer to use some word like genesis. Similarly, our + human institutions were once very different from what they are now, and we + may speak of the evolution of government or of cities. But Man works with a + purpose, with ideas and ideals in some measure controlling his actions and + guiding his achievements, so that it is probably clearer to keep the good old + word history for all processes of social becoming in which man has been a + conscious agent. Now between the genesis of the solar system and the history + of civilisation there comes the vast process of organic evolution. The word + development should be kept for the becoming of the individual, the chick out + of the egg, for instance.</p> + + <p>Organic evolution is a continuous natural process of racial change, by + successive steps in a definite direction, whereby distinctively new + individualities arise, take root, and flourish, sometimes alongside of, and + sometimes, sooner or later, in place of, the originative stock. Our + domesticated breeds of pigeons and poultry are the results of evolutionary + change whose origins are still with us in the Rock Dove and the Jungle Fowl; + but in most cases in Wild Nature the ancestral stocks of present-day forms + are long since extinct, and in many cases they are unknown. Evolution is a + long process of coming and going, appearing and disappearing,<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span> a long-drawn-out + sublime process like a great piece of music.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image102a" id="image102a"></a> <a href= + "images/image102a.jpg"><img src="images/image102a_sm.jpg" alt= + "CHARLES DARWIN" title="CHARLES DARWIN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Rischgitz Collection.</i></p> + + <p>CHARLES DARWIN</p> + + <p class="wide">Greatest of naturalists, who made the idea of evolution + current intellectual coin, and in his <i>Origin of Species</i> (1859) made + the whole world new.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image102b" id="image102b"></a> <a href= + "images/image102b.jpg"><img src="images/image102b_sm.jpg" alt="LORD KELVIN" + title="LORD KELVIN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Rischgitz Collection.</i></p> + + <p>LORD KELVIN</p> + + <p class="wide">One of the greatest physicists of the nineteenth century. + He estimated the age of the earth at 20,000,000 years. He had not at his + disposal, however, the knowledge of recent discoveries, which have resulted + in this estimate being very greatly increased.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image103a" id="image103a"></a> <a href= + "images/image103a.jpg"><img src="images/image103a_sm.jpg" alt= + "A GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA" title="A GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Lick Observatory.</i></p> + + <p>A GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA</p> + + <p class="wide">Laplace's famous theory was that the planets and the + earth were formed from great whirling nebulæ.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image103b" id="image103b"></a> <a href= + "images/image103b.jpg"><img src="images/image103b_sm.jpg" alt= + "METEORITE WHICH FELL NEAR SCARBOROUGH, AND IS NOW TO BE SEEN IN THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM" + title= + "METEORITE WHICH FELL NEAR SCARBOROUGH, AND IS NOW TO BE SEEN IN THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Natural History Museum.</i></p> + + <p>METEORITE WHICH FELL NEAR SCARBOROUGH, AND IS NOW TO BE SEEN IN THE + NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM</p> + + <p>It weighs about 56 lb., and is a "stony" meteorite, i.e., an + aerolite.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Beginning of the Earth</h4> + + <p>When we speak the language of science we cannot say "In the + beginning," for we do not know of and cannot think of any condition of + things that did not arise from something that went before. But we may qualify + the phrase, and legitimately inquire into the beginning of the earth within + the solar system. If the result of this inquiry is to trace the sun and the + planets back to a nebula we reach only a relative beginning. The nebula has + to be accounted for. And even before matter there may have been a + pre-material world. If we say, as was said long ago, "In the beginning + was Mind," we may be expressing or trying to express a great truth, but + we have gone <span class="smcap">BEYOND SCIENCE</span>.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Nebular Hypothesis</h4> + + <p>One of the grandest pictures that the scientific mind has ever thrown upon + the screen is that of the Nebular Hypothesis. According to Laplace's + famous form of this theory (1796), the solar system was once a gigantic + glowing mass, spinning slowly and uniformly around its centre. As the + incandescent world-cloud of gas cooled and its speed of rotation increased + the shrinking mass gave off a separate whirling ring, which broke up and + gathered together again as the first and most distant planet. The main mass + gave off another ring and another till all the planets, including the earth, + were formed. The central mass persisted as the sun.</p> + + <p>Laplace spoke of his theory, which Kant had anticipated forty-one years + before, with scientific caution: "conjectures which I present with all + the distrust which everything not the result of observation or of calculation + ought to inspire." Subsequent research justified his distrust, for it + has been shown that the original nebula need not have been hot and need not + have been gaseous.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg + 58]</a></span> Moreover, there are great difficulties in Laplace's theory + of the separation of successive rings from the main mass, and of the + condensation of a whirling gaseous ring into a planet.</p> + + <p>So it has come about that the picture of a hot gaseous nebula revolving as + a unit body has given place to other pictures. Thus Sir Norman Lockyer + pointed out (1890) that the earth is gathering to itself millions of + meteorites every day; this has been going on for millions of years; in + distant ages the accretion may have been vastly more rapid and voluminous; + and so the earth has grown! Now the meteoritic contributions are undoubted, + but they require a centre to attract them, and the difficulty is to account + for the beginning of a collecting centre or planetary nucleus. Moreover, + meteorites are sporadic and erratic, scattered hither and thither rather than + collecting into unit-bodies. As Professor Chamberlin says, "meteorites + have rather the characteristics of the wreckage of some earlier organisation + than of the parentage of our planetary system." Several other theories + have been propounded to account for the origin of the earth, but the one that + has found most favour in the eyes of authorities is that of Chamberlin and + Moulton. According to this theory a great nebular mass condensed to form the + sun, from which under the attraction of passing stars planet after planet, + the earth included, was heaved off in the form of knotted spiral nebulæ, like + many of those now observed in the heavens.</p> + + <p>Of great importance were the "knots," for they served as + collecting centres drawing flying matter into their clutches. Whatever part + of the primitive bolt escaped and scattered was drawn out into independent + orbits round the sun, forming the "planetesimals" which behave like + minute planets. These planetesimals formed the food on which the knots + subsequently fed.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Growth of the Earth</h4> + + <p>It has been calculated that the newborn earth—the + "earth-knot" of Chamberlin's theory—had a diameter of + about 5,500<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg + 59]</a></span> miles. But it grew by drawing planetesimals into itself until + it had a diameter of over 8,100 miles at the end of its growing period. Since + then it has shrunk, by periodic shrinkages which have meant the buckling up + of successive series of mountains, and it has now a diameter of 7,918 miles. + But during the shrinking the earth became more varied.</p> + + <p>A sort of slow boiling of the internally hot earth often forced molten + matter through the cold outer crust, and there came about a gradual + assortment of lighter materials nearer the surface and heavier materials + deeper down. The continents are built of the lighter materials, such as + granites, while the beds of the great oceans are made of the heavier + materials such as basalts. In limited areas land has often become sea, and + sea has often given place to land, but the probability is that the + distinction of the areas corresponding to the great continents and oceans + goes back to a very early stage.</p> + + <p>The lithosphere is the more or less stable crust of the earth, which may + have been, to begin with, about fifty miles in thickness. It seems that the + young earth had no atmosphere, and that ages passed before water began to + accumulate on its surface—before, in other words, there was any + hydrosphere. The water came from the earth itself, to begin with, and it was + long before there was any rain dissolving out saline matter from the exposed + rocks and making the sea salt. The weathering of the high grounds of the + ancient crust by air and water furnished the material which formed the + sandstones and mudstones and other sedimentary rocks, which are said to + amount to a thickness of over fifty miles in all.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 3</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Making a Home for Life</h4> + + <p>It is interesting to inquire how the callous, rough-and-tumble conditions + of the outer world in early days were replaced by others that allowed of the + germination and growth of that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id= + "Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span> tender plant we call LIFE. There are very tough + living creatures, but the average organism is ill suited for violence. Most + living creatures are adapted to mild temperatures and gentle reactions. Hence + the fundamental importance of the early atmosphere, heavy with planetesimal + dust, in blanketing the earth against intensities of radiance from without, + as Chamberlin says, and inequalities of radiance from within. This was the + first preparation for life, but it was an atmosphere without free oxygen. Not + less important was the appearance of pools and lakelets, of lakes and seas. + Perhaps the early waters covered the earth. And water was the second + preparation for life—water, that can dissolve a larger variety of + substances in greater concentration than any other liquid; water, that in + summer does not readily evaporate altogether from a pond, nor in winter + freeze throughout its whole extent; water, that is such a mobile vehicle and + such a subtle cleaver of substances; water, that forms over 80 per cent. of + living matter itself.</p> + + <p>Of great significance was the abundance of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen + (in the form of carbonic acid and water) in the atmosphere of the cooling + earth, for these three wonderful elements have a unique <i>ensemble</i> of + properties—ready to enter into reactions and relations, making great + diversity and complexity possible, favouring the formation of the plastic and + permeable materials that build up living creatures. We must not pursue the + idea, but it is clear that the stones and mortar of the inanimate world are + such that they built a friendly home for life.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Origin of Living Creatures upon the Earth</h4> + + <p>During the early chapters of the earth's history, no living creature + that we can imagine could possibly have lived there. The temperature was too + high; there was neither atmosphere nor surface water. Therefore it follows + that at some uncertain, but inconceivably distant date, living creatures + appeared upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg + 61]</a></span> the earth. No one knows how, but it is interesting to consider + possibilities.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image108" id="image108"></a> <a href= + "images/image108.jpg"><img src="images/image108_sm.jpg" alt= + "A LIMESTONE CANYON" title="A LIMESTONE CANYON" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Reproduced from the Smithsonian Report, 1915.</i></p> + + <p>A LIMESTONE CANYON</p> + + <p>Many fossils of extinct animals have been found in such rock + formations.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image109a" id="image109a"></a> <a href= + "images/image109a.jpg"><img src="images/image109a_sm.jpg" alt= + "GENEALOGICAL TREE OF ANIMALS" title="GENEALOGICAL TREE OF ANIMALS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>GENEALOGICAL TREE OF ANIMALS</p> + + <p class="wide">Showing in order of evolution the general relations of the + chief classes into which the world of living things is divided. This scheme + represents the present stage of our knowledge, but is admittedly + provisional.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image109b" id="image109b"></a> <a href= + "images/image109b.jpg"><img src="images/image109b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" title= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>DIAGRAM OF AMŒBA</p> + + <p>(Greatly magnified.)</p> + + <p class="wide">The amœba is one of the simplest of all animals, and + gives us a hint of the original ancestors. It looks like a tiny irregular + speck of greyish jelly, about 1/100th of an inch in diameter. It is + commonly found gliding on the mud or weeds in ponds, where it engulfs its + microscopic food by means of out-flowing lobes (PS). The food vacuole (FV) + contains ingested food. From the contractile vacuole (CV) the waste matter + is discharged. N is the nucleus, GR, granules.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>From ancient times it has been a favourite answer that the dust of the + earth may have become living in a way which is outside scientific + description. This answer forecloses the question, and it is far too soon to + do that. Science must often say "Ignoramus": Science should be slow + to say "Ignorabimus."</p> + + <p>A second position held by Helmholtz, Lord Kelvin, and others, suggests + that minute living creatures may have come to the earth from elsewhere, in + the cracks of a meteorite or among cosmic dust. It must be remembered that + seeds can survive prolonged exposure to very low temperatures; that spores of + bacteria can survive high temperature; that seeds of plants and germs of + animals in a state of "latent life" can survive prolonged drought + and absence of oxygen. It is possible, according to Berthelot, that as long + as there is not molecular disintegration vital activities may be suspended + for a time, and may afterwards recommence when appropriate conditions are + restored. Therefore, one should be slow to say that a long journey through + space is impossible. The obvious limitation of Lord Kelvin's theory is + that it only shifts the problem of the origin of organisms (i.e. living + creatures) from the earth to elsewhere.</p> + + <p>The third answer is that living creatures of a very simple sort may have + emerged on the earth's surface from not-living material, e.g. from some + semi-fluid carbon compounds activated by ferments. The tenability of this + view is suggested by the achievements of the synthetic chemists, who are able + artificially to build up substances such as oxalic acid, indigo, salicylic + acid, caffeine, and grape-sugar. We do not know, indeed, what in Nature's + laboratory would take the place of the clever synthetic chemist, but there + seems to be a tendency to complexity. Corpuscles form atoms, atoms form + molecules, small molecules large ones.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" + id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p> + + <p>Various concrete suggestions have been made in regard to the possible + origin of living matter, which will be dealt with in a later chapter. So far + as we know of what goes on to-day, there is no evidence of spontaneous + generation; organisms seem always to arise from pre-existing organisms of the + same kind; where any suggestion of the contrary has been fancied, there have + been flaws in the experimenting. But it is one thing to accept the verdict + "omne vivum e vivo" as a fact to which experiment has not yet + discovered an exception and another thing to maintain that this must always + have been true or must always remain true.</p> + + <p>If the synthetic chemists should go on surpassing themselves, if + substances like white of egg should be made artificially, and if we should + get more light on possible steps by which simple living creatures may have + arisen from not-living materials, this would not greatly affect our general + outlook on life, though it would increase our appreciation of what is often + libelled as "inert" matter. If the dust of the earth did naturally + give rise very long ago to living creatures, if they are in a real sense born + of her and of the sunshine, then the whole world becomes more continuous and + more vital, and all the inorganic groaning and travailing becomes more + intelligible.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 4</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The First Organisms upon the Earth</h4> + + <p>We cannot have more than a speculative picture of the first living + creatures upon the earth or, rather, in the waters that covered the earth. A + basis for speculation is to be found, however, in the simplest creatures + living to-day, such as some of the bacteria and one-celled animalcules, + especially those called Protists, which have not taken any very definite step + towards becoming either plants or animals. No one can be sure, but there is + much to be said for the theory that the first creatures were<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span> microscopic + globules of living matter, not unlike the simplest bacteria of to-day, but + able to live on air, water, and dissolved salts. From such a source may have + originated a race of one-celled marine organisms which were able to + manufacture chlorophyll, or something like chlorophyll, that is to say, the + green pigment which makes it possible for plants to utilise the energy of the + sunlight in breaking up carbon dioxide and in building up (photosynthesis) + carbon compounds like sugars and starch. These little units were probably + encased in a cell-wall of cellulose, but their boxed-in energy expressed + itself in the undulatory movement of a lash or flagellum, by means of which + they propelled themselves energetically through the water. There are many + similar organisms to-day, mostly in water, but some of them—simple + one-celled plants—paint the tree-stems and even the paving-stones green + in wet weather. According to Prof. A. H. Church there was a long chapter in + the history of the earth when the sea that covered everything teemed with + these green flagellates—the originators of the Vegetable Kingdom.</p> + + <p>On another tack, however, there probably evolved a series of simple + predatory creatures, not able to build up organic matter from air, water, and + salts, but devouring their neighbours. These units were not closed in with + cellulose, but remained naked, with their living matter or protoplasm flowing + out in changeful processes, such as we see in the Amœbæ in the ditch or + in our own white blood corpuscles and other amœboid cells. These were + the originators of the animal kingdom. Thus from very simple Protists the + first animals and the first plants may have arisen. All were still very + minute, and it is worth remembering that had there been any scientific + spectator after our kind upon the earth during these long ages, he would have + lamented the entire absence of life, although the seas were teeming. The + simplest forms of life and the protoplasm which Huxley called the physical + basis of life will be dealt with in the chapter on Biology in a later section + of this work.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg + 64]</a></span></p> + + <h3>FIRST GREAT STEPS IN EVOLUTION</h3> + + <h4>THE FIRST PLANTS—THE FIRST ANIMALS—BEGINNINGS OF + BODIES—EVOLUTION OF SEX—BEGINNING OF NATURAL DEATH</h4> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Contrast between Plants and Animals</h4> + + <p>However it may have come about, there is no doubt at all that one of the + first great steps in Organic Evolution was the forking of the genealogical + tree into Plants and Animals—the most important parting of the ways in + the whole history of Nature.</p> + + <p>Typical plants have chlorophyll; they are able to feed at a low chemical + level on air, water, and salts, using the energy of the sunlight in their + photosynthesis. They have their cells boxed in by cellulose walls, so that + their opportunities for motility are greatly restricted. They manufacture + much more nutritive material than they need, and live far below their income. + They have no ready way of getting rid of any nitrogenous waste matter that + they may form, and this probably helps to keep them sluggish.</p> + + <p>Animals, on the other hand, feed at a high chemical level, on the + carbohydrates (e.g. starch and sugar), fats, and proteins (e.g. gluten, + albumin, casein) which are manufactured by other animals, or to begin with, + by plants. Their cells have not cellulose walls, nor in most cases much wall + of any kind, and motility in the majority is unrestricted. Animals live much + more nearly up to their income. If we could make for an animal and a plant of + equal weight two fractions showing the ratio of the upbuilding, constructive, + chemical processes to the down-breaking, disruptive, chemical processes that + go on in their respective bodies, the ratio for the plant would be much + greater than the corresponding ratio for the animal. In other words, animals + take the munitions which plants laboriously manufacture and explode them in + locomotion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg + 65]</a></span> and work; and the entire system of animate nature depends upon + the photosynthesis that goes on in green plants.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image114" id="image114"></a> <a href= + "images/image114.jpg"><img src="images/image114_sm.jpg" alt= + "A PIECE OF A REEF-BUILDING CORAL, BUILT UP BY A LARGE COLONY OF SMALL SEA-ANEMONE-LIKE POLYPS, EACH OF WHICH FORMS FROM THE SALTS OF THE SEA A SKELETON OR SHELL OF LIME" + title= + "A PIECE OF A REEF-BUILDING CORAL, BUILT UP BY A LARGE COLONY OF SMALL SEA-ANEMONE-LIKE POLYPS, EACH OF WHICH FORMS FROM THE SALTS OF THE SEA A SKELETON OR SHELL OF LIME" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>From the Smithsonian Report, 1917</i></p> + + <p>A PIECE OF A REEF-BUILDING CORAL, BUILT UP BY A LARGE COLONY OF SMALL + SEA-ANEMONE-LIKE POLYPS, EACH OF WHICH FORMS FROM THE SALTS OF THE SEA A + SKELETON OR SHELL OF LIME</p> + + <p class="wide">The wonderful mass of corals, which are very beautiful, are + the skeleton remains of hundreds of these little creatures.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image115" id="image115"></a> <a href= + "images/image115.jpg"><img src="images/image115_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE INSET CIRCLE SHOWS A GROUP OF CHALK-FORMING ANIMALS, OR FORAMINIFERA, EACH ABOUT THE SIZE OF A VERY SMALL PIN'S HEAD" + title= + "THE INSET CIRCLE SHOWS A GROUP OF CHALK-FORMING ANIMALS, OR FORAMINIFERA, EACH ABOUT THE SIZE OF A VERY SMALL PIN'S HEAD" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</i></p> + + <p>THE INSET CIRCLE SHOWS A GROUP OF CHALK-FORMING ANIMALS, OR + FORAMINIFERA, EACH ABOUT THE SIZE OF A VERY SMALL PIN'S HEAD</p> + + <p class="wide">They form a great part of the chalk cliffs of Dover and + similar deposits which have been raised from the floor of an ancient + sea.</p> + + <p>THE ENORMOUSLY ENLARGED ILLUSTRATION IS THAT OF A COMMON FORAMINIFER + (POLYSTOMELLA) SHOWING THE SHELL IN THE CENTRE AND THE OUTFLOWING NETWORK + OF LIVING MATTER, ALONG WHICH GRANULES ARE CONTINUALLY TRAVELLING, AND BY + WHICH FOOD PARTICLES ARE ENTANGLED AND DRAWN IN</p> + + <p><i>Reproduced by permission of the Natural History Museum</i> (<i>after + Max Schultze</i>).</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>As the result of much more explosive life, animals have to deal with much + in the way of nitrogenous waste products, the ashes of the living fire, but + these are usually got rid of very effectively, e.g. in the kidney filters, + and do not clog the system by being deposited as crystals and the like, as + happens in plants. Sluggish animals like sea-squirts which have no kidneys + are exceptions that prove the rule, and it need hardly be said that the + statements that have been made in regard to the contrasts between plants and + animals are general statements. There is often a good deal of the plant about + the animal, as in sedentary sponges, zoophytes, corals, and sea-squirts, and + there is often a little of the animal about the plant, as we see in the + movements of all shoots and roots and leaves, and occasionally in the parts + of the flower. But the important fact is that on the early forking of the + genealogical tree, i.e. the divergence of plants and animals, there depended + and depends all the higher life of the animal kingdom, not to speak of + mankind. The continuance of civilisation, the upkeep of the human and animal + population of the globe, and even the supply of oxygen to the air we breathe, + depend on the silent laboratories of the green leaves, which are able with + the help of the sunlight to use carbonic acid, water, and salts to build up + the bread of life.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Beginnings of Land Plants</h4> + + <p>It is highly probable that for long ages the waters covered the earth, and + that all the primeval vegetation consisted of simple Flagellates in the + universal Open Sea. But contraction of the earth's crust brought about + elevations and depressions of the sea-floor, and in places the solid + substratum was brought near enough the surface to allow the floating plants + to begin to settle down without getting out of the light. This is how + Professor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg + 66]</a></span> Church pictures the beginning of a fixed vegetation—a + very momentous step in evolution. It was perhaps among this early vegetation + that animals had their first successes. As the floor of the sea in these + shallow areas was raised higher and higher there was a beginning of dry land. + The sedentary plants already spoken of were the ancestors of the shore + seaweeds, and there is no doubt that when we go down at the lowest tide and + wade cautiously out among the jungle of vegetation only exposed on such + occasions we are getting a glimpse of very ancient days. <i>This</i> is the + forest primeval.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Protozoa</h4> + + <p>Animals below the level of zoophytes and sponges are called Protozoa. The + word obviously means "First Animals," but all that we can say is + that the very simplest of them may give us some hint of the simplicity of the + original first animals. For it is quite certain that the vast majority of the + Protozoa to-day are far too complicated to be thought of as primitive. Though + most of them are microscopic, each is an animal complete in itself, with the + same fundamental bodily attributes as are manifested in ourselves. They + differ from animals of higher degree in not being built up of the unit areas + or corpuscles called cells. They have no cells, no tissues, no organs, in the + ordinary acceptation of these words, but many of them show a great complexity + of internal structure, far exceeding that of the ordinary cells that build up + the tissues of higher animals. They are complete living creatures which have + not gone in for body-making.</p> + + <p>In the dim and distant past there was a time when the only animals were of + the nature of Protozoa, and it is safe to say that one of the great steps in + evolution was the establishment of three great types of Protozoa: (<i>a</i>) + Some were very active, the Infusorians, like the slipper animalcule, the + night-light (Noctiluca), which makes the seas phosphorescent at night, and + the deadly Trypanosome, which causes Sleeping Sickness.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span> (<i>b</i>) Others + were very sluggish, the parasitic Sporozoa, like the malaria organism which + the mosquito introduces into man's body. (<i>c</i>) Others were neither + very active nor very passive, the Rhizopods, with out-flowing processes of + living matter. This amœboid line of evolution has been very successful; + it is represented by the Rhizopods, such as Amœbæ and the chalk-forming + Foraminifera and the exquisitely beautiful flint-shelled Radiolarians of the + open sea. They have their counterparts in the amœboid cells of most + multicellular animals, such as the phagocytes which migrate about in the + body, engulfing and digesting intruding bacteria, serving as sappers and + miners when something has to be broken down and built up again, and + performing other useful offices.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 3</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Making of a Body</h4> + + <p>The great naturalist Louis Agassiz once said that the biggest gulf in + Organic Nature was that between the unicellular and the multicellular animals + (Protozoa and Metazoa). But the gulf was bridged very long ago when sponges, + stinging animals, and simple worms were evolved, and showed, for the first + time, a "body." What would one not give to be able to account for + the making of a body, one of the great steps in evolution! No one knows, but + the problem is not altogether obscure.</p> + + <p>When an ordinary Protozoon or one-celled animal divides into two or more, + which is its way of multiplying, the daughter-units thus formed float apart + and live independent lives. But there are a few Protozoa in which the + daughter-units are not quite separated off from one another, but remain + coherent. Thus Volvox, a beautiful green ball, found in some canals and the + like, is a colony of a thousand or even ten thousand cells. It has almost + formed a body! But in this "colony-making" Protozoon, and in others + like it, the component cells are all of one kind, whereas in true + multicellular animals there are different kinds of<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span> cells, showing + division of labour. There are some other Protozoa in which the nucleus or + kernel divides into many nuclei within the cell. This is seen in the Giant + Amœba (Pelomyxa), sometimes found in duck-ponds, or the beautiful + Opalina, which always lives in the hind part of the frog's food-canal. If + a portion of the living matter of these Protozoa should gather round each of + the nuclei, then <i>that would be the beginning of a body</i>. It would be + still nearer the beginning of a body if division of labour set in, and if + there was a setting apart of egg-cells and sperm-cells distinct from + body-cells.</p> + + <p>It was possibly in some such way that animals and plants with a body were + first evolved. Two points should be noticed, that body-making is not + essentially a matter of size, though it made large size possible. For the + body of a many-celled Wheel Animalcule or Rotifer is no bigger than many a + Protozoon. Yet the Rotifer—we are thinking of Hydatina—has nine + hundred odd cells, whereas the Protozoon has only one, except in forms like + Volvox. Secondly, it is a luminous fact that <i>every many-celled animal from + sponge to man that multiplies in the ordinary way begins at the beginning + again as a "single cell,"</i> the fertilised egg-cell. It is, of + course, not an ordinary single cell that develops into an earthworm or a + butterfly, an eagle, or a man; it is a cell in which a rich inheritance, the + fruition of ages, is somehow condensed; but it is interesting to bear in mind + the elementary fact that every many-celled creature, reproduced in the + ordinary way and not by budding or the like, starts as a fertilised egg-cell. + The coherence of the daughter-cells into which the fertilised egg-cell + divides is a reminiscence, as it were, of the primeval coherence of + daughter-units that made the first body possible.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Beginning of Sexual Reproduction</h4> + + <p>A freshwater Hydra, growing on the duckweed usually multiplies by budding. + It forms daughter-buds, living images of itself; a check comes to nutrition + and these daughter-buds go<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id= + "Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span> free. A big sea-anemone may divide in two or + more parts, which become separate animals. This is asexual reproduction, + which means that the multiplication takes place by dividing into two or many + portions, and not by liberating egg-cells and sperm-cells. Among animals as + among plants, asexual reproduction is very common. But it has great + disadvantages, for it is apt to be physiologically expensive, and it is beset + with difficulties when the body shows great division of labour, and is very + intimately bound into unity. Thus, no one can think of a bee or a bird + multiplying by division or by budding. Moreover, if the body of the parent + has suffered from injury or deterioration, the result of this is bound to be + handed on to the next generation if asexual reproduction is the only + method.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image120" id="image120"></a> <a href= + "images/image120.jpg"><img src="images/image120_sm.jpg" alt= + "A PLANT-LIKE ANIMAL, OR ZOOPHYTE, CALLED OBELIA" title= + "A PLANT-LIKE ANIMAL, OR ZOOPHYTE, CALLED OBELIA" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photos: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</i></p> + + <p>A PLANT-LIKE ANIMAL, OR ZOOPHYTE, CALLED OBELIA</p> + + <p class="wide">Consisting of a colony of small polyps, whose stinging + tentacles are well shown greatly enlarged in the lower photograph.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image121a" id="image121a"></a> <a href= + "images/image121a.jpg"><img src="images/image121a_sm.jpg" alt= + "TRYPANOSOMA GAMBIENSE" title="TRYPANOSOMA GAMBIENSE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Reproduced by permission of "The Quart. Journ. Mic. + Sci."</i></p> + + <p>TRYPANOSOMA GAMBIENSE</p> + + <p>(Very highly magnified.)</p> + + <p class="wide">The microscopic animal Trypanosome, which causes Sleeping + Sickness. The study of these organisms has of late years acquired an + immense importance on account of the widespread and dangerous maladies to + which some of them give rise. It lives in the blood of man, who is infected + by the bite of a Tse-tse fly which carries the parasite from some other + host.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image121b" id="image121b"></a> <a href= + "images/image121b.jpg"><img src="images/image121b_sm.jpg" alt="VOLVOX" + title="VOLVOX" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>VOLVOX</p> + + <p class="wide">The Volvox is found in some canals and the like. It is one + of the first animals to suggest the beginning of a body. It is a colony of + a thousand or even ten thousand cells, but they are all cells of one kind. + In <i>multicellular</i> animals the cells are of <i>different</i> kinds + with different functions. Each of the ordinary cells (marked 5) has two + lashes or flagella. Daughter colonies inside the Parent colony are being + formed at 3, 4, and 2. The development of germ-cells is shown at 1.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image121c" id="image121c"></a> <a href= + "images/image121c.jpg"><img src="images/image121c_sm.jpg" alt= + "PROTEROSPONGIA" title="PROTEROSPONGIA" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>PROTEROSPONGIA</p> + + <p class="wide">One of the simplest multicellular animals, illustrating the + beginning of a body. There is a setting apart of egg-cells and sperm-cells, + distinct from body-cells; the collared lashed cells on the margin are + different in kind from those farther in. Thus, as in indubitable + multicellular animals, division of labour has begun.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Splitting into two or many parts was the old-fashioned way of multiplying, + but one of the great steps in evolution was the discovery of a better method, + namely, sexual reproduction. The gist of this is simply that during the + process of body-building (by the development of the fertilised egg-cell) + certain units, <i>the germ-cells</i>, do not share in forming ordinary + tissues or organs, but remain apart, continuing the full inheritance which + was condensed in the fertilised egg-cell. <i>These cells kept by themselves + are the originators of the future reproductive cells of the mature + animal</i>; they give rise to the egg-cells and the sperm-cells.</p> + + <p>The advantages of this method are great. (1) The new generation is started + less expensively, for it is easier to shed germ-cells into the cradle of the + water than to separate off half of the body. (2) It is possible to start a + great many new lives at once, and this may be of vital importance when the + struggle for existence is very keen, and when parental care is impossible. + (3) The germ-cells are little likely to be prejudicially affected by + disadvantageous dints impressed on the body of the parent—little likely + unless the dints have peculiarly penetrating consequences, as in the case of + poisons. (4) A further advantage is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" + id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span> implied in the formation of two kinds of + germ-cells—the ovum or egg-cell, with a considerable amount of building + material and often with a legacy of nutritive yolk; the spermatozoon or + sperm-cell, adapted to move in fluids and to find the ovum from a distance, + thus securing change-provoking cross-fertilisation.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 4</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Evolution of Sex</h4> + + <p>Another of the great steps in organic evolution was the differentiation of + two different physiological types, the male or sperm-producer and the female + or egg-producer. It seems to be a deep-seated difference in constitution, + which leads one egg to develop into a male, and another, lying beside it in + the nest, into a female. In the case of pigeons it seems almost certain, from + the work of Professor Oscar Riddle, that there are two kinds of egg, a + male-producing egg and a female-producing egg, which differ in their + yolk-forming and other physiological characters.</p> + + <p>In sea-urchins we often find two creatures superficially + indistinguishable, but the one is a female with large ovaries and the other + is a male with equally large testes. Here the physiological difference does + not affect the body as a whole, but the reproductive organs or gonads only, + though more intimate physiology would doubtless discover differences in the + blood or in the chemical routine (metabolism). In a large number of cases, + however, there are marked superficial differences between the sexes, and + everyone is familiar with such contrasts as peacock and peahen, stag and + hind. In such cases the physiological difference between the sperm-producer + and the ovum-producer, for this is the essential difference, saturates + through the body and expresses itself in masculine and feminine structures + and modes of behaviour. The expression of the masculine and feminine + characters is in some cases under the control of hormones or chemical + messengers which are carried by the blood from the reproductive organs + throughout the body, and pull the trigger which brings<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span> about the + development of an antler or a wattle or a decorative plume or a capacity for + vocal and saltatory display. In some cases it is certain that the female + carries in a latent state the masculine features, but these are kept from + expressing themselves by other chemical messengers from the ovary. Of these + chemical messengers more must be said later on.</p> + + <p>Recent research has shown that while the difference between male and + female is very deep-rooted, corresponding to a difference in gearing, it is + not always clear-cut. Thus a hen-pigeon may be very masculine, and a + cock-pigeon very feminine. The difference is in degree, not in kind.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 5</h3> + + <p>What is the meaning of the universal or almost universal inevitableness of + death? A Sequoia or "Big Tree" of California has been known to live + for over two thousand years, but eventually it died. A centenarian tortoise + has been known, and a sea-anemone sixty years of age; but eventually they + die. What is the meaning of this apparently inevitable stoppage of bodily + life?</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Beginning of Natural Death</h4> + + <p>There are three chief kinds of death, (<i>a</i>) The great majority of + animals come to a violent end, being devoured by others or killed by sudden + and extreme changes in their surroundings. (<i>b</i>) When an animal enters a + new habitat, or comes into new associations with other organisms, it may be + invaded by a microbe or by some larger parasite to which it is unaccustomed + and to which it can offer no resistance. With many parasites a + "live-and-let-live" compromise is arrived at, but new parasites are + apt to be fatal, as man knows to his cost when he is bitten by a tse-tse fly + which infects him with the microscopic animal (a Trypanosome) that causes + Sleeping Sickness. In many animals the parasites are not troublesome as long + as the host is vigorous,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id= + "Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span> but if the host is out of condition the + parasites may get the upper hand, as in the so-called "grouse + disease," and become fatal. (<i>c</i>) But besides violent death and + microbic (or parasitic) death, there is natural death. This is in great part + to be regarded as the price paid for a body. A body worth having implies + complexity or division of labour, and this implies certain internal + furnishings of a more or less stable kind in which the effects of wear and + tear are apt to accumulate. It is not the living matter itself that grows old + so much as the framework in which it works—the furnishings of the vital + laboratory. There are various processes of rejuvenescence, e.g. rest, repair, + change, reorganisation, which work against the inevitable processes of + senescence, but sooner or later the victory is with ageing. Another deep + reason for natural death is to be found in the physiological expensiveness of + reproduction, for many animals, from worms to eels, illustrate natural death + as the nemesis of starting new lives. Now it is a very striking fact that to + a large degree the simplest animals or Protozoa are exempt from natural + death. They are so relatively simple that they can continually recuperate by + rest and repair; they do not accumulate any bad debts. Moreover, their modes + of multiplying, by dividing into two or many units, are very inexpensive + physiologically. It seems that in some measure this bodily immortality of the + Protozoa is shared by some simple many-celled animals like the freshwater + Hydra and Planarian worms. Here is an interesting chapter in evolution, the + evolution of means of evading or staving off natural death. Thus there is the + well-known case of the Paloloworm of the coral-reefs where the body breaks up + in liberating the germ-cells, but the head-end remains fixed in a crevice of + the coral, and buds out a new body at leisure.</p> + + <p>Along with the evolution of the ways of avoiding death should be + considered also the gradual establishment of the length of life best suited + to the welfare of the species, and the punctuation of the life-history to + suit various conditions.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image126a" id="image126a"></a> <a href= + "images/image126a.jpg"><img src="images/image126a_sm.jpg" alt="GREEN HYDRA" + title="GREEN HYDRA" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</i></p> + + <p>GREEN HYDRA</p> + + <p class="wide">A little freshwater polyp, about half an inch long, with a + crown of tentacles round the mouth. It is seen giving off a bud, a clear + illustration of asexual reproduction. When a tentacle touches some small + organism the latter is paralysed and drawn into the mouth.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image126b" id="image126b"></a> <a href= + "images/image126b.jpg"><img src="images/image126b_sm.jpg" alt="EARTHWORM" + title="EARTHWORM" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</i></p> + + <p>EARTHWORM</p> + + <p class="wide">Earthworms began the profitable habit of moving with one + end of the body always in front, and from worms to man the great majority + of animals have bilateral symmetry.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image126c" id="image126c"></a> <a href= + "images/image126c.jpg"><img src="images/image126c_sm.jpg" alt= + "DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE BEGINNING OF INDIVIDUAL LIFE" title= + "DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE BEGINNING OF INDIVIDUAL LIFE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE BEGINNING OF INDIVIDUAL LIFE</p> + + <p class="wide">1. An immature <i>sperm</i>-cell, with 4 chromosomes + (nuclear bodies) represented as rods. + <br /> + 2. A mature sperm-cell, with 2 chromosomes. + <br /> + 3. An immature <i>egg</i>-cell, with 4 chromosomes represented as curved + bodies. + <br /> + 4. A mature egg-cell, with 2 chromosomes. + <br /> + 5. The spermatozoon fertilises the ovum, introducing 2 chromosomes. + <br /> + 6. The fertilised ovum, with 4 chromosomes, 2 of paternal origin and 2 of + maternal origin. + <br /> + 7. The chromosomes lie at the equator, and each is split longitudinally. + The centrosome introduced by the spermatozoon has divided into two + centrosomes, one at each pole of the nucleus. These play an important part + in the division or segmentation of the egg. + <br /> + 8. The fertilised egg has divided into two cells. Each cell has 2 paternal + and 2 maternal chromosomes.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image126d" id="image126d"></a> <a href= + "images/image126d.jpg"><img src="images/image126d_sm.jpg" alt= + "GLASS MODEL OF A SEA-ANEMONE" title="GLASS MODEL OF A SEA-ANEMONE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Reproduced from the Smithsonian Report, 1917.</i></p> + + <p>GLASS MODEL OF A SEA-ANEMONE</p> + + <p class="wide">A long tubular sea-anemone, with a fine crown of tentacles + around the mouth. The suggestion of a flower is very obvious. By means of + stinging lassoes on the tentacles minute animals on which it feeds are + paralysed and captured for food.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg + 73]</a></span></p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image127" id="image127"></a> <a href= + "images/image127.jpg"><img src="images/image127_sm.jpg" alt= + "THIS DRAWING SHOWS THE EVOLUTION OF THE BRAIN FROM FISH TO MAN" title= + "THIS DRAWING SHOWS THE EVOLUTION OF THE BRAIN FROM FISH TO MAN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THIS DRAWING SHOWS THE EVOLUTION OF THE BRAIN FROM FISH TO MAN</p> + + <p class="wide">The Cerebrum, the seat of intelligence, increases in + proportion to the other parts. In mammals it becomes more and more + convoluted. The brain, which lies in one plane in fishes, becomes gradually + curved on itself. In birds it is more curved than the drawing shows.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 6</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Great Acquisitions</h4> + + <p>In animals like sea-anemones and jellyfishes the general symmetry of the + body is radial; that is to say, there is no right or left, and the body might + be halved along many planes. It is a kind of symmetry well suited for + sedentary or for drifting life. But worms began the profitable habit of + moving with one end of the body always in front, and from worms to man the + great majority of animals have bilateral symmetry. They have a right and a + left side, and there is only one cut that halves the body. This kind of + symmetry is suited for a more strenuous life than radial animals show; it is + suited for pursuing food, for avoiding enemies, for chasing mates. And + <i>with the establishment of bilateral symmetry must be associated the + establishment of head-brains</i>, the beginning of which is to be found in + some simple worm-types.</p> + + <p>Among the other great acquisitions gradually evolved we may notice: a + well-developed head with sense-organs, the establishment of large internal + surfaces such as the digestive and absorptive wall of the food-canal, the + origin of quickly contracting striped muscle and of muscular appendages, the + formation of blood as a distributing medium throughout the body, from which + all the parts take what they need and to which they also contribute.</p> + + <p>Another very important acquisition, almost confined (so far as is known) + to backboned animals, was the evolution of what are called glands of internal + secretion, such as the thyroid and the supra-renal. These manufacture subtle + chemical substances which are distributed by the blood throughout the body, + and have a manifold influence in regulating and harmonising the vital + processes. Some of these chemical messengers are called hormones, which + stimulate organs and tissues to greater activity; others are called chalones, + which put on a brake. Some regulate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" + id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span> growth and others rapidly alter the pressure + and composition of the blood. Some of them call into active development + certain parts of the body which have been, as it were, waiting for an + appropriate trigger-pulling. Thus, at the proper time, the milk-glands of a + mammalian mother are awakened from their dormancy. This very interesting + outcome of evolution will be dealt with in another portion of this work.</p> + + <h3>THE INCLINED PLANE OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <p>Before passing to a connected story of the gradual emergence of higher and + higher forms of life in the course of the successive ages—the + procession of life, as it may be called—it will be useful to consider + the evolution of animal behaviour.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Evolution of Mind</h4> + + <p>A human being begins as a microscopic fertilised egg-cell, within which + there is condensed the long result of time—Man's inheritance. The + long period of nine months before birth, with its intimate partnership + between mother and offspring, is passed as it were in sleep, and no one can + make any statement in regard to the mind of the unborn child. Even after + birth the dawn of mind is as slow as it is wonderful. To begin with, there is + in the ovum and early embryo no nervous system at all, and it develops very + gradually from simple beginnings. Yet as mentality cannot come in from + outside, we seem bound to conclude that the potentiality of it—whatever + that means—resides in the individual from the very first. The + particular kind of activity known to us as thinking, feeling, and willing is + the most intimate part of our experience, known to us directly apart from our + senses, and the possibility of that must be implicit in the germ-cell just as + the genius of Newton was implicit in a very miserable specimen of an infant. + Now what is true of the individual is true also of the race—there is a + gradual evolution of that aspect of the living<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span> creature's activity which we + call mind. We cannot put our finger on any point and say: Before this stage + there was no mind. Indeed, many facts suggest the conclusion that wherever + there is life there is some degree of mind—even in the plants. Or it + might be more accurate to put the conclusion in another way, that the + activity we call life has always in some degree an inner or mental + aspect.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image130" id="image130"></a> <a href= + "images/image130.jpg"><img src="images/image130_sm.jpg" alt= + "OKAPI AND GIRAFFE" title="OKAPI AND GIRAFFE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>OKAPI AND GIRAFFE</p> + + <p class="wide">The Okapi is one of the great zoölogical discoveries. It + gives a good idea of what the Giraffe's ancestors were like. The Okapi + was unknown until discovered in 1900 by Sir Harry Johnston in Central + Africa, where these strange animals have probably lived in dense forests + from time immemorial.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>In another part of this book there is an account of the dawn of mind in + backboned animals; what we aim at here is an outline of what may be called + the inclined plane of animal behaviour.</p> + + <p>A very simple animal accumulates a little store of potential energy, and + it proceeds to expend this, like an explosive, by acting on its environment. + It does so in a very characteristic self-preservative fashion, so that it + burns without being consumed and explodes without being blown to bits. It is + characteristic of the organism that it remains a going concern for a longer + or shorter period—its length of life. Living creatures that expended + their energy ineffectively or self-destructively would be eliminated in the + struggle for existence. When a simple one-celled organism explores a corner + of the field seen under a microscope, behaving to all appearance very like a + dog scouring a field seen through a telescope, it seems permissible to think + of something corresponding to mental endeavour associated with its activity. + This impression is strengthened when an amœba pursues another + amœba, overtakes it, engulfs it, loses it, pursues it again, recaptures + it, and so on. What is quite certain is that the behaviour of the animalcule + is not like that of a potassium pill fizzing about in a basin of water, nor + like the lurching movements of a gun that has got loose and "taken + charge" on board ship. Another feature is that the locomotor activity of + an animalcule often shows a distinct individuality: it may swim, for + instance, in a loose spiral.</p> + + <p>But there is another side to vital activity besides acting + upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span> + the surrounding world; the living creature is acted on by influences from + without. The organism acts on its environment; that is the one side of the + shield: the environment acts upon the organism; that is the other side. If we + are to see life whole we must recognise these two sides of what we call + living, and it is missing an important part of the history of animal life if + we fail to see that evolution implies becoming more advantageously sensitive + to the environment, making more of its influences, shutting out profitless + stimuli, and opening more gateways to knowledge. The bird's world is a + larger and finer world than an earthworm's; the world means more to the + bird than to the worm.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Trial and Error Method</h4> + + <p>Simple creatures act with a certain degree of spontaneity on their + environment, and they likewise react effectively to surrounding stimuli. + Animals come to have definite "answers back," sometimes several, + sometimes only one, as in the case of the Slipper Animalcule, which reverses + its cilia when it comes within the sphere of some disturbing influence, + retreats, and, turning upon itself tentatively, sets off again in the same + general direction as before, but at an angle to the previous line. If it + misses the disturbing influence, well and good; if it strikes it again, the + tactics are repeated until a satisfactory way out is discovered or the + stimulation proves fatal.</p> + + <p>It may be said that the Slipper Animalcule has but one answer to every + question, but there are many Protozoa which have several enregistered + reactions. When there are alternative reactions which are tried one after + another, the animal is pursuing what is called the trial-and-error method, + and a higher note is struck.</p> + + <p>There is an endeavour after satisfaction, and a trial of answers. When the + creature profits by experience to the extent of giving the right answer + first, there is the beginning of learning.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image134a" id="image134a"></a> <a href= + "images/image134a.jpg"><img src="images/image134a_sm.jpg" alt= + "DIAGRAM OF A SIMPLE REFLEX ARC IN A BACKBONELESS ANIMAL LIKE AN EARTHWORM" + title= + "DIAGRAM OF A SIMPLE REFLEX ARC IN A BACKBONELESS ANIMAL LIKE AN EARTHWORM" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>DIAGRAM OF A SIMPLE REFLEX ARC IN A BACKBONELESS ANIMAL LIKE AN + EARTHWORM</p> + + <p class="wide">1. A sensory nerve-cell (S.C.) on the surface receives a + stimulus. + <br /> + 2. The stimulus travels along the sensatory nerve-fibre (S.F.) + <br /> + 3. The sensory nerve-fibre branches in the nerve-cord. + <br /> + 4. Its branches come into close contact (SY<sup>1</sup>) with those of an + associative or communicating nerve-cell (A.C.). + <br /> + 5. Other branches of the associative cell come into close contact + (SY<sup>2</sup>) with the branches or dendrites of a motor nerve-cell + (M.C.). + <br /> + 6. An impulse or command travels along the motor nerve-fibre or axis + cylinder of the motor nerve-cell. + <br /> + 7. The motor nerve-fibre ends on a muscle-fibre (M.F.) near the surface. + This moves and the reflex action is complete.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image134b" id="image134b"></a> <a href= + "images/image134b.jpg"><img src="images/image134b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE YUCCA MOTH" title="THE YUCCA MOTH" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: British Museum</i> (<i>Natural History</i>).</p> + + <p>THE YUCCA MOTH</p> + + <p class="wide">The Yucca Moth, emerging from her cocoon, flies at night to + a Yucca flower and collects pollen from the stamens, holding a little ball + of it in her mouth-parts. She then visits another flower and lays an egg in + the seed-box. After this she applies the pollen to the tip of the pistil, + thus securing the fertilisation of the flower and the growth of the ovules + in the pod. Yucca flowers in Britain do not produce seeds because there are + no Yucca Moths.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image134c" id="image134c"></a> <a href= + "images/image134c.jpg"><img src="images/image134c_sm.jpg" alt= + "INCLINED PLANE OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR" title= + "INCLINED PLANE OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>INCLINED PLANE OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR</p> + + <p class="wide">Diagram illustrating animal behaviour. The main line + represents the general life of the creature. On the upper side are + activities implying initiative; on the lower side actions which are almost + automatic.</p> + + <p class="wide"><i>Upper Side.</i>—I. Energetic actions. II. Simple + tentatives. III. Trial-and-error methods. IV. Non-intelligent experiments. + V. Experiential "learning." VI. Associative "learning." + VII. Intelligent behaviour. VIII. Rational conduct (man).</p> + + <p class="wide"><i>Lower Side.</i>—1. Reactions to environment. 2. + Enregistered reactions. 3. Simple reflex actions. 4. Compound reflex + actions. 5. Tropisms. 6. Enregistered rhythms. 7. Simple instincts. 8. + Chain instincts. 9. Instinctive activities influenced by intelligence. 10. + Subconscious cerebration at a high level (man).</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image135a" id="image135a"></a> <a href= + "images/image135a.jpg"><img src="images/image135a_sm.jpg" alt= + "VENUS' FLY-TRAP" title="VENUS' FLY-TRAP" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</i></p> + + <p>VENUS' FLY-TRAP</p> + + <p class="wide">One of the most remarkable plants in the world, which + captures its prey by means of a trap formed from part of its leaf. It has + been induced to snap at and hold a bristle. If an insect lighting on the + leaf touches one of six very sensitive hairs, which pull the trigger of the + movement, the two halves of the leaf close rapidly and the fringing teeth + on the margin interlock, preventing the insect's escape. Then follows + an exudation of digestive juice.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg + 77]</a></span></p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image135b" id="image135b"></a> <a href= + "images/image135b.jpg"><img src="images/image135b_sm.jpg" alt= + "A SPIDER SUNNING HER EGGS" title="A SPIDER SUNNING HER EGGS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Reproduced by permission from "The Wonders of Instinct" by + J. H. Fabre.</i></p> + + <p>A SPIDER SUNNING HER EGGS</p> + + <p class="wide">A kind of spider, called Lycosa, lying head downwards at + the edge of her nest, and holding her silken cocoon—the bag + containing the eggs—up towards the sun in her hindmost pair of legs. + This extraordinary proceeding is believed to assist in the hatching.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h4 class="sect">Reflex Actions</h4> + + <p>Among simple multicellular animals, such as sea-anemones, we find the + beginnings of reflex actions, and a considerable part of the behaviour of the + lower animals is reflex. That is to say, there are laid down in the animal in + the course of its development certain pre-arrangements of nerve-cells and + muscle-cells which secure that a fit and proper answer is given to a + frequently recurrent stimulus. An earthworm half out of its burrow becomes + aware of the light tread of a thrush's foot, and jerks itself back into + its hole before anyone can say "reflex action." What is it that + happens?</p> + + <p>Certain sensory nerve-cells in the earthworm's skin are stimulated by + vibrations in the earth; the message travels down a sensory nerve-fibre from + each of the stimulated cells and enters the nerve-cord. The sensory fibres + come into vital connection with branches of intermediary, associative, or + communicating cells, which are likewise connected with motor nerve-cells. To + these the message is thus shunted. From the motor nerve-cells an impulse or + command travels by motor nerve-fibres, one from each cell, to the muscles, + which contract. If this took as long to happen as it takes to describe, even + in outline, it would not be of much use to the earthworm. But the motor + answer follows the sensory stimulus almost instantaneously. The great + advantage of establishing or enregistering these reflex chains is that the + answers are practically ready-made or inborn, not requiring to be learned. It + is not necessary that the brain should be stimulated if there is a brain; nor + does the animal will to act, though in certain cases it may by means of + higher controlling nerve-centres keep the natural reflex response from being + given, as happens, for instance, when we control a cough or a sneeze on some + solemn occasion. The evolutionary method, if we may use the expression, has + been to enregister ready-made responses; and as we ascend the animal kingdom, + we find reflex actions becoming complicated and often linked together, so + that the occurrence of one pulls the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" + id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span> trigger of another, and so on in a chain. The + behaviour of the insectivorous plant called Venus's fly-trap when it + shuts on an insect is like a reflex action in an animal, but plants have no + definite nervous system.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">What are Called Tropisms</h4> + + <p>A somewhat higher level on the inclined plane is illustrated by what are + called "tropisms," obligatory movements which the animal makes, + adjusting its whole body so that physiological equilibrium results in + relation to gravity, pressure, currents, moisture, heat, light, electricity, + and surfaces of contact. A moth is flying past a candle; the eye next the + light is more illumined than the other; a physiological inequilibrium + results, affecting nerve-cells and muscle-cells; the outcome is that the moth + automatically adjusts its flight so that both eyes become equally illumined; + in doing this it often flies into the candle.</p> + + <p>It may seem bad business that the moth should fly into the candle, but the + flame is an utterly artificial item in its environment to which no one can + expect it to be adapted. These tropisms play an important rôle in animal + behaviour.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Instinctive Behaviour</h4> + + <p>On a higher level is instinctive behaviour, which reaches such remarkable + perfection in ants, bees, and wasps. In its typical expression instinctive + behaviour depends on inborn capacities; it does not require to be learned; it + is independent of practice or experience, though it may be improved by both; + it is shared equally by all members of the species of the same sex (for the + female's instincts are often different from the male's); it refers to + particular conditions of life that are of vital importance, though they may + occur only once in a lifetime. The female Yucca Moth emerges from the cocoon + when the Yucca flower puts forth its bell-like blossoms. She flies to a + flower, collects<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg + 79]</a></span> some pollen from the stamens, kneads it into a pill-like ball, + and stows this away under her chin. She flies to an older Yucca flower and + lays her eggs in some of the ovules within the seed-box, but before she does + so she has to deposit on the stigma the ball of pollen. From this the + pollen-tubes grow down and the pollen-nucleus of a tube fertilises the + egg-cell in an ovule, so that the possible seeds become real seeds, for it is + only a fraction of them that the Yucca Moth has destroyed by using them as + cradles for her eggs. Now it is plain that the Yucca Moth has no individual + experience of Yucca flowers, yet she secures the continuance of her race by a + concatenation of actions which form part of her instinctive repertory.</p> + + <p>From a physiological point of view instinctive behaviour is like a chain + of compound reflex actions, but in some cases, at least, there is reason to + believe that the behaviour is suffused with awareness and backed by + endeavour. This is suggested in exceptional cases where the stereotyped + routine is departed from to meet exceptional conditions. It should also be + noted that just as ants, hive bees, and wasps exhibit in most cases purely + instinctive behaviour, but move on occasion on the main line of trial and + error or of experimental initiative, so among birds and mammals the + intelligent behaviour is sometimes replaced by instinctive routine. Perhaps + there is no instinctive behaviour without a spice of intelligence, and no + intelligent behaviour without an instinctive element. The old view that + instinctive behaviour was originally intelligent, and that instinct is + "lapsed intelligence," is a tempting one, and is suggested by the + way in which habitual intelligent actions cease in the individual to require + intelligent control, but it rests on the unproved hypothesis that the + acquisitions of the individual can be entailed on the race. It is almost + certain that instinct is on a line of evolution quite different from + intelligence, and that it is nearer to the inborn inspirations of the + calculating boy or the musical genius than to the plodding methods of + intelligent learning.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg + 80]</a></span></p> + + <h4 class="sect">Animal Intelligence</h4> + + <p>The higher reaches of the inclined plane of behaviour show intelligence in + the strict sense. They include those kinds of behaviour which cannot be + described without the suggestion that the animal makes some sort of + perceptual inference, not only profiting by experience but learning by ideas. + Such intelligent actions show great individual variability; they are plastic + and adjustable in a manner rarely hinted at in connection with instincts + where routine cannot be departed from without the creature being nonplussed; + they are not bound up with particular circumstances as instinctive actions + are, but imply an appreciative awareness of relations.</p> + + <p>When there is an experimenting with general ideas, when there is + <i>conceptual</i> as contrasted with <i>perceptual</i> inference, we speak of + Reason, but there is no evidence of this below the level of man. It is not, + indeed, always that we can credit man with rational conduct, but he has the + possibility of it ever within his reach.</p> + + <p>Animal instinct and intelligence will be illustrated in another part of + this work. We are here concerned simply with the general question of the + evolution of behaviour. There is a main line of tentative experimental + behaviour both below and above the level of intelligence, and it has been + part of the tactics of evolution to bring about the hereditary enregistration + of capacities of effective response, the advantages being that the answers + come more rapidly and that the creature is left free, if it chooses, for + higher adventures.</p> + + <p>There is no doubt as to the big fact that in the course of evolution + animals have shown an increasing complexity and masterfulness of behaviour, + that they have become at once more controlled and more definitely free + agents, and that the inner aspect of the behaviour—experimenting, + learning, thinking, feeling, and willing—has come to count for more and + more.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg + 81]</a></span></p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 3</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Evolution of Parental Care</h4> + + <p>Mammals furnish a crowning instance of a trend of evolution which + expresses itself at many levels—the tendency to bring forth the young + at a well-advanced stage and to an increase of parental care associated with + a decrease in the number of offspring. There is a British starfish called + <i>Luidia</i> which has two hundred millions of eggs in a year, and there are + said to be several millions of eggs in conger-eels and some other fishes. + These illustrate the spawning method of solving the problem of survival. Some + animals are naturally prolific, and the number of eggs which they sow + broadcast in the waters allows for enormous infantile mortality and obviates + any necessity for parental care.</p> + + <p>But some other creatures, by nature less prolific, have found an entirely + different solution of the problem. They practise parental care and they + secure survival with greatly economised reproduction. This is a trend of + evolution particularly characteristic of the higher animals. So much so that + Herbert Spencer formulated the generalisation that the size and frequency of + the animal family is inverse ratio to the degree of evolution to which the + animal has attained.</p> + + <p>Now there are many different methods of parental care which secure the + safety of the young, and one of these is called viviparity. The young ones + are not liberated from the parent until they are relatively well advanced and + more or less able to look after themselves. This gives the young a good + send-off in life, and their chances of death are greatly reduced. In other + words, the animals that have varied in the direction of economised + reproduction may keep their foothold in the struggle for existence if they + have varied at the same time in the direction of parental care. In other + cases it may have worked the other way round.</p> + + <p>In the interesting archaic animal called <i>Peripatus</i>, which + has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span> to + face a modern world too severe for it, one of the methods of meeting the + environing difficulties is the retention of the offspring for many months + within the mother, so that it is born a fully-formed creature. There are only + a few offspring at a time, and, although there are exceptional cases like the + summer green-flies, which are very prolific though viviparous, the general + rule is that viviparity is associated with a very small family. The case of + flowering plants stands by itself, for although they illustrate a kind of + viviparity, the seed being embryos, an individual plant may have a large + number of flowers and therefore a huge family.</p> + + <p>Viviparity naturally finds its best illustrations among terrestrial + animals, where the risks to the young life are many, and it finds its climax + among mammals.</p> + + <p>Now it is an interesting fact that the three lowest mammals, the Duckmole + and two Spiny Ant-eaters, lay eggs, i.e. are oviparous; that the Marsupials, + on the next grade, bring forth their young, as it were, prematurely, and in + most cases stow them away in an external pouch; while all the + others—the Placentals—show a more prolonged ante-natal life and + an intimate partnership between the mother and the unborn young.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 4</h3> + + <p>There is another way of looking at the sublime process of evolution. It + has implied a mastery of all the possible haunts of life; it has been a + progressive conquest of the environment.</p> + + <p>1. It is highly probable that living organisms found their foothold in the + stimulating conditions of the shore of the sea—the shallow water, + brightly illumined, seaweed-growing shelf fringing the Continents. This + littoral zone was a propitious environment where sea and fresh water, earth + and air all meet, where there is stimulating change, abundant oxygenation and + a copious supply of nutritive material in what the streams bring down and in + the rich seaweed vegetation.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image142" id="image142"></a> <a href= + "images/image142.jpg"><img src="images/image142_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE HOATZIN INHABITS BRITISH GUIANA" title= + "THE HOATZIN INHABITS BRITISH GUIANA" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE HOATZIN INHABITS BRITISH GUIANA</p> + + <p class="wide">The newly hatched bird has claws on its thumb and first + finger and so is enabled to climb on the branches of trees with great + dexterity until such time as the wings are strong enough to sustain it in + flight.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image143a" id="image143a"></a> <a href= + "images/image143a.jpg"><img src="images/image143a_sm.jpg" alt="PERIPATUS" + title="PERIPATUS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photograph, from the British Museum (Natural History), of a drawing + by Mr. E. Wilson.</i></p> + + <p>PERIPATUS</p> + + <p class="wide">A widely distributed old-fashioned type of animal, somewhat + like a permanent caterpillar. It has affinities both with worms and with + insects. It has a velvety skin, minute diamond-like eyes, and short + stump-like legs. A defenceless, weaponless animal, it comes out at night, + and is said to capture small insects by squirting jets of slime from its + mouth.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image143b" id="image143b"></a> <a href= + "images/image143b.jpg"><img src="images/image143b_sm.jpg" alt= + "ROCK KANGAROO CARRYING ITS YOUNG IN A POUCH" title= + "ROCK KANGAROO CARRYING ITS YOUNG IN A POUCH" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S.</i></p> + + <p>ROCK KANGAROO CARRYING ITS YOUNG IN A POUCH</p> + + <p class="wide">The young are born so helpless that they cannot even suck. + The mother places them in the external pouch, and fitting their mouths on + the teats injects the milk. After a time the young ones go out and in as + they please.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg + 83]</a></span></p> + + <p>It is not an easy haunt of life, but none the worse for that, and it is + tenanted to-day by representatives of practically every class of animals from + infusorians to seashore birds and mammals.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Cradle of the Open Sea</h4> + + <p>2. The open-sea or pelagic haunt includes all the brightly illumined + surface waters beyond the shallow water of the shore area.</p> + + <p>It is perhaps the easiest of all the haunts of life, for there is no + crowding, there is considerable uniformity, and an abundance of food for + animals is afforded by the inexhaustible floating "sea-meadows" of + microscopic Algæ. These are reincarnated in minute animals like the open-sea + crustaceans, which again are utilised by fishes, these in turn making life + possible for higher forms like carnivorous turtles and toothed whales. It is + quite possible that the open sea was the original cradle of life and perhaps + Professor Church is right in picturing a long period of pelagic life before + there was any sufficiently shallow water to allow the floating plants to + anchor. It is rather in favour of this view that many shore animals such as + crabs and starfishes, spend their youthful stages in the relatively safe + cradle of the open sea, and only return to the more strenuous conditions of + their birthplace after they have gained considerable strength of body. It is + probably safe to say that the honour of being the original cradle of life + lies between the shore of the sea and the open sea.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Great Deeps</h4> + + <p>3. A third haunt of life is the floor of the Deep Sea, the abyssal area, + which occupies more than a half of the surface of the globe. It is a region + of extreme cold—an eternal winter; of utter darkness—an eternal + night—relieved only by the fitful gleams of "phosphorescent" + animals; of enormous pressure—2½ tons on<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span> the square inch at a depth of 2,500 + fathoms; of profound calm, unbroken silence, immense monotony. And as there + are no plants in the great abysses, the animals must live on one another, + and, in the long run, on the rain of moribund animalcules which sink from the + surface through the miles of water. It seems a very unpromising haunt of + life, but it is abundantly tenanted, and it gives us a glimpse of the + insurgent nature of the living creature that the difficulties of the Deep Sea + should have been so effectively conquered. It is probable that the colonising + of the great abysses took place in relatively recent times, for the fauna + does not include many very antique types. It is practically certain that the + colonisation was due to littoral animals which followed the food-débris, + millennium after millennium, further and further down the long slope from the + shore.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Freshwaters</h4> + + <p>4. A fourth haunt of life is that of the freshwaters, including river and + lake, pond and pool, swamp and marsh. It may have been colonised by gradual + migration up estuaries and rivers, or by more direct passage from the + seashore into the brackish swamp. Or it may have been in some cases that + partially landlocked corners of ancient seas became gradually turned into + freshwater basins. The animal population of the freshwaters is very + representative, and is diversely adapted to meet the characteristic + contingencies—the risk of being dried up, the risk of being frozen hard + in winter, and the risk of being left high and dry after floods or of being + swept down to the sea.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Conquest of the Dry Land</h4> + + <p>5. The terrestrial haunt has been invaded age after age by contingents + from the sea or from the freshwaters. We must recognise the worm invasion, + which led eventually to the making of the fertile soil, the invasion due to + air-breathing Arthropods,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id= + "Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span> which led eventually to the important linkage + between flowers and their insect visitors, and the invasion due to + air-breathing Amphibians, which led eventually to the higher terrestrial + animals and to the development of intelligence and family affection. Besides + these three great invasions, there were minor ones such as that leading to + land-snails, for there has been a widespread and persistent tendency among + aquatic animals to try to possess the dry land.</p> + + <p>Getting on to dry land had a manifold significance.</p> + + <p>It implied getting into a medium with a much larger supply of oxygen than + there is dissolved in the water. But the oxygen of the air is more difficult + to capture, especially when the skin becomes hard or well protected, as it is + almost bound to become in animals living on dry ground. Thus this leads to + the development of <i>internal surfaces</i>, such as those of lungs, where + the oxygen taken into the body may be absorbed by the blood. In most animals + the blood goes to the surface of oxygen-capture; but in insects and their + relatives there is a different idea—of taking the air to the blood or + in greater part to the area of oxygen-combustion, the living tissues. A + system of branching air-tubes takes air into every hole and corner of the + insect's body, and this thorough aeration is doubtless in part the secret + of the insect's intense activity. The blood never becomes impure.</p> + + <p>The conquest of the dry land also implied a predominance of that kind of + locomotion which may be compared to punting, when the body is pushed along by + pressing a lever against a hard substratum. And it also followed that with + few exceptions the body of the terrestrial animal tended to be compact, + readily lifted off the ground by the limbs or adjusted in some other way so + that there may not be too large a surface trailing on the ground. An animal + like a jellyfish, easily supported in the water, would be impossible on land. + Such apparent exceptions as earthworms, centipedes, and snakes are not + difficult to explain, for the earthworm<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span> is a burrower which eats its way + through the soil, the centipede's long body is supported by numerous hard + legs, and the snake pushes itself along by means of the large ventral scales + to which the lower ends of very numerous ribs are attached.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Methods of Mastering the Difficulties of Terrestrial + Life</h4> + + <p>A great restriction attendant on the invasion of the dry land is that + locomotion becomes limited to one plane, namely, the surface of the earth. + This is in great contrast to what is true in the water, where the animal can + move up or down, to right or to left, at any angle and in three dimensions. + It surely follows from this that the movements of land animals must be rapid + and precise, unless, indeed, safety is secured in some other way. Hence it is + easy to understand why most land animals have very finely developed striped + muscles, and why a beetle running on the ground has far more numerous muscles + than a lobster swimming in the sea.</p> + + <p>Land animals were also handicapped by the risks of drought and of frost, + but these were met by defences of the most diverse description, from the + hairs of woolly caterpillars to the fur of mammals, from the carapace of + tortoises to the armour of armadillos. In other cases, it is hardly necessary + to say, the difficulties may be met in other ways, as frogs meet the winter + by falling into a lethargic state in some secluded retreat.</p> + + <p>Another consequence of getting on to dry land is that the eggs or young + can no longer be set free anyhow, as is possible when the animal is + surrounded by water, which is in itself more or less of a cradle. If the eggs + were laid or the young liberated on dry ground, the chances are many that + they would be dried up or devoured. So there are numerous ways in which land + animals secure the safety of their young, e.g. by burying them in the ground, + or by hiding them in nests, or by carrying them about for a prolonged period + either before or after birth. This may mean great safety for the young, this + may make it possible to have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id= + "Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span> only a small family, and this may tend to the + evolution of parental care and the kindly emotions. Thus it may be understood + that from the conquest of the land many far-reaching consequences have + followed.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image148a" id="image148a"></a> <a href= + "images/image148a.jpg"><img src="images/image148a_sm.jpg" alt= + "PROFESSOR THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY (1825-95)" title= + "PROFESSOR THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY (1825-95)" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Rischgitz.</i></p> + + <p>PROFESSOR THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY (1825-95)</p> + + <p class="wide">One of the most distinguished of zoologists, with + unsurpassed gifts as a teacher and expositor. He did great service in + gaining a place for science in ordinary education and in popular + estimation. No one championed Evolutionism with more courage and skill.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image148b" id="image148b"></a> <a href= + "images/image148b.jpg"><img src="images/image148b_sm.jpg" alt= + "BARON CUVIER, 1769-1832" title="BARON CUVIER, 1769-1832" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>BARON CUVIER, 1769-1832</p> + + <p class="wide">One of the founders of modern Comparative Anatomy. A man of + gigantic intellect, who came to Paris as a youth from the provinces, and + became the director of the higher education of France and a peer of the + Empire. He was opposed to Evolutionist ideas, but he had anatomical + genius.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image149" id="image149"></a> <a href= + "images/image149.jpg"><img src="images/image149_sm.jpg" alt= + "AN ILLUSTRATION SHOWING VARIOUS METHODS OF FLYING AND SWOOPING" title= + "AN ILLUSTRATION SHOWING VARIOUS METHODS OF FLYING AND SWOOPING" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>AN ILLUSTRATION SHOWING VARIOUS METHODS OF FLYING AND SWOOPING</p> + + <p class="wide">Gull, with a feather-wing, a true flier. Fox-bat, with a + skin-wing, a true flier. Flying Squirrel, with a parachute of skin, able to + swoop from tree to tree, but not to fly. Flying Fish, with pectoral fins + used as volplanes in a great leap due to the tail. To some extent able to + sail in albatros fashion.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Finally, it is worth dwelling on the risks of terrestrial life, because + they enable us better to understand why so many land animals have become + burrowers and others climbers of trees, why some have returned to the water + and others have taken to the air. It may be asked, perhaps, why the land + should have been colonised at all when the risks and difficulties are so + great. The answer must be that necessity and curiosity are the mother and + father of invention. Animals left the water because the pools dried up, or + because they were overcrowded, or because of inveterate enemies, but also + because of that curiosity and spirit of adventure which, from first to last, + has been one of the spurs of progress.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Conquering the Air</h4> + + <p>6. The last great haunt of life is the air, a mastery of which must be + placed to the credit of insects, Pterodactyls, birds, and bats. These have + been the successes, but it should be noted that there have been many + brilliant failures, which have not attained to much more than parachuting. + These include the Flying Fishes, which take leaps from the water and are + carried for many yards and to considerable heights, holding their enlarged + pectoral fins taut or with little more than a slight fluttering. There is a + so-called Flying Frog (<i>Rhacophorus</i>) that skims from branch to branch, + and the much more effective Flying Dragon (<i>Draco volans</i>) of the Far + East, which has been mentioned already. Among mammals there are Flying + Phalangers, Flying Lemurs, and more besides, all attaining to great skill as + parachutists, and illustrating the endeavour to master the air which man has + realised in a way of his own.</p> + + <p>The power of flight brings obvious advantages. A bird feeding<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span> on the ground is + able to evade the stalking carnivore by suddenly rising into the air; food + and water can be followed rapidly and to great distances; the eggs or the + young can be placed in safe situations; and birds in their migrations have + made a brilliant conquest both of time and space. Many of them know no winter + in their year, and the migratory flight of the Pacific Golden Plover from + Hawaii to Alaska and back again does not stand alone.</p> + + <h3>THE PROCESSION OF LIFE THROUGH THE AGES</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Rock Record</h4> + + <p>How do we know when the various classes of animals and plants were + established on the earth? How do we know the order of their appearance and + the succession of their advances? The answer is: by reading the Rock Record. + In the course of time the crust of the earth has been elevated into + continents and depressed into ocean-troughs, and the surface of the land has + been buckled up into mountain ranges and folded in gentler hills and valleys. + The high places of the land have been weathered by air and water in many + forms, and the results of the weathering have been borne away by rivers and + seas, to be laid down again elsewhere as deposits which eventually formed + sandstones, mudstones, and similar sedimentary rocks. Much of the material of + the original crust has thus been broken down and worked up again many times + over, and if the total thickness of the sedimentary rocks is added up it + amounts, according to some geologists, to a total of 67 miles. In most cases, + however, only a small part of this thickness is to be seen in one place, for + the deposits were usually formed in limited areas at any one time.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Use of Fossils</h4> + + <p>When the sediments were accumulating age after age, it naturally came + about that remains of the plants and animals living<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span> at the time were + buried, and these formed the fossils by the aid of which it is possible to + read the story of the past. By careful piecing together of evidence the + geologist is able to determine the order in which the different sedimentary + rocks were laid down, and thus to say, for instance, that the Devonian period + was the time of the origin of Amphibians. In other cases the geologist + utilises the fossils in his attempt to work out the order of the strata when + these have been much disarranged. For the simpler fossil forms of any type + must be older than those that are more complex. There is no vicious circle + here, for the general succession of strata is clear, and it is quite certain + that there were fishes before there were amphibians, and amphibians before + there were reptiles, and reptiles before there were birds and mammals. In + certain cases, e.g. of fossil horses and elephants, the actual historical + succession has been clearly worked out.</p> + + <p>If the successive strata contained good samples of all the plants and + animals living at the time when the beds were formed, then it would be easy + to read the record of the rocks, but many animals were too soft to become + satisfactory fossils, many were eaten or dissolved away, many were destroyed + by heat and pressure, so that the rock record is like a library very much + damaged by fire and looting and decay.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Geological Time-table</h4> + + <p>The long history of the earth and its inhabitants is conveniently divided + into eras. Thus, just as we speak of the ancient, mediæval, and modern + history of mankind, so we may speak of Palæozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic eras + in the history of the earth as a whole.</p> + + <p>Geologists cannot tell us except in an approximate way how long the + process of evolution has taken. One of the methods is to estimate how long + has been required for the accumulation of<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span> the salts of the sea, for all these + have been dissolved out of the rocks since rain began to fall on the earth. + Dividing the total amount of saline matter by what is contributed every year + in modern times, we get about a hundred million years as the age of the sea. + But as the present rate of salt-accumulation is probably much greater than it + was during many of the geological periods, the prodigious age just mentioned + is in all likelihood far below the mark. Another method is to calculate how + long it would take to form the sedimentary rocks, like sandstones and + mudstones, which have a <i>total</i> thickness of over fifty miles, though + the <i>local</i> thickness is rarely over a mile. As most of the materials + have come from the weathering of the earth's crust, and as the annual + amount of weathering now going on can be estimated, the time required for the + formation of the sedimentary rocks of the world can be approximately + calculated. There are some other ways of trying to tell the earth's age + and the length of the successive periods, but no certainty has been + reached.</p> + + <p>The eras marked on the table (page 92) as <i>before the Cambrian</i> + correspond to about thirty-two miles of thickness of strata; and all the + subsequent eras with fossil-bearing rocks to a thickness of about twenty-one + miles—in itself an astounding fact. Perhaps thirty million years must + be allotted to the Pre-Cambrian eras, eighteen to the Palæozoic, nine to the + Mesozoic, three to the Cenozoic, making a grand total of sixty millions.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Establishment of Invertebrate Stocks</h4> + + <p>It is an astounding fact that at least half of geological time (the + Archæozoic and Proterozoic eras) passed before there were living creatures + with parts sufficiently hard to form fossils. In the latter part of the + Proterozoic era there are traces of one-celled marine animals (Radiolarians) + with shells of flint, and of worms that wallowed in the primal mud. It is + plain that as regards the most primitive creatures the rock record tells us + little.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image154a" id="image154a"></a> <a href= + "images/image154a.jpg"><img src="images/image154a_sm.jpg" alt= + "ANIMALS OF THE CAMBRIAN PERIOD" title= + "ANIMALS OF THE CAMBRIAN PERIOD" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>From Knipe's "Nebula to Man."</i></p> + + <p>ANIMALS OF THE CAMBRIAN PERIOD + <br /> + e.g. Sponges, Jellyfish, Starfish, Sea-lilies, Water-fleas, and + Trilobites</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image154b" id="image154b"></a> <a href= + "images/image154b.jpg"><img src="images/image154b_sm.jpg" alt="A TRILOBITE" + title="A TRILOBITE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</i></p> + + <p>A TRILOBITE</p> + + <p class="wide">Trilobites were ancient seashore animals, abundant from the + Upper Cambrian to the Carboniferous eras. They have no direct descendants + to-day. They were jointed-footed animals, allied to Crustaceans and perhaps + also to King-crabs. They were able to roll themselves up in their + ring-armour.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image155a" id="image155a"></a> <a href= + "images/image155a.jpg"><img src="images/image155a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE GAMBIAN MUD-FISH, PROTOPTERUS" title= + "THE GAMBIAN MUD-FISH, PROTOPTERUS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: British Museum (Natural History).</i></p> + + <p>THE GAMBIAN MUD-FISH, PROTOPTERUS</p> + + <p class="wide">It can breathe oxygen dissolved in water by its gills; it + can also breathe dry air by means of its swim-bladder, which has become a + lung. It is a <i>double-breather</i>, showing evolution in process. For + seven months of the year, the dry season, it can remain inert in the mud, + getting air through an open pipe to the surface. When water fills the pools + it can use its gills again. Mud-nests or mud encasements with the lung-fish + inside have often been brought to Britain and the fish when liberated were + quite lively.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image155b" id="image155b"></a> <a href= + "images/image155b.jpg"><img src="images/image155b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE ARCHÆOPTERYX" title="THE ARCHÆOPTERYX" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE ARCHÆOPTERYX</p> + + <p>(<i>After William Leche of Stockholm.</i>)</p> + + <p class="wide">A good restoration of the oldest known bird, Archæopteryx + (Jurassic Era). It was about the size of a crow; it had teeth on both jaws; + it had claws on the thumb and two fingers; and it had a long lizard-like + tail. But it had feathers, proving itself a true bird.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image155c" id="image155c"></a> <a href= + "images/image155c.jpg"><img src="images/image155c_sm.jpg" alt= + "WING OF A BIRD, SHOWING THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE FEATHERS" title= + "WING OF A BIRD, SHOWING THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE FEATHERS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>WING OF A BIRD, SHOWING THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE FEATHERS</p> + + <p class="wide">The longest feathers or primaries (PR) are borne by the two + fingers (2 and 3), and their palm-bones (CMC); the second longest or + secondaries are borne by the ulna bone (U) of the fore-arm; there is a + separate tuft (AS) on the thumb (TH).</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg + 91]</a></span></p> + + <p>The rarity of direct traces of life in the oldest rocks is partly due to + the fact that the primitive animals would be of delicate build, but it must + also be remembered that the ancient rocks have been profoundly and repeatedly + changed by pressure and heat, so that the traces which did exist would be + very liable to obliteration. And if it be asked what right we have to suppose + the presence of living creatures in the absence or extreme rarity of fossils, + we must point to great accumulations of limestone which indicate the + existence of calcareous algæ, and to deposits of iron which probably indicate + the activity of iron-forming Bacteria. Ancient beds of graphite similarly + suggest that green plants flourished in these ancient days.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 3</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Era of Ancient Life (Palæozoic)</h4> + + <p>The <i>Cambrian</i> period was the time of the establishment of the chief + stocks of backboneless animals such as sponges, jellyfishes, worms, + sea-cucumbers, lamp-shells, trilobites, crustaceans, and molluscs. There is + something very eloquent in the broad fact that the peopling of the seas had + definitely begun some thirty million years ago, for Professor H. F. Osborn + points out that in the Cambrian period there was already a colonisation of + the shore of the sea, the open sea, and the deep waters.</p> + + <p>The <i>Ordovician</i> period was marked by abundant representation of the + once very successful class of Trilobites—jointed-footed, + antenna-bearing, segmented marine animals, with numerous appendages and a + covering of chitin. They died away entirely with the end of the Palæozoic + era. Also very notable was the abundance of predatory cuttlefishes, the + bullies of the ancient seas. But it was in this period that the first + backboned animals made their appearance—an epoch-making step in + evolution. In other words, true fishes were evolved—destined in the + course of ages to replace the cuttlefishes (which are mere molluscs) in + dominating the seas.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg + 92]</a></span></p> + + <div class='center'> + <table border="1" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary= + "Eras of ancient life"> + <tr> + <td align='left'><i>RECENT TIMES</i></td> + + <td align='left'></td> + + <td align='left'>Human civilisation.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td colspan="3"></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'></td> + + <td align='left'>{PLEISTOCENE OR GLACIAL TIME</td> + + <td align='left'>Last great Ice Age.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'><i>CENOZOIC ERA</i></td> + + <td align='left'>{MIOCENE AND PLIOCENE TIMES</td> + + <td align='left'>Emergence of Man.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'></td> + + <td align='left'>{EOCENE AND OLIGOCENE TIMES</td> + + <td align='left'>Rise of higher mammals.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td colspan="3"></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'></td> + + <td align='left'>{CRETACEOUS PERIOD</td> + + <td align='left'>Rise of primitive mammals, flowering plants, and higher + insects.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'><i>MESOZOIC ERA</i></td> + + <td align='left'>{JURASSIC PERIOD</td> + + <td align='left'>Rise of birds and flying reptiles.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'></td> + + <td align='left'>{TRIASSIC PERIOD</td> + + <td align='left'>Rise of dinosaur reptiles.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td colspan="3"></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'></td> + + <td align='left'>{PERMIAN PERIOD</td> + + <td align='left'>Rise of reptiles.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'></td> + + <td align='left'>{CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD</td> + + <td align='left'>Rise of insects.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'><i>PALÆOZOIC ERA</i></td> + + <td align='left'>{DEVONIAN PERIOD</td> + + <td align='left'>First amphibians.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'></td> + + <td align='left'>{SILURIAN PERIOD</td> + + <td align='left'>Land animals began.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'></td> + + <td align='left'>{ORDOVICIAN PERIOD</td> + + <td align='left'>First fishes.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'></td> + + <td align='left'>{CAMBRIAN PERIOD</td> + + <td align='left'>Peopling of the sea.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td colspan="3"></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'><i>PROTEROZOIC AGES</i></td> + + <td align='left' colspan="2">Many of the Backboneless stocks began.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'><i>ARCHÆOZOIC AGES</i></td> + + <td align='left' colspan="2">Living creatures began to be upon the + earth.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td colspan="3"></td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'></td> + + <td align='left' colspan="2">{Making of continents and ocean-basins.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'><i>FORMATIVE TIMES</i></td> + + <td align='left' colspan="2">{Beginnings of atmosphere and + hydrosphere.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'></td> + + <td align='left' colspan="2">{Cooling of the earth.</td> + </tr> + + <tr> + <td align='left'></td> + + <td align='left' colspan="2">{Establishment of the solar system.</td> + </tr> + </table> + </div> + + <p>In the <i>Silurian</i> period in which the peopling of the seas went on + apace, there was the first known attempt at colonising the dry land. For in + Silurian rocks there are fossil scorpions, and that implies ability to + breathe dry air—by means of internal surfaces, in this case known as + lungbooks. It was also towards the end of the Silurian, when a period of + great aridity set in, that fishes appeared related to our mud-fishes or + double-breathers (Dipnoi), which have lungs as well as gills. This, again, + meant utilising dry air, just as the present-day mud-fishes do when the water + disappears from the pools in hot weather. The lung-fishes or mud-fishes of + to-day are but three in number, one in Queensland, one in South America, and + one in Africa, but they are extremely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" + id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span> interesting "living fossils," + binding the class of fishes to that of amphibians. It is highly probable that + the first invasion of the dry land should be put to the credit of some + adventurous worms, but the second great invasion was certainly due to + air-breathing Arthropods, like the pioneer scorpion we mentioned.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image158" id="image158"></a> <a href= + "images/image158.jpg"><img src="images/image158_sm.jpg" alt= + "PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION OF THE SUCCESSIVE STRATA OF THE EARTH'S CRUST, WITH SUGGESTIONS OF CHARACTERISTIC FOSSILS" + title= + "PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION OF THE SUCCESSIVE STRATA OF THE EARTH'S CRUST, WITH SUGGESTIONS OF CHARACTERISTIC FOSSILS" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION OF THE SUCCESSIVE STRATA OF THE EARTH'S + CRUST, WITH SUGGESTIONS OF CHARACTERISTIC FOSSILS</p> + + <p class="wide">E.g. Fish and Trilobite in the Devonian (red), a large + Amphibian in the Carboniferous (blue), Reptiles in Permian (light red), the + first Mammal in the Triassic (blue), the first Bird in the Jurassic + (yellow), Giant Reptiles in the Cretaceous (white), then follow the + Tertiary strata with progressive mammals, and Quaternary at the top with + man and mammoth.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>The <i>Devonian</i> period, including that of the Old Red Sandstone, was + one of the most significant periods in the earth's history. For it was + the time of the establishment of flowering plants upon the earth and of + terrestrial backboned animals. One would like to have been the discoverer of + the Devonian foot-print of <i>Thinopus</i>, the first known Amphibian + foot-print—an eloquent vestige of the third great invasion of the dry + land. It was probably from a stock of Devonian lung-fishes that the first + Amphibians sprang, but it was not till the next period that they came to + their own. While they were still feeling their way, there was a remarkable + exuberance of shark-like and heavily armoured fishes in the Devonian + seas.</p> + + <h3>EVOLUTION OF LAND ANIMALS</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Giant Amphibians and Coal-measures</h4> + + <p>The <i>Carboniferous</i> period was marked by a mild moist climate and a + luxuriant vegetation in the swampy low grounds. It was a much less strenuous + time than the Devonian period; it was like a very long summer. There were no + trees of the type we see now, but there were forests of club-mosses and + horsetails which grew to a gigantic size compared with their pigmy + representatives of to-day. In these forests the jointed-footed invaders of + the dry land ran riot in the form of centipedes, spiders, scorpions, and + insects, and on these the primeval Amphibians fed. The appearance of insects + made possible a new linkage of far-reaching importance, namely, the + cross-fertilisation of flowering plants by their insect visitors, and from + this time onwards it may be said that flowers and their visitors have evolved + hand in hand.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg + 94]</a></span> Cross-fertilisation is much surer by insects than by the wind, + and cross-fertilisation is more advantageous than self-fertilisation because + it promotes both fertility and plasticity. It was probably in this period + that <i>coloured</i> flowers—attractive to insect-visitors—began + to justify themselves as beauty became useful, and began to relieve the + monotonous green of the horsetail and club-moss forests, which covered great + tracts of the earth for millions of years. In the Carboniferous forests there + were also land-snails, representing one of the minor invasions of the dry + land, tending on the whole to check vegetation. They, too, were probably + preyed upon by the Amphibians, some of which attained a large size. Each age + has had its giants, and those of the Carboniferous were Amphibians called + Labyrinthodonts, some of which were almost as big as donkeys. It need hardly + be said that it was in this period that most of the Coal-measures were laid + down by the immense accumulation of the spores and debris of the club-moss + forests. Ages afterwards, it was given to man to tap this great source of + energy—traceable back to the sunshine of millions of years ago. Even + then it was true that no plant or animal lives or dies to itself!</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Acquisitions of Amphibians.</h4> + + <p>As Amphibians had their Golden Age in the Carboniferous period we may + fitly use this opportunity of indicating the advances in evolution which the + emergence of Amphibians implied. (1) In the first place the passage from + water to dry land was the beginning of a higher and more promiseful life, + taxed no doubt by increased difficulties. The natural question rises why + animals should have migrated from water to dry land at all when great + difficulties were involved in the transition. The answers must be: (<i>a</i>) + that local drying up of water-basins or elevations of the land surface often + made the old haunts untenable; (<i>b</i>) that there may have been great + congestion and competition in the old quarters; and (<i>c</i>) that there has + been an undeniable endeavour<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id= + "Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span> after well-being throughout the history of + animal life. In the same way with mankind, migrations were prompted by the + setting in of prolonged drought, by over-population, and by the spirit of + adventure. (2) In Amphibians for the first time the non-digitate paired fins + of fishes were replaced by limbs with fingers and toes. This implied an + advantageous power of grasping, of holding firm, of putting food into the + mouth, of feeling things in three dimensions. (3) We cannot be positive in + regard to the soft parts of the ancient Amphibians known only as fossils, but + if they were in a general way like the frogs and toads, newts and salamanders + of the present day, we may say that they made among other acquisitions the + following: true ventral lungs, a three-chambered heart, a movable tongue, a + drum to the ear, and lids to the eyes. It is very interesting to find that + though the tongue of the tadpole has some muscle-fibres in it, they are not + strong enough to effect movement, recalling the tongue of fishes, which has + not any muscles at all. Gradually, as the tadpole becomes a frog, the + muscle-fibres grow in strength, and make it possible for the full-grown + creature to shoot out its tongue upon insects. This is probably a + recapitulation of what was accomplished in the course of millennia in the + history of the Amphibian race. (4) Another acquisition made by Amphibians was + a voice, due, as in ourselves, to the rapid passage of air over taut + membranes (vocal cords) stretched in the larynx. It is an interesting fact + that for millions of years there was upon the earth no sound of life at all, + only the noise of wind and wave, thunder and avalanche. Apart from the + instrumental music of some insects, perhaps beginning in the Carboniferous, + the first vital sounds were due to Amphibians, and theirs certainly was the + first voice—surely one of the great steps in organic evolution.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image162a" id="image162a"></a> <a href= + "images/image162a.jpg"><img src="images/image162a_sm.jpg" alt= + "FOSSIL OF A PTERODACTYL OR EXTINCT FLYING DRAGON" title= + "FOSSIL OF A PTERODACTYL OR EXTINCT FLYING DRAGON" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: British Museum (Natural History).</i></p> + + <p>FOSSIL OF A PTERODACTYL OR EXTINCT FLYING DRAGON</p> + + <p class="wide">The wing is made of a web of skin extended on the + enormously elongated outermost finger. The long tail served for balancing + and steering. The Pterodactyls varied from the size of sparrows to a + wing-span of fifteen feet—the largest flying creatures.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image162b" id="image162b"></a> <a href= + "images/image162b.jpg"><img src="images/image162b_sm.jpg" alt= + "PARIASAURUS: AN EXTINCT VEGETARIAN TRIASSIC REPTILE" title= + "PARIASAURUS: AN EXTINCT VEGETARIAN TRIASSIC REPTILE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>From Knipe's "Nebula to Man."</i></p> + + <p>PARIASAURUS: AN EXTINCT VEGETARIAN TRIASSIC REPTILE</p> + + <p>Total length about 9 feet. (Remains found in Cape Colony, South + Africa.)</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image163a" id="image163a"></a> <a href= + "images/image163a.jpg"><img src="images/image163a_sm.jpg" alt= + "TRICERATOPS: A HUGE EXTINCT REPTILE" title= + "TRICERATOPS: A HUGE EXTINCT REPTILE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>From Knipe's "Nebula to Man."</i></p> + + <p>TRICERATOPS: A HUGE EXTINCT REPTILE</p> + + <p>(From remains found in Cretaceous strata of Wyoming, U.S.A.)</p> + + <p class="wide">This Dinosaur, about the size of a large rhinoceros, had a + huge three-horned skull with a remarkable bony collar over the neck. But, + as in many other cases, its brain was so small that it could have passed + down the spinal canal in which the spinal cord lies. Perhaps this partly + accounts for the extinction of giant reptiles.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image163b" id="image163b"></a> <a href= + "images/image163b.jpg"><img src="images/image163b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE DUCKMOLE OR DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS OF AUSTRALIA" title= + "THE DUCKMOLE OR DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS OF AUSTRALIA" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: "Daily Mail."</i></p> + + <p>THE DUCKMOLE OR DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS OF AUSTRALIA</p> + + <p class="wide">The Duckmole or Duck-billed Platypus of Australia is a + survivor of the most primitive mammals. It harks back to reptiles, e.g. in + being an egg-layer, in having comparatively large eggs, and in being + imperfectly warm-blooded. It swims well and feeds on small water-animals. + It can also burrow.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h4 class="sect">Evolution of the Voice</h4> + + <p>The first use of the voice was probably that indicated by our frogs and + toads—it serves as a sex-call. That is the meaning<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span> of the trumpeting + with which frogs herald the spring, and it is often only in the males that + the voice is well developed. But if we look forward, past Amphibians + altogether, we find the voice becoming a maternal call helping to secure the + safety of the young—a use very obvious when young birds squat + motionless at the sound of the parent's danger-note. Later on, probably, + the voice became an infantile call, as when the unhatched crocodile pipes + from within the deeply buried egg, signalling to the mother that it is time + to be unearthed. Higher still the voice expresses emotion, as in the song of + birds, often outside the limits of the breeding time. Later still, particular + sounds become words, signifying particular things or feelings, such as + "food," "danger," "home," "anger," + and "joy." Finally words become a medium of social intercourse and + as symbols help to make it possible for man to reason.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Early Reptiles</h4> + + <p>In the <i>Permian</i> period reptiles appeared, or perhaps one should say, + began to assert themselves. That is to say, there was an emergence of + backboned animals which were free from water and relinquished the method of + breathing by gills, which Amphibians retained in their young stages at least. + The unhatched or unborn reptile breathes by means of a vascular hood spread + underneath the egg-shell and absorbing dry air from without. It is an + interesting point that this vascular hood, called the allantois, is + represented in the Amphibians by an unimportant bladder growing out from the + hind end of the food-canal. A great step in evolution was implied in the + origin of this ante-natal hood or fœtal membrane and another + one—of protective significance—called the amnion, which forms a + water-bag over the delicate embryo. The step meant total emancipation from + the water and from gill-breathing, and the two fœtal membranes, the + amnion and the allantois, persist not only in all reptiles but in birds + and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span> + mammals as well. These higher Vertebrates are therefore called Amniota in + contrast to the Lower Vertebrates or Anamnia (the Amphibians, Fishes, and + primitive types).</p> + + <p>It is a suggestive fact that the embryos of all reptiles, birds, and + mammals show gill-clefts—<i>a tell-tale evidence of their distant + aquatic ancestry</i>. But these embryonic gill-clefts are not used for + respiration and show no trace of gills except in a few embryonic reptiles and + birds where their dwindled vestiges have been recently discovered. As to the + gill-clefts, they are of no use in higher Vertebrates except that the first + becomes the Eustachian tube leading from the ear-passage to the back of the + mouth. The reason why they persist when only one is of any use, and that in a + transformed guise, would be difficult to interpret except in terms of the + Evolution theory. They illustrate the lingering influence of a long pedigree, + the living hand of the past, the tendency that individual development has to + recapitulate racial evolution. In a condensed and telescoped manner, of + course, for what took the race a million years may be recapitulated by the + individual in a week!</p> + + <p>In the Permian period the warm moist climate of most of the Carboniferous + period was replaced by severe conditions, culminating in an Ice Age which + spread from the Southern Hemisphere throughout the world. With this was + associated a waning of the Carboniferous flora, and the appearance of a new + one, consisting of ferns, conifers, ginkgos, and cycads, which persisted + until near the end of the Mesozoic era. The Permian Ice Age lasted for + millions of years, and was most severe in the Far South. Of course, it was a + very different world then, for North Europe was joined to North America, + Africa to South America, and Australia to Asia. It was probably during the + Permian Ice Age that many of the insects divided their life-history into two + main chapters—the feeding, growing, moulting, immature, larval stages, + e.g. caterpillars, and the more ascetic, non-growing, non-moulting, winged + phase, adapted for reproduction. Between<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span> these there intervened the + quiescent, well-protected pupa stage or chrysalis, probably adapted to begin + with as a means of surviving the severe winter. For it is easier for an + animal to survive when the vital processes are more or less in abeyance.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Disappearance of many Ancient Types</h4> + + <p>We cannot leave the last period of the Palæozoic era and its prolonged ice + age without noticing that it meant the entire cessation of a large number of + ancient types, especially among plants and backboneless animals, which now + disappear for ever. It is necessary to understand that the animals of ancient + days stand in three different relations to those of to-day. (<i>a</i>) There + are ancient types that have living representatives, sometimes few and + sometimes many, sometimes much changed and sometimes but slightly changed. + The lamp-shell, <i>Lingulella</i>, of the Cambrian and Ordovician period has + a very near relative in the <i>Lingula</i> of to-day. There are a few + extremely conservative animals. (<i>b</i>) There are ancient types which have + no living representatives, except in the guise of transformed descendants, as + the King-crab (<i>Limulus</i>) may be said to be a transformed descendant of + the otherwise quite extinct race to which Eurypterids or Sea-scorpions + belonged. (<i>c</i>) There are altogether extinct types—<i>lost + races</i>—which have left not a wrack behind. For there is not any + representation to-day of such races as Graptolites and Trilobites.</p> + + <p>Looking backwards over the many millions of years comprised in the + Palæozoic era, what may we emphasise as the most salient features? There was + in the <i>Cambrian</i> the establishment of the chief classes of backboneless + animals; in the <i>Ordovician</i> the first fishes and perhaps the first + terrestrial plants; in the <i>Silurian</i> the emergence of air-breathing + Invertebrates and mud-fishes; in the <i>Devonian</i> the appearance of the + first Amphibians, from which all higher land animals are descended, and the + establishment of a land flora; in the <i>Carboniferous</i> the great + Club-moss forests<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg + 99]</a></span> and an exuberance of air-breathing insects and their allies; + in the <i>Permian</i> the first reptiles and a new flora.</p> + + <h3>THE GEOLOGICAL MIDDLE AGES</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Mesozoic Era</h4> + + <p>In a broad way the Mesozoic era corresponds with the Golden Age of + reptiles, and with the climax of the Conifer and Cycad flora, which was + established in the Permian. But among the Conifers and Cycads our modern + flowering plants were beginning to show face tentatively, just like birds and + mammals among the great reptiles.</p> + + <p>In the <i>Triassic</i> period the exuberance of reptilian life which + marked the Permian was continued. Besides Turtles which still persist, there + were Ichthyosaurs, Plesiosaurs, Dinosaurs, and Pterosaurs, none of which + lasted beyond the Mesozoic era. Of great importance was the rise of the + Dinosaurs in the Triassic, for it is highly probable that within the limits + of this vigorous and plastic stock—some of them bipeds—we must + look for the ancestors of both birds and mammals. Both land and water were + dominated by reptiles, some of which attained to gigantic size. Had there + been any zoologist in those days, he would have been very sagacious indeed if + he had suspected that reptiles did not represent the climax of creation.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Flying Dragons</h4> + + <p>The <i>Jurassic</i> period showed a continuance of the reptilian + splendour. They radiated in many directions, becoming adapted to many haunts. + Thus there were many Fish Lizards paddling in the seas, many types of + terrestrial dragons stalking about on land, many swiftly gliding + alligator-like forms, and the Flying Dragons which began in the Triassic + attained to remarkable success and variety. Their wing was formed by the + extension of a great fold of skin on the enormously elongated + outermost<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg + 100]</a></span> finger, and they varied from the size of a sparrow to a + spread of over five feet. A soldering of the dorsal vertebræ as in our Flying + Birds was an adaptation to striking the air with some force, but as there is + not more than a slight keel, if any, on the breast-bone, it is unlikely that + they could fly far. For we know from our modern birds that the power of + flight may be to some extent gauged from the degree of development of the + keel, which is simply a great ridge for the better insertion of the muscles + of flight. It is absent, of course, in the Running Birds, like the ostrich, + and it has degenerated in an interesting way in the burrowing parrot + (<i>Stringops</i>) and a few other birds that have "gone back."</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The First Known Bird</h4> + + <p>But the Jurassic is particularly memorable because its strata have yielded + two fine specimens of the first known bird, <i>Archæopteryx</i>. These were + entombed in the deposits which formed the fine-grained lithographic stones of + Bavaria, and practically every bone in the body is preserved except the + breast-bone. Even the feathers have left their marks with distinctness. This + oldest known bird—too far advanced to be the first bird—was about + the size of a crow and was probably of arboreal habits. Of great interest are + its reptilian features, so pronounced that one cannot evade the evolutionist + suggestion. It had teeth in both jaws, which no modern bird has; it had a + long lizard-like tail, which no modern bird has; it had claws on three + fingers, and a sort of half-made wing. That is to say, it does not show, what + all modern birds show, a fusion of half the wrist-bones with the whole of the + palm-bones, the well-known carpo-metacarpus bone which forms a basis for the + longest pinions. In many reptiles, such as Crocodiles, there are peculiar + bones running across the abdomen beneath the skin, the so-called + "abdominal ribs," and it seems an eloquent detail to find these + represented in <i>Archæopteryx</i>, the earliest known bird. No modern bird + shows any trace of them.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image170" id="image170"></a> <a href= + "images/image170.jpg"><img src="images/image170_sm.jpg" alt= + "SKELETON OF AN EXTINCT FLIGHTLESS TOOTHED BIRD, HESPERORNIS" title= + "SKELETON OF AN EXTINCT FLIGHTLESS TOOTHED BIRD, HESPERORNIS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>SKELETON OF AN EXTINCT FLIGHTLESS TOOTHED BIRD, HESPERORNIS</p> + + <p>(<i>After Marsh.</i>)</p> + + <p class="wide">The bird was five or six feet high, something like a + swimming ostrich, with a very powerful leg but only a vestige of a wing. + There were sharp teeth in a groove. The modern divers come nearest to this + ancient type.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image171" id="image171"></a> <a href= + "images/image171.jpg"><img src="images/image171_sm.jpg" alt= + "SIX STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE HORSE, SHOWING GRADUAL INCREASE IN SIZE" + title= + "SIX STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE HORSE, SHOWING GRADUAL INCREASE IN SIZE" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>SIX STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE HORSE, SHOWING GRADUAL INCREASE IN + SIZE</p> + + <p>(<i>After Lull and Matthew.</i>)</p> + + <p class="wide">1. Four-toed horse, Eohippus, about one foot high. Lower + Eocene, N. America. + <br /> + 2. Another four-toed horse, Orohippus, a little over a foot high. Middle + Eocene, N. America. + <br /> + 3. Three-toed horse, Mesohippus, about the size of a sheep. Middle + Oligocene, N. America. + <br /> + 4. Three-toed horse, Merychippus, Miocene, N. America. Only one toe reaches + the ground on each foot, but the remains of two others are prominent. + <br /> + 5. The first one-toed horse, Pliohippus, about forty inches high at the + shoulder. Pliocene, N. America. + <br /> + 6. The modern horse, running on the third digit of each foot.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg + 101]</a></span></p> + + <p>There is no warrant for supposing that the flying reptiles or Pterodactyls + gave rise to birds, for the two groups are on different lines, and the + structure of the wings is entirely different. Thus the long-fingered + Pterodactyl wing was a parachute wing, while the secret of the bird's + wing has its centre in the feathers. It is highly probable that birds evolved + from certain Dinosaurs which had become bipeds, and it is possible that they + were for a time swift runners that took "flying jumps" along the + ground. Thereafter, perhaps, came a period of arboreal apprenticeship during + which there was much gliding from tree to tree before true flight was + achieved. It is an interesting fact that the problem of flight has been + solved four times among animals—by insects, by Pterodactyls, by birds, + and by bats; and that the four solutions are on entirely different lines.</p> + + <p>In the <i>Cretaceous</i> period the outstanding events included the waning + of giant reptiles, the modernising of the flowering plants, and the + multiplication of small mammals. Some of the Permian reptiles, such as the + dog-toothed Cynodonts, were extraordinarily mammal-like, and it was probably + from among them that definite mammals emerged in the Triassic. Comparatively + little is known of the early Triassic mammals save that their back-teeth were + marked by numerous tubercles on the crown, but they were gaining strength in + the late Triassic when small arboreal insectivores, not very distant from the + modern tree-shrews (<i>Tupaia</i>), began to branch out in many directions + indicative of the great divisions of modern mammals, such as the clawed + mammals, hoofed mammals, and the race of monkeys or Primates. In the Upper + Cretaceous there was an exuberant "radiation" of mammals, adaptive + to the conquest of all sorts of haunts, and this was vigorously continued in + Tertiary times.</p> + + <p>There is no difficulty in the fact that the earliest remains of definite + mammals in the Triassic precede the first-known bird in the Jurassic. For + although we usually rank mammals as higher than birds (being mammals + ourselves, how could we do<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id= + "Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span> otherwise?), there are many ways in which + birds are pre-eminent, e.g. in skeleton, musculature, integumentary + structures, and respiratory system. The fact is that birds and mammals are on + two quite different tacks of evolution, not related to one another, save in + having a common ancestry in extinct reptiles. Moreover, there is no reason to + believe that the Jurassic <i>Archæopteryx</i> was the first bird in any sense + except that it is the first of which we have any record. In any case it is + safe to say that birds came to their own before mammals did.</p> + + <p>Looking backwards, we may perhaps sum up what is most essential in the + Mesozoic era in Professor Schuchert's sentence: "The Mesozoic is the + Age of Reptiles, and yet the little mammals and the toothed birds are storing + up intelligence and strength to replace the reptiles when the cycads and + conifers shall give way to the higher flowering plants."</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Cenozoic or Tertiary Era</h4> + + <p>In the <i>Eocene</i> period there was a replacement of the small-brained + archaic mammals by big-brained modernised types, and with this must be + associated the covering of the earth with a garment of grass and dry pasture. + Marshes were replaced by meadows and browsing by grazing mammals. In the + spreading meadows an opportunity was also offered for a richer evolution of + insects and birds.</p> + + <p>During the <i>Oligocene</i> the elevation of the land continued, the + climate became much less moist, and the grazing herds extended their + range.</p> + + <p>The <i>Miocene</i> was the mammalian Golden Age and there were crowning + examples of what Osborn calls "adaptive radiation." That is to say, + mammals, like the reptiles before them, conquer every haunt of life. There + are flying bats, volplaning parachutists, climbers in trees like sloths and + squirrels, quickly moving hoofed mammals, burrowers like the moles, + freshwater<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg + 103]</a></span> mammals, like duckmole and beaver, shore-frequenting seals + and manatees, and open-sea cetaceans, some of which dive far more than full + fathoms five. It is important to realise the perennial tendency of animals to + conquer every corner and to fill every niche of opportunity, and to notice + that this has been done by successive sets of animals in succeeding ages. + <i>Most notably the mammals repeat all the experiments of reptiles on a + higher turn of the spiral.</i> Thus arises what is called convergence, the + superficial resemblance of unrelated types, like whales and fishes, the + resemblance being due to the fact that the different types are similarly + adapted to similar conditions of life. Professor H. F. Osborn points out that + mammals may seek any one of the twelve different habitat-zones, and that in + each of these there may be six quite different kinds of food. Living + creatures penetrate everywhere like the overflowing waters of a great river + in flood.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 3</h3> + + <p>The <i>Pliocene</i> period was a more strenuous time, with less genial + climatic conditions, and with more intense competition. Old land bridges were + broken and new ones made, and the geographical distribution underwent great + changes. Professor R. S. Lull describes the <i>Pliocene</i> as "a period + of great unrest." "Many migrations occurred the world over, new + competitions arose, and the weaker stocks began to show the effects of the + strenuous life. One momentous event seems to have occurred in the Pliocene, + and that was the transformation of the precursor of humanity into + man—the culmination of the highest line of evolution."</p> + + <p>The <i>Pleistocene</i> period was a time of sifting. There was a continued + elevation of the continental masses, and Ice Ages set in, relieved by less + severe interglacial times when the ice-sheets retreated northwards for a + time. Many types, like the mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, the sabre-toothed + tiger, the cave-lion,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id= + "Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span> and the cave-bear, became extinct. Others + which formerly had a wide range became restricted to the Far North or were + left isolated here and there on the high mountains, like the Snow Mouse, + which now occurs on isolated Alpine heights above the snow-line. Perhaps it + was during this period that many birds of the Northern Hemisphere learned to + evade the winter by the sublime device of migration.</p> + + <p>Looking backwards we may quote Professor Schuchert again:</p> + + <div class="blockquot"> + <p>"The lands in the Cenozoic began to bloom with more and more + flowering plants and grand hardwood forests, the atmosphere is scented with + sweet odours, a vast crowd of new kinds of insects appear, and the places of + the once dominant reptiles of the lands and seas are taken by the mammals. + Out of these struggles there rises a greater intelligence, seen in nearly + all of the mammal stocks, but particularly in one, the monkey-ape-man. Brute + man appears on the scene with the introduction of the last glacial climate, + a most trying time for all things endowed with life, and finally there + results the dominance of reasoning man over all his brute + associates."</p> + </div> + + <p>In man and human society the story of evolution has its climax.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Ascent of Man</h4> + + <p>Man stands apart from animals in his power of building up general ideas + and of using these in the guidance of his behaviour and the control of his + conduct. This is essentially wrapped up with his development of language as + an instrument of thought. Some animals have words, but man has language + (Logos). Some animals show evidence of <i>perceptual</i> inference, but man + often gets beyond this to <i>conceptual</i> inference (Reason). Many animals + are affectionate and brave, self-forgetful and industrious, but man + "thinks the ought," definitely guiding his conduct in the light of + ideals, which in turn are wrapped up with the fact that he is "a social + person."</p> + + <p>Besides his big brain, which may be three times as heavy as<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span> that of a + gorilla, man has various physical peculiarities. He walks erect, he plants + the sole of his foot flat on the ground, he has a chin and a good heel, a big + forehead and a non-protrusive face, a relatively uniform set of teeth without + conspicuous canines, and a relatively naked body.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image176" id="image176"></a> <a href= + "images/image176.jpg"><img src="images/image176_sm.jpg" alt= + "DIAGRAM SHOWING SEVEN STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE FORE-LIMBS AND HIND-LIMBS OF THE ANCESTORS OF THE MODERN HORSE, BEGINNING WITH THE EARLIEST KNOWN PREDECESSORS OF THE HORSE AND CULMINATING WITH THE HORSE OF TO-DAY" + title= + "DIAGRAM SHOWING SEVEN STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE FORE-LIMBS AND HIND-LIMBS OF THE ANCESTORS OF THE MODERN HORSE, BEGINNING WITH THE EARLIEST KNOWN PREDECESSORS OF THE HORSE AND CULMINATING WITH THE HORSE OF TO-DAY" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>DIAGRAM SHOWING SEVEN STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE FORE-LIMBS AND + HIND-LIMBS OF THE ANCESTORS OF THE MODERN HORSE, BEGINNING WITH THE + EARLIEST KNOWN PREDECESSORS OF THE HORSE AND CULMINATING WITH THE HORSE OF + TO-DAY</p> + + <p>(<i>After Marsh and Lull.</i>)</p> + + <p class="wide">1 and 1A, fore-limb and hind-limb of Eohippus; 2 and 2A, + Orohippus; 3 and 3A, Mesohippus; 4 and 4A, Hypohippus; 5 and 5A, + Merychippus; 6 and 6A, Hipparion; 7 and 7A, the modern horse. Note how the + toes shorten and disappear.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image177" id="image177"></a> <a href= + "images/image177.jpg"><img src="images/image177_sm.jpg" alt= + "WHAT IS MEANT BY HOMOLOGY? ESSENTIAL SIMILARITY OF ARCHITECTURE, THOUGH THE APPEARANCES MAY BE VERY DIFFERENT" + title= + "WHAT IS MEANT BY HOMOLOGY? ESSENTIAL SIMILARITY OF ARCHITECTURE, THOUGH THE APPEARANCES MAY BE VERY DIFFERENT" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>A. Fore-limb of Monkey B. Fore-limb of Whale</p> + + <p>WHAT IS MEANT BY HOMOLOGY? ESSENTIAL SIMILARITY OF ARCHITECTURE, THOUGH + THE APPEARANCES MAY BE VERY DIFFERENT</p> + + <p class="wide">This is seen in comparing these two fore-limbs, A, of + Monkey, B, of Whale. They are as different as possible, yet they show the + same bones, e.g. SC, the scapula or shoulder-blade; H, the humerus or upper + arm; R and U, the radius and ulna of the fore-arm; CA, the wrist; MC, the + palm; and then the fingers.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>But in spite of man's undeniable apartness, there is no doubt as to + his solidarity with the rest of creation. There is an "all-pervading + similitude of structure," between man and the Anthropoid Apes, though it + is certain that it is not from any living form that he took his origin. None + of the anatomical distinctions, except the heavy brain, could be called + momentous. Man's body is a veritable museum of relics (vestigial + structures) inherited from pre-human ancestors. In his everyday bodily life + and in some of its disturbances, man's pedigree is often revealed. Even + his facial expression, as Darwin showed, is not always human. Some fossil + remains bring modern man nearer the anthropoid type.</p> + + <p>It is difficult not to admit the ring of truth in the closing words of + Darwin's <i>Descent of Man</i>:</p> + + <div class="blockquot"> + <p>"We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man, with + all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, + with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest + living creature, with his God-like intellect which has penetrated into the + movements and constitution of the solar system—with all these exalted + powers—man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his + lowly origin."</p> + </div> + + <h3><span class="smcap">The Evolving System of Nature</span></h3> + + <p>There is another side of evolution so obvious that it is often overlooked, + the tendency to link lives together in vital inter-relations. Thus flowers + and their insect visitors are often vitally interlinked in mutual dependence. + Many birds feed on berries and distribute the seeds. The tiny freshwater + snail is the host of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id= + "Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span> the juvenile stages of the liver-fluke of the + sheep. The mosquito is the vehicle of malaria from man to man, and the + tse-tse fly spreads sleeping sickness. The freshwater mussel cannot continue + its race without the unconscious co-operation of the minnow, and the + freshwater fish called the bitterling cannot continue its race without the + unconscious co-operation of the mussel. There are numerous mutually + beneficial partnerships between different kinds of creatures, and other + inter-relations where the benefit is one-sided, as in the case of insects + that make galls on plants. There are also among kindred animals many forms of + colonies, communities, and societies. Nutritive chains bind long series of + animals together, the cod feeding on the whelk, the whelk on the worm, the + worm on the organic dust of the sea. There is a system of successive + incarnations and matter is continually passing from one embodiment to + another. These instances must suffice to illustrate the central biological + idea of the web of life, the interlinked System of Animate Nature. Linnæus + spoke of the Systema Naturæ, meaning the orderly hierarchy of classes, + orders, families, genera, and species; but we owe to Darwin in particular + some knowledge of a more dynamic Systema Naturæ, the network of vital + inter-relations. This has become more and more complex as evolution has + continued, and man's web is most complex of all. It means making Animate + Nature more of a unity; it means an external method of registering steps of + progress; it means an evolving set of sieves by which new variations are + sifted, and living creatures are kept from slipping down the steep ladder of + evolution.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Parasitism</h4> + + <p>It sometimes happens that the inter-relation established between one + living creature and another works in a retrograde direction. This is the case + with many thoroughgoing internal parasites which have sunk into an easygoing + kind of life, utterly dependent on their host for food, requiring no + exertions, running<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg + 107]</a></span> no risks, and receiving no spur to effort. Thus we see that + evolution is not necessarily progressive; everything depends on the + conditions in reference to which the living creatures have been evolved. When + the conditions are too easygoing, the animal may be thoroughly well adapted + to them—as a tapeworm certainly is—but it slips down the rungs of + the ladder of evolution.</p> + + <p>This is an interesting minor chapter in the story of evolution—the + establishment of different kinds of parasites, casual and constant, temporary + and lifelong, external hangers-on and internal unpaying boarders, those that + live in the food-canal and depend on the host's food and those that + inhabit the blood or the tissues and find their food there. It seems clear + that ichneumon grubs and the like which hatch inside a caterpillar and eat it + alive are not so much parasites as "beasts of prey" working from + within.</p> + + <p>But there are two sides to this minor chapter: there is the evolution of + the parasite, and there is also the evolution of counteractive measures on + the part of the host. Thus there is the maintenance of a bodyguard of + wandering amœboid cells, which tackle the microbes invading the body + and often succeed in overpowering and digesting them. Thus, again, there is + the protective capacity the blood has of making antagonistic substances or + "anti-bodies" which counteract poisons, including the poisons which + the intruding parasites often make.</p> + + <h3>THE EVIDENCES OF EVOLUTION—HOW IT CAME ABOUT</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Progress in Evolution</h4> + + <p>There has often been slipping back and degeneracy in the course of + evolution, but the big fact is that there has been progress. For millions of + years Life has been slowly creeping upwards, and if we compare the highest + animals—Birds and Mammals—with their predecessors, we must admit + that they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg + 108]</a></span> are more controlled, more masters of their fate, with more + mentality. Evolution is on the whole <i>integrative</i>; that is to say, it + makes against instability and disorder, and towards harmony and progress. + Even in the rise of Birds and Mammals we can discern that the evolutionary + process was making towards a fuller embodiment or expression of what Man + values most—control, freedom, understanding, and love. The advance of + animal life through the ages has been chequered, but on the whole it has been + an advance towards increasing fullness, freedom, and fitness of life. In the + study of this advance—the central fact of Organic Evolution—there + is assuredly much for Man's instruction and much for his + encouragement.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Evidences of Evolution</h4> + + <p>In all this, it may be said, the fact of evolution has been taken for + granted, but what are the evidences? Perhaps it should be frankly answered + that the idea of evolution, that the present is the child of the past and the + parent of the future, cannot be <i>proved</i> as one may prove the Law of + Gravitation. All that can be done is to show that it is a key—a way of + looking at things—that fits the facts. There is no lock that it does + not open.</p> + + <p>But if the facts that the evolution theory vividly interprets be called + the evidences of its validity, there is no lack of them. There is + <i>historical</i> evidence; and what is more eloquent than the general fact + that fishes emerge before amphibians, and these before reptiles, and these + before birds, and so on? There are wonderfully complete fossil series, e.g. + among cuttlefishes, in which we can almost see evolution in process. The + pedigree of horse and elephant and crocodile is in general very convincing, + though it is to be confessed that there are other cases in regard to which we + have no light. Who can tell, for instance, how Vertebrates arose or from what + origin?</p> + + <p>There is <i>embryological</i> evidence, for the individual + development<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg + 109]</a></span> often reads like an abbreviated recapitulation of the + presumed evolution of the race. The mammal's visceral clefts are + tell-tale evidence of remote aquatic ancestors, breathing by gills. Something + is known in regard to the historical evolution of antlers in bygone ages; the + Red Deer of to-day recapitulates at least the general outlines of the + history. The individual development of an asymmetrical flat-fish, like a + plaice or sole, which rests and swims on one side, tells us plainly that its + ancestors were symmetrical fishes.</p> + + <p>There is what might be called <i>physiological</i> evidence, for many + plants and animals are variable before our eyes, and evolution is going on + around us to-day. This is familiarly seen among domesticated animals and + cultivated plants, but there is abundant flux in Wild Nature. It need hardly + be said that some organisms are very conservative, and that change need not + be expected when a position of stable equilibrium has been secured.</p> + + <p>There is also <i>anatomical</i> evidence of a most convincing quality. In + the fore-limbs of backboned animals, say, the paddle of a turtle, the wing of + a bird, the flipper of a whale, the fore-leg of a horse, and the arm of a + man; the same essential bones and muscles are used to such diverse results! + What could it mean save blood relationship? And as to the two sets of teeth + in whalebone whales, which never even cut the gum, is there any alternative + but to regard them as relics of useful teeth which ancestral forms possessed? + In short, the evolution theory is justified by the way in which it works.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Factors in Evolution</h4> + + <p>If it be said "So much for the <i>fact</i> of evolution, but what of + the <i>factors</i>?" the answer is not easy. For not only is the problem + the greatest of all scientific problems, but the inquiry is still very young. + The scientific study of evolution<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id= + "Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span> practically dates from the publication of + <i>The Origin of Species</i> in 1859.</p> + + <p>Heritable novelties or variations often crop up in living creatures, and + these form the raw material of evolution. These variations are the outcome of + expression of changes in the germ-cells that develop into organisms. But why + should there be changes in the constitution of the germ-cells? Perhaps + because the living material is very complex and inherently liable to change; + perhaps because it is the vehicle of a multitude of hereditary items among + which there are very likely to be reshufflings or rearrangements; perhaps + because the germ-cells have very changeful surroundings (the blood, the + body-cavity fluid, the sea-water); perhaps because deeply saturating outside + influences, such as change of climate and habitat, penetrate through the body + to its germ-cells and provoke them to vary. But we must be patient with the + wearisome reiteration of "perhaps." Moreover, every many-celled + organism reproduced in the usual way, arises from an egg-cell fertilised by a + sperm-cell, and the changes involved in and preparatory to this fertilisation + may make new permutations and combinations of the living items and hereditary + qualities not only possible but necessary. It is something like shuffling a + pack of cards, but the cards are living. As to the changes wrought on the + body during its lifetime by peculiarities in nurture, habits, and + surroundings, these dents or modifications are often very important for the + individual, but it does not follow that they are directly important for the + race, since it is not certain that they are transmissible.</p> + + <p>Given a crop of variations or new departures or mutations, whatever the + inborn novelties may be called, we have then to inquire how these are sifted. + The sifting, which means the elimination of the relatively less fit + variations and the selection of the relatively more fit, effected in many + different ways in the course of the struggle for existence. The organism + plays its new card in the game of life, and the consequences may + determine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg + 111]</a></span> survival. The relatively less fit to given conditions will + tend to be eliminated, while the relatively more fit will tend to survive. If + the variations are hereditary and reappear, perhaps increased in amount, + generation after generation, and if the process of sifting continue + consistently, the result will be the evolution of the species. The sifting + process may be helped by various forms of "isolation" which lessen + the range of free intercrossing between members of a species, e.g. by + geographical barriers. Interbreeding of similar forms tends to make a stable + stock; out-breeding among dissimilars tends to promote variability. But for + an outline like this it is enough to suggest the general method of organic + evolution: Throughout the ages organisms have been making + tentatives—new departures of varying magnitude—and these + tentatives have been tested. The method is that of testing all things and + holding fast that which is good.</p> + + <h3>BIBLIOGRAPHY</h3> + + <p>(The following short list may be useful to readers who desire to have + further books recommended to them.)</p> + + <p><span class="smcap">Clodd</span>, <i>Story of Creation: A Plain Account of + Evolution.</i> + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Darwin</span>, <i>Origin of Species, Descent of Man.</i> + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Deperet</span>, <i>Transformation of the Animal World</i> + (Internat. Sci. Series). + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Geddes and Thomson</span>, <i>Evolution</i> (Home + University Library). + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Goodrich</span>, <i>Evolution</i> (The People's + Books). + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Headley</span>, <i>Life and Evolution.</i> + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Hutchinson, H. Neville</span>, <i>Extinct Monsters</i> + (1892). + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Lull</span>, <i>Organic Evolution.</i> + <br /> + <span class="smcap">McCabe</span>, <i>A B C of Evolution.</i> + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Metcalf</span>, <i>Outline of the Theory of Organic + Evolution.</i> + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Osborn, H. F.</span>, <i>The Evolution of Life</i> + (1921). + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Thomson</span>, <i>Darwinism and Human Life.</i> + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Wallace</span>, <i>Darwinism.</i></p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg + 113]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg + 112]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg + 114]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg + 115]</a></span></p> + <hr /> + + <h2>III</h2> + + <h2>ADAPTATIONS TO ENVIRONMENT</h2> + <hr /> + + <h3>ADAPTATIONS TO ENVIRONMENT</h3> + + <p>We saw in a previous chapter how the process of evolution led to a mastery + of all the haunts of life. But it is necessary to return to these haunts or + homes of animals in some detail, so as to understand the peculiar + circumstances of each, and to see how in the course of ages of struggle all + sorts of self-preserving and race-continuing adaptations or fitnesses have + been wrought out and firmly established. Living creatures have spread over + all the earth and in the waters under the earth; some of them have conquered + the underground world and others the air. It is possible, however, as has + been indicated, to distinguish six great haunts of life, each tenanted by a + distinctive fauna, namely, the shore of the sea, the open sea, the depths of + the sea, the freshwaters, the dry land, and the air. In the deep sea there + are no plants at all; in the air the only plants are floating bacteria, + though there is a sense in which a tree is very aerial, and the orchid + perched on its branches still more so; in the other four haunts there is a + flora as well as a fauna—the two working into one another's hands + in interesting and often subtle inter-relations—the subject of a + separate study.</p> + + <h3>I. THE SHORE OF THE SEA</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Seaweed Area</h4> + + <p>By the shore of the sea the zoologist means much more than the narrow zone + between tide-marks; he means the whole of the relatively shallow, + well-illumined, seaweed-growing shelf around the continents and continental + islands. Technically, this is called<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" + id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span> the littoral area, and it is divisible into + zones, each with its characteristic population. It may be noted that the + green seaweeds are highest up on the shore; the brown ones come next; the + beautiful red ones are lowest. All of them have got green chlorophyll, which + enables them to utilise the sun's rays in photosynthesis (i.e. building + up carbon compounds from air, water, and salts), but in the brown and red + seaweeds the green pigment is masked by others. It is maintained by some + botanists that these other pigments enable their possessors to make more of + the scantier light in the deeper waters. However this may be, we must always + think of the shore-haunt as the seaweed-growing area. Directly and indirectly + the life of the shore animals is closely wrapped up with the seaweeds, which + afford food and foothold, and temper the force of the waves. The minute + fragments broken off from seaweeds and from the sea-grass (a flowering plant + called Zostera) form a sort of nutritive sea-dust which is swept slowly down + the slope from the shore, to form a very useful deposit in the quietness of + deepish water. It is often found in the stomachs of marine animals living a + long way offshore.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Conditions of Shore Life</h4> + + <p>The littoral area as defined is not a large haunt of life; it occupies + only about 9 million square miles, a small fraction of the 197,000,000 of the + whole earth's surface. But it is a very long haunt, some 150,000 miles, + winding in and out by bay and fiord, estuary and creek. Where deep water + comes close to cliffs there may be no shore at all; in other places the + relatively shallow water, with seaweeds growing over the bottom, may extend + outwards for miles. The nature of the shore varies greatly according to the + nature of the rocks, according to what the streams bring down from inland, + and according to the jetsam that is brought in by the tides. The shore is a + changeful place; there is, in the upper reaches, a striking difference + between "tide in" and "tide out"; there are vicissitudes + due to storms, to freshwater floods, to<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span> wind-blown sand, and to slow + changes of level, up and down. The shore is a very crowded haunt, for it is + comparatively narrow, and every niche among the rocks may be precious.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image190a" id="image190a"></a> <a href= + "images/image190a.jpg"><img src="images/image190a_sm.jpg" alt= + "AN EIGHT-ARMED CUTTLEFISH OR OCTOPUS ATTACKING A SMALL CRAB" title= + "AN EIGHT-ARMED CUTTLEFISH OR OCTOPUS ATTACKING A SMALL CRAB" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>AN EIGHT-ARMED CUTTLEFISH OR OCTOPUS ATTACKING A SMALL CRAB</p> + + <p class="wide">These molluscs are particularly fond of crustaceans, which + they crunch with their parrot's beak-like jaws. Their salivary juice + has a paralysing effect on their prey. To one side, below the eye, may be + seen the funnel through which water is very forcibly ejected in the process + of locomotion.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image190b" id="image190b"></a> <a href= + "images/image190b.jpg"><img src="images/image190b_sm.jpg" alt= + "A COMMON STARFISH, WHICH HAS LOST THREE ARMS AND IS REGROWING THEM" title= + "A COMMON STARFISH, WHICH HAS LOST THREE ARMS AND IS REGROWING THEM" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>A COMMON STARFISH, WHICH HAS LOST THREE ARMS AND IS REGROWING THEM</p> + + <p>The lowest arm is being regrown double.</p> + + <p>(<i>After Professor W. C. McIntosh.</i>)</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image191a" id="image191a"></a> <a href= + "images/image191a.jpg"><img src="images/image191a_sm.jpg" alt= + "A PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING A STARFISH (Asterias Forreri) WHICH HAS CAPTURED A LARGE FISH" + title= + "A PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING A STARFISH (Asterias Forreri) WHICH HAS CAPTURED A LARGE FISH" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>A PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING A STARFISH (<i>Asterias Forreri</i>) WHICH HAS + CAPTURED A LARGE FISH</p> + + <p class="wide">The suctorial tube-feet are seen gripping the fish firmly. + (After an observation on the Californian coast.)</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image191b" id="image191b"></a> <a href= + "images/image191b.jpg"><img src="images/image191b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE PAPER NAUTILUS (ARGONAUTA), AN ANIMAL OF THE OPEN SEA" title= + "THE PAPER NAUTILUS (ARGONAUTA), AN ANIMAL OF THE OPEN SEA" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</i></p> + + <p>THE PAPER NAUTILUS (ARGONAUTA), AN ANIMAL OF THE OPEN SEA</p> + + <p class="wide">The delicate shell is made by the female only, and is used + as a shelter for the eggs and young ones. It is secreted by two of the + arms, not by the mantle as other mollusc shells are. It is a + single-chambered shell, very different from that of the Pearly + Nautilus.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h4 class="sect">Keen Struggle for Existence</h4> + + <p>It follows that the shore must be the scene of a keen struggle for + existence—which includes all the answers-back that living creatures + make to environing difficulties and limitations. There is struggle for food, + accentuated by the fact that small items tend to be swept away by the + outgoing tide or to sink down the slope to deep water. Apart from direct + competition, e.g. between hungry hermit-crabs, it often involves hard work to + get a meal. This is true even of apparently sluggish creatures. Thus the + Crumb-of-Bread Sponge, or any other seashore sponge, has to lash large + quantities of water through the intricate canal system of its body before it + can get a sufficient supply of the microscopic organisms and organic + particles on which it feeds. An index of the intensity of the struggle for + food is afforded by the nutritive chains which bind animals together. The + shore is almost noisy with the conjugation of the verb to eat in its many + tenses. One pound of rock-cod requires for its formation ten pounds of whelk; + one pound of whelk requires ten pounds of sea-worms; and one pound of worms + requires ten pounds of sea-dust. Such is the circulation of matter, ever + passing from one embodiment or incarnation to another.</p> + + <p>Besides struggle for food there is struggle for foothold and for fresh + air, struggle against the scouring tide and against the pounding breakers. + The risk of dislodgment is often great and the fracture of limbs is a common + accident. Of kinds of armour—the sea-urchin's hedgehog-like test, + the crab's shard, the limpet's shell—there is great variety, + surpassed only by that of weapons—the sea-anemone's stinging-cells, + the sea-urchin's snapping-blades, the hermit-crab's forceps, the + grappling tentacles and parrot's-beak jaws of the octopus.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span></p> + + <h4 class="sect">Shifts for a Living</h4> + + <p>We get another glimpse of the intensity of the seashore struggle for + existence in the frequency of "shifts for a living," adaptations of + structure or of behaviour which meet frequently recurrent vicissitudes. The + starfish is often in the dilemma of losing a limb or its life; by a reflex + action it jettisons the captured arm and escapes. And what is lost is + gradually regrown. The crab gets its leg broken past all mending; it casts + off the leg across a weak breakage plane near the base, and within a + preformed bandage which prevents bleeding a new leg is formed in miniature. + Such is the adaptive device—more reflex than reflective—which is + called self-mutilation or autotomy.</p> + + <p>In another part of this book there is a discussion of camouflaging and + protective resemblance; how abundantly these are illustrated on the shore! + But there are other "shifts for a living." Some of the sand-hoppers + and their relatives illustrate the puzzling phenomenon of "feigning + death," becoming suddenly so motionless that they escape the eyes of + their enemies. Cuttlefishes, by discharging sepia from their ink-bags, are + able to throw dust in the eyes of their enemies. Some undisguised + shore-animals, e.g. crabs, are adepts in a hide-and-seek game; some fishes, + like the butterfish or gunnel, escape between stones where there seemed no + opening and are almost uncatchable in their slipperiness. Subtlest of all, + perhaps, is the habit some hermit-crabs have of entering into mutually + beneficial partnership (commensalism) with sea-anemones, which mask their + bearers and also serve as mounted batteries, getting transport as their + reward and likewise crumbs from the frequently spread table. But enough has + been said to show that the shore-haunt exhibits an extraordinary variety of + shifts for a living.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Parental Care on the Shore</h4> + + <p>According to Darwin, the struggle for existence, as a big fact in the + economy of Animate Nature, includes not only competition<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span> but all the + endeavours which secure the welfare of the offspring, and give them a good + send-off in life. So it is without a jolt that we pass from struggle for food + and foothold to parental care. The marine leech called Pontobdella, an + interesting greenish warty creature fond of fixing itself to skate, places + its egg-cocoons in the empty shell of a bivalve mollusc, and guards them for + weeks, removing any mud that might injure their development. We have seen a + British starfish with its fully-formed young ones creeping about on its body, + though the usual mode of development for shore starfishes is that the young + ones pass through a free-swimming larval period in the open water. The father + sea-spider carries about the eggs attached to two of his limbs; the father + sea-horse puts his mate's eggs into his breast pocket and carries them + there in safety until they are hatched; the father stickleback of the + shore-pools makes a seaweed nest and guards the eggs which his wives are + induced to lay there; the father lumpsucker mounts guard over the bunch of + pinkish eggs which his mate has laid in a nook of a rocky shore-pool, and + drives off intruders with zest. He also aerates the developing eggs by + frequent paddling with his pectoral fins and tail, as the Scots name + Cock-paidle probably suggests. It is interesting that the salient examples of + parental care in the shore-haunt are mostly on the male parent's side. + But there is maternal virtue as well.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image194a" id="image194a"></a> <a href= + "images/image194a.jpg"><img src="images/image194a_sm.jpg" alt= + "TEN-ARMED CUTTLEFISH OR SQUID IN THE ACT OF CAPTURING A FISH" title= + "TEN-ARMED CUTTLEFISH OR SQUID IN THE ACT OF CAPTURING A FISH" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>TEN-ARMED CUTTLEFISH OR SQUID IN THE ACT OF CAPTURING A FISH</p> + + <p class="wide">The arms bear numerous prehensile suckers, which grip the + prey. In the mouth there are strong jaws shaped like a parrot's beak. + The cuttlefishes are molluscs and may be regarded as the highest of the + backboneless or Invertebrate animals. Many occur near shore, others in the + open sea, and others in the great depths.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image194b" id="image194b"></a> <a href= + "images/image194b.jpg"><img src="images/image194b_sm.jpg" alt= + "GREENLAND WHALE" title="GREENLAND WHALE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>GREENLAND WHALE</p> + + <p class="wide">Showing the double blowhole or nostrils on the top of the + head and the whalebone plates hanging down from the roof of the mouth.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image195a" id="image195a"></a> <a href= + "images/image195a.jpg"><img src="images/image195a_sm.jpg" alt= + "MINUTE TRANSPARENT EARLY STAGE OF A SEA-CUCUMBER" title= + "MINUTE TRANSPARENT EARLY STAGE OF A SEA-CUCUMBER" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>MINUTE TRANSPARENT EARLY STAGE OF A SEA-CUCUMBER</p> + + <p class="wide">It swims in the open sea by means of girdles of microscopic + cilia shown in the figure. After a period of free swimming and a remarkable + metamorphosis, the animal settles down on the floor of the sea in + relatively shallow water.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image195b" id="image195b"></a> <a href= + "images/image195b.jpg"><img src="images/image195b_sm.jpg" alt= + "AN INTRICATE COLONY OF OPEN-SEA ANIMALS (Physophora Hydrostatica) RELATED TO THE PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR" + title= + "AN INTRICATE COLONY OF OPEN-SEA ANIMALS (Physophora Hydrostatica) RELATED TO THE PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: British Museum (Natural History)</i></p> + + <p>AN INTRICATE COLONY OF OPEN-SEA ANIMALS (<i>Physophora Hydrostatica</i>) + RELATED TO THE PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR</p> + + <p class="wide">There is great division of labor in the colony. At the top + are floating and swimming "persons"; the long ones below are + offensive "persons" bearing batteries of stinging cells; in the + middle zone there are nutritive, reproductive, and other + "persons." The color of the colony is a fine translucent blue. + Swimmers and bathers are often badly stung by this strange animal and its + relatives.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image195c" id="image195c"></a> <a href= + "images/image195c.jpg"><img src="images/image195c_sm.jpg" alt= + "A SCENE IN THE GREAT DEPTHS" title="A SCENE IN THE GREAT DEPTHS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>A SCENE IN THE GREAT DEPTHS</p> + + <p class="wide">Showing a deep-sea fish of large gape, two feather-stars on + the end of long stalks, a "sea-spider" (or Pycnogon) walking on + lanky legs on the treacherous ooze, likewise a brittle-star, and some + deep-sea corals.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>The fauna of the shore is remarkably <i>representative</i>—from + unicellular Protozoa to birds like the oyster-catcher and mammals like the + seals. Almost all the great groups of animals have apparently served an + apprenticeship in the shore-haunt, and since lessons learned for millions of + years sink in and become organically enregistered, it is justifiable to look + to the shore as a great school in which were gained racial qualities of + endurance, patience, and alertness.</p> + + <h3>II. THE OPEN SEA</h3> + + <p>In great contrast to the narrow, crowded, difficult conditions of the + shore-haunt (littoral area) are the spacious, bountiful, and<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span> relatively + easygoing conditions of the open sea (pelagic area), which means the + well-lighted surface waters quite away from land. Many small organisms have + their maximum abundance at about fifty fathoms, so that the word + "surface" is to be taken generously. The light becomes very dim at + 250 fathoms, and the open sea, as a zoological haunt, stops with the light. + It is hardly necessary to say that the pelagic plants are more abundant near + the surface, and that below a certain depth the population consists almost + exclusively of animals. Not a few of the animals sink and rise in the water + periodically; there are some that come near the surface by day, and others + that come near the surface by night. Of great interest is the habit of the + extremely delicate Ctenophores or "sea-gooseberries," which the + splash of a wave would tear into shreds. Whenever there is any hint of a + storm they sink beyond its reach, and the ocean's surface must have + remained flat as a mirror for many hours before they can be lured upwards + from the calm of their deep retreat.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Floating Sea-meadows</h4> + + <p>To understand the vital economy of the open sea, we must recognise the + incalculable abundance of minute unicellular plants, for they form the + fundamental food-supply. Along with these must also be included numerous + microscopic animals which have got possession of chlorophyll, or have entered + into internal partnership with unicellular Algæ (symbiosis). These green or + greenish plants and animals are the <i>producers</i>, using the energy of the + sunlight to help them in building up carbon compounds out of air, water, and + salts. The animals which feed on the producers, or on other animals, are the + <i>consumers</i>. Between the two come those open-sea bacteria that convert + nitrogenous material, e.g. from dead plants or animals that other bacteria + have rotted, into forms, e.g. nitrates, which plants can re-utilise. The + importance of these <i>middlemen</i> is great in keeping "the + circulation of matter" agoing.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image198" id="image198"></a> <a href= + "images/image198.jpg"><img src="images/image198_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE DEEP-SEA FISH" title="THE DEEP-SEA FISH" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p class="wide">1. SEA-HORSE IN SARGASSO WEED. In its frond-like tags of + skin and in its colouring this kind of sea-horse is well concealed among + the floating seaweed of the so-called Sargasso Sea.</p> + + <p class="wide">2. THE LARGE MARINE LAMPREYS (<i>PETROMYZON MARINUS</i>), + WHICH MAY BE AS LONG AS ONE'S ARM, SPAWN IN FRESH WATER. Stones and + pebbles, gripped in the suctorial mouth, are removed from a selected spot + and piled around the circumference, so that the eggs, which are laid within + the circle, are not easily washed away.</p> + + <p class="wide">3. THE DEEP-SEA FISH <i>CHIASMODON NIGER</i> IS FAMOUS FOR + ITS VORACITY. It sometimes manages to swallow a fish larger than itself, + which causes an extraordinary protrusion of the stomach.</p> + + <p class="wide">4. DEEP-SEA FISHES. Two of them—<i>Melanocetus + murrayi</i> and <i>Melanocetus indicus</i>—are related to the Angler + of British coasts, but adapted to life in the great abysses. They are very + dark in colour, and delicately built; they possess well-developed luminous + organs. The third form is called Chauliodus, a predatory animal with large + gape and formidable teeth.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image199a" id="image199a"></a> <a href= + "images/image199a.jpg"><img src="images/image199a_sm.jpg" alt= + "FLINTY SKELETON OF VENUS FLOWER BASKET (EUPLECTELLA), A JAPANESE DEEP-SEA SPONGE" + title= + "FLINTY SKELETON OF VENUS FLOWER BASKET (EUPLECTELLA), A JAPANESE DEEP-SEA SPONGE" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>FLINTY SKELETON OF VENUS FLOWER BASKET (EUPLECTELLA), A JAPANESE + DEEP-SEA SPONGE</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image199b" id="image199b"></a> <a href= + "images/image199b.jpg"><img src="images/image199b_sm.jpg" alt= + "EGG DEPOSITORY OF Semotilus Atromaculatus" title= + "EGG DEPOSITORY OF Semotilus Atromaculatus" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>EGG DEPOSITORY OF <i>Semotilus Atromaculatus</i></p> + + <p class="wide">In the building of this egg depository, the male fish takes + stones from the bottom of the stream, gripping them in his mouth, and heaps + them up into the dam. In the egg depository he arranges the stones so that + when the eggs are deposited in the interstices they are thoroughly + protected, and cannot be washed down-stream.</p> + + <p class="wide">1, dam of stones; 2, egg depository; 3, hillock of sand. + The arrow shows the direction of the stream. Upper fish, male; lower, + female.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg + 121]</a></span></p> + + <p>The "floating sea-meadows," as Sir John Murray called them, are + always receiving contributions from inshore waters, where the conditions are + favourable for the prolific multiplication of unicellular Algæ, and there is + also a certain amount of non-living sea-dust always being swept out from the + seaweed and sea-grass area.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Swimmers and Drifters</h4> + + <p>The animals of the open sea are conveniently divided into the active + swimmers (Nekton) and the more passive drifters (Plankton). The swimmers + include whales great and small, such birds as the storm petrel, the + fish-eating turtles and sea-snakes, such fishes as mackerel and herring, the + winged snails or sea-butterflies on which whalebone whales largely feed, some + of the active cuttles or squids, various open-sea prawns and their relatives, + some worms like the transparent arrow-worm, and such active Protozoa as + Noctiluca, whose luminescence makes the waves sparkle in the short summer + darkness. Very striking as an instance of the insurgence of life are the + sea-skimmers (Halobatidæ), wingless insects related to the water-measurers in + the ditch. They are found hundreds of miles from land, skimming on the + surface of the open sea, and diving in stormy weather. They feed on floating + dead animals.</p> + + <p>The drifters or easygoing swimmers—for there is no hard and fast + line—are represented, for instance, by the flinty-shelled Radiolarians + and certain of the chalk-forming animals (Globigerinid Foraminifera); by + jellyfishes, swimming-bells, and Portuguese men-of-war; by the comb-bearers + or Ctenophores; by legions of minute Crustaceans; by strange animals called + Salps, related to the sedentary sea-squirts; and by some sluggish fishes like + globe-fishes, which often float idly on the surface.</p> + + <p>Open-sea animals tend to be delicately built, with a specific gravity near + that of the sea-water, with adaptations, such as projecting filaments, which + help flotation, and with capacities of<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span> rising and sinking according to + the surrounding conditions. Many of them are luminescent, and many of them + are very inconspicuous in the water owing to their transparency or their + bluish colour. In both cases the significance is obscure.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Hunger and Love</h4> + + <p>Hunger is often very much in evidence in the open sea, especially in areas + where the Plankton is poor. For there is great diversity in this respect, + most of the Mediterranean, for instance, having a scanty Plankton as compared + with the North Sea. In the South Pacific, west of Patagonia, there is said to + be an immense "sea desert" where there is little Plankton, and + therefore little in the way of fishes. The success of fisheries in the North, + e.g. on the Atlantic cod-banks, is due to the richness of the floating + sea-meadows and the abundance of the smaller constituents of the animal + Plankton.</p> + + <p>Hunger is plain enough when the Baleen Whale rushes through the water with + open jaws, engulfing in the huge cavern of its mouth, where the pendent + whalebone plates form a huge sieve, incalculable millions of small fry.</p> + + <p>But there is love as well as hunger in the open sea. The maternal care + exhibited by the whale reaches a very high level, and the delicate shell of + the female Paper Nautilus or Argonaut, in which the eggs and the young ones + are sheltered, may well be described as "the most beautiful cradle in + the world."</p> + + <p>Besides the permanent inhabitants of the open sea, there are the larval + stages of many shore-animals which are there only for a short time. For there + is an interesting give and take between the shore-haunt and the open sea. + From the shore come nutritive contributions and minute organisms which + multiply quickly in the open waters. But not less important is the fact that + the open waters afford a safe cradle or nursery for many a delicate larva, + e.g. of crab and starfish, acorn-shell and sea-urchin, which could not + survive for a day in the rough-and-tumble conditions of the<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span> shore and the + shallow water. After undergoing radical changes and gaining strength, the + young creatures return to the shore in various ways.</p> + + <h3>III. THE DEEP SEA</h3> + + <p>Very different from all the other haunts are the depths of the sea, + including the floor of the abysses and the zones of water near the bottom. + This haunt, forever unseen, occupies more than a third of the earth's + surface, and it is thickly peopled. It came into emphatic notice in + connection with the mending of telegraph cables, but the results of the + <i>Challenger</i> expedition (1873-6) gave the first impressive picture of + what was practically a new world.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Physical Conditions</h4> + + <p>The average depth of the ocean is about two and a half miles; therefore, + since many parts are relatively shallow, there must be enormous depths. A few + of these, technically called "deeps," are about six miles deep, in + which Mount Everest would be engulfed. There is enormous pressure in such + depths; even at 2,500 fathoms it is two and a half tons on the square inch. + The temperature is on and off the freezing-point of fresh water (28°-34° + Fahr.), due to the continual sinking down of cold water from the Poles, + especially from the South. Apart from the fitful gleams of luminescent + animals, there is utter darkness in the deep waters. The rays of sunlight are + practically extinguished at 250 fathoms, though very sensitive bromogelatine + plates exposed at 500 fathoms have shown faint indications even at that + depth. It is a world of absolute calm and silence, and there is no scenery on + the floor. A deep, cold, dark, silent, monotonous world!</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Biological Conditions</h4> + + <p>While some parts of the floor of the abysses are more thickly peopled than + others, there is no depth limit to the distribution of<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span> life. Wherever + the long arm of the dredge has reached, animals have been found, e.g. + Protozoa, sponges, corals, worms, starfishes, sea-urchins, sea-lilies, + crustaceans, lamp-shells, molluscs, ascidians, and fishes—a very + representative fauna. In the absence of light there can be no + chlorophyll-possessing plants, and as the animals cannot all be eating one + another there must be an extraneous source of food-supply. This is found in + the sinking down of minute organisms which are killed on the surface by + changes of temperature and other causes. What is left of them, before or + after being swallowed, and of sea-dust and mineral particles of various kinds + forms the diversified "ooze" of the sea-floor, a soft muddy + precipitate, which is said to have in places the consistence of butter in + summer weather.</p> + + <p>There seems to be no bacteria in the abysses, so there can be no rotting. + Everything that sinks down, even the huge carcase of a whale, must be nibbled + away by hungry animals and digested, or else, in the case of most bones, + slowly dissolved away. Of the whale there are left only the ear-bones, of the + shark his teeth.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Adaptations to Deep-sea Life</h4> + + <p>In adaptation to the great pressure the bodies of deep-sea animals are + usually very permeable, so that the water gets through and through them, as + in the case of Venus' Flower Basket, a flinty sponge which a child's + finger would shiver. But when the pressure inside is the same as that outside + nothing happens. In adaptation to the treacherous ooze, so apt to smother, + many of the active deep-sea animals have very long, stilt-like legs, and many + of the sedentary types are lifted into safety on the end of long stalks which + have their bases embedded in the mud. In adaptation to the darkness, in which + there is only luminescence that eyes could use, there is a great development + of tactility. The interesting problem of luminescence will be discussed + elsewhere.</p> + + <p>As to the origin of the deep-sea fauna, there seems no doubt<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span> that it has + arisen by many contributions from the various shore-haunts. Following the + down-drifting food, many shore-animals have in the course of many generations + reached the world of eternal night and winter, and become adapted to its + strange conditions. For the animals of the deep-sea are as fit, beautiful, + and vigorous as those elsewhere. There are no slums in Nature.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image204a" id="image204a"></a> <a href= + "images/image204a.jpg"><img src="images/image204a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE BITTERLING (Rhodeus Amarus)" title= + "THE BITTERLING (Rhodeus Amarus)" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE BITTERLING (<i>Rhodeus Amarus</i>)</p> + + <p class="wide">A Continental fish which lays its eggs by means of a long + ovipositor inside the freshwater mussel. The eggs develop inside the + mollusc's gill-plates.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image204b" id="image204b"></a> <a href= + "images/image204b.jpg"><img src="images/image204b_sm.jpg" alt= + "WOOLLY OPOSSUM CARRYING HER FAMILY" title= + "WOOLLY OPOSSUM CARRYING HER FAMILY" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: W. S. Berridge.</i></p> + + <p>WOOLLY OPOSSUM CARRYING HER FAMILY</p> + + <p class="wide">One of the young ones is clinging to its mother and has its + long prehensile tail coiled round hers.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image205a" id="image205a"></a> <a href= + "images/image205a.jpg"><img src="images/image205a_sm.jpg" alt= + "SURINAM TOAD (Pipa Americana) WITH YOUNG ONES HATCHING OUT OF LITTLE POCKETS ON HER BACK" + title= + "SURINAM TOAD (Pipa Americana) WITH YOUNG ONES HATCHING OUT OF LITTLE POCKETS ON HER BACK" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>SURINAM TOAD (<i>Pipa Americana</i>) WITH YOUNG ONES HATCHING OUT OF + LITTLE POCKETS ON HER BACK</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image205b" id="image205b"></a> <a href= + "images/image205b.jpg"><img src="images/image205b_sm.jpg" alt= + "STORM PETREL OR MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKEN" title= + "STORM PETREL OR MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKEN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>STORM PETREL OR MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKEN</p> + + <p>(<i>Procellaria Pelagica</i>)</p> + + <p class="wide">This characteristic bird of the open sea does not come to + land at all except to nest. It is the smallest web-footed bird, about four + inches long. The legs are long and often touch the water as the bird flies. + The storm petrel is at home in the Atlantic, and often nests on islands off + the west coast of Britain.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3>IV. THE FRESH WATERS</h3> + + <p>Of the whole earth's surface the freshwaters form a very small + fraction, about a hundredth, but they make up for their smallness by their + variety. We think of deep lake and shallow pond, of the great river and the + purling brook, of lagoon and swamp, and more besides. There is a striking + resemblance in the animal population of widely separated freshwater basins: + and this is partly because birds carry many small creatures on their muddy + feet from one water-shed to another; partly because some of the freshwater + animals are descended from types which make their way from the sea and the + seashore through estuaries and marshes, and only certain kinds of + constitution could survive the migration; and partly because some lakes are + landlocked dwindling relics of ancient seas, and similar forms again would + survive the change.</p> + + <p>A typical assemblage of freshwater animals would include many Protozoa, + like Amœbæ and the Bell-Animalcules, a representative of one family of + sponges (Spongillidæ), the common Hydra, many unsegmented worms (notably + Planarians and Nematodes), many Annelids related to the earthworms, many + crustaceans, insects, and mites, many bivalves and snails, various fishes, a + newt or two, perhaps a little mud-turtle or in warm countries a huge + Crocodilian, various interesting birds like the water-ouzel or dipper, and + mammals like the water-vole and the water-shrew.</p> + + <p>Freshwater animals have to face certain difficulties, the greatest of + which are drought, frost, and being washed away in<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span> times of + flood. There is no more interesting study in the world than an inquiry into + the adaptations by which freshwater animals overcome the difficulties of the + situation. We cannot give more than a few illustrations.</p> + + <p>(1) Drought is circumvented by the capacity that many freshwater animals + have of lying low and saying nothing. Thus the African mudfish may spend half + the year encased in the mud, and many minute crustaceans can survive being + dried up for years. (2) Escape from the danger of being frozen hard in the + pool is largely due to the almost unique property of water that it expands as + it approaches the freezing-point. Thus the colder water rises to the surface + and forms or adds to the protecting blanket of ice. The warmer water remains + unfrozen at the bottom, and the animals live on. (3) The risk of being washed + away, e.g. to the sea, is lessened by all sorts of gripping, grappling, and + anchoring structures, and by shortening the juvenile stages when the risks + are greatest.</p> + + <h3>V. THE DRY LAND</h3> + + <p>Over and over again in the history of animal life there have been attempts + to get out of the water on to terra firma, and many of these have been + successful, notably those made (1) by worms, (2) by air-breathing Arthropods, + and (3) by amphibians.</p> + + <p>In thinking of the conquest of the dry land by animals, we must recognise + the indispensable rôle of plants in preparing the way. The dry ground would + have proved too inhospitable had not terrestrial plants begun to establish + themselves, affording food, shelter, and humidity. There had to be plants + before there could be earthworms, which feed on decaying leaves and the like, + but how soon was the debt repaid when the earthworms began their worldwide + task of forming vegetable mould, opening up the earth with their burrows, + circulating the soil by means of their castings, and bruising the particles + in their gizzard—certainly the most important mill in the + world.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg + 127]</a></span></p> + + <p>Another important idea is that littoral haunts, both on the seashore and + in the freshwaters, afforded the necessary apprenticeship and transitional + experience for the more strenuous life on dry land. Much that was perfected + on land had its beginnings on the shore. Let us inquire, however, what the + passage from water to dry land actually implied. This has been briefly + discussed in a previous article (on Evolution), but the subject is one of + great interest and importance.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Difficulties and Results of the Transition from Water to + Land</h4> + + <p>Leaving the water for dry land implied a loss in freedom of movement, for + the terrestrial animal is primarily restricted to the surface of the earth. + Thus it became essential that movements should be very rapid and very + precise, needs with which we may associate the acquisition of fine + cross-striped, quickly contracting muscles, and also, in time, their + multiplication into very numerous separate engines. We exercise fifty-four + muscles in the half-second that elapses between raising the heel of our foot + in walking and planting it firmly on the ground again. Moreover, the need for + rapid precisely controlled movements implied an improved nervous system, for + the brain was a movement-controlling organ for ages before it did much in the + way of thinking. The transition to terra firma also involved a greater + compactness of body, so that there should not be too great friction on the + surface. An animal like the jellyfish is unthinkable on land, and the + elongated bodies of some land animals like centipedes and snakes are + specially adapted so that they do not "sprawl." They are exceptions + that prove the rule.</p> + + <p>Getting on to dry land meant entering a kingdom where the differences + between day and night, between summer and winter are more felt than in the + sea. This made it advantageous to have protections against evaporation and + loss of heat and other such dangers. Hence a variety of ways in which the + surface of the body acquired a thickened skin, or a dead cuticle, or a shell, + or a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg + 128]</a></span> growth of hair, and so forth. In many cases there is an + increase of the protection before the winter sets in, e.g. by growing thicker + fur or by accumulating a layer of fat below the skin.</p> + + <p>But the thickening or protection of the skin involved a partial or total + loss of the skin as a respiratory surface. There is more oxygen available on + dry land than in the water, but it is not so readily captured. Thus we see + the importance of moist internal surfaces for capturing the oxygen which has + been drawn into the interior of the body into some sort of lung. A unique + solution was offered by Tracheate Arthropods, such as Peripatus, Centipedes, + Millipedes, and Insects, where the air is carried to every hole and corner of + the body by a ramifying system of air-tubes or tracheæ. In most animals the + blood goes to the air, in insects the air goes to the blood. In the + Robber-Crab, which has migrated from the shore inland, the dry air is + absorbed by vascular tufts growing under the shelter of the gill-cover.</p> + + <p>The problem of disposing of eggs or young ones is obviously much more + difficult on land than in the water. For the water offers an immediate + cradle, whereas on the dry land there were many dangers, e.g. of drought, + extremes of temperature, and hungry sharp-eyed enemies, which had to be + circumvented. So we find all manner of ways in which land animals hide their + eggs or their young ones in holes and nests, on herbs and on trees. Some + carry their young ones about after they are born, like the Surinam toad and + the kangaroo, while others have prolonged the period of ante-natal life + during which the young ones develop in safety within their mother, and in + very intimate partnership with her in the case of the placental mammals. It + is very interesting to find that the pioneer animal called Peripatus, which + bridges the gap between worms and insects, carries its young for almost a + year before birth.</p> + + <p>Enough has been said to show that the successive conquests of the dry land + had great evolutionary results. It is hardly too much to say that the + invasion which the Amphibians led was the<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span> beginning of better brains, more + controlled activities, and higher expressions of family life.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image210" id="image210"></a> <a href= + "images/image210.jpg"><img src="images/image210_sm.jpg" alt= + "ALBATROSS: A CHARACTERISTIC PELAGIC BIRD OF THE SOUTHERN SEA" title= + "ALBATROSS: A CHARACTERISTIC PELAGIC BIRD OF THE SOUTHERN SEA" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>ALBATROSS: A CHARACTERISTIC PELAGIC BIRD OF THE SOUTHERN SEA</p> + + <p class="wide">It may have a spread of wing of over 11 feet from tip to + tip. It is famous for its extraordinary power of "sailing" round + the ship without any apparent strokes of its wings.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3>VI. THE AIR</h3> + + <p>There are no animals thoroughly aerial, but many insects spend much of + their adult life in the free air, and the swift hardly pauses in its flight + from dawn to dusk of the long summer day, alighting only for brief moments at + the nest to deliver insects to the young. All the active life of bats + certainly deserves to be called aerial.</p> + + <p>The air was the last haunt of life to be conquered, and it is interesting + to inquire what the conquest implied. (1) It meant transcending the radical + difficulty of terrestrial life which confines the creatures of the dry land + to moving on one plane, the surface of the earth. But the power of flight + brought its possessors back to the universal freedom of movement which water + animals enjoy. When we watch a sparrow rise into the air just as the cat has + completed her stealthy stalking, we see that flight implies an enormous + increase of safety. (2) The power of flight also opened up new possibilities + of following the prey, of exploring new territories, of prospecting for + water. (3) Of great importance too was the practicability of placing the eggs + and the young, perhaps in a nest, in some place inaccessible to most enemies. + When one thinks of it, the rooks' nests swaying on the tree-tops express + the climax of a brilliant experiment. (4) The crowning advantage was the + possibility of migrating, of conquering time (by circumventing the arid + summer and the severe winter) and of conquering space (by passing quickly + from one country to another and sometimes almost girdling the globe). There + are not many acquisitions that have meant more to their possessors than the + power of flight. It was a key opening the doors of a new freedom.</p> + + <p>The problem of flight, as has been said in a previous chapter,<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span> has been + solved four times, and the solution has been different in each case. The four + solutions are those offered by insects, extinct Pterodactyls, birds, and + bats. Moreover, as has been pointed out, there have been numerous attempts at + flight which remain glorious failures, notably the flying fishes, which take + a great leap and hold their pectoral fins taut; the Flying Tree-Toad, whose + webbed fingers and toes form a parachute; the Flying Lizard (<i>Draco + volans</i>), which has its skin pushed out on five or six greatly elongated + mobile ribs; and various "flying" mammals, e.g. Flying Phalangers + and Flying Squirrels, which take great swooping leaps from tree to tree.</p> + + <p>The wings of an insect are hollow flattened sacs which grow out from the + upper parts of the sides of the second and third rings of the region called + the thorax. They are worked by powerful muscles, and are supported, like a + fan, by ribs of chitin, which may be accompanied by air-tubes, + blood-channels, and nerves. The insect's body is lightly built and very + perfectly aerated, and the principle of the insect's flight is the + extremely rapid striking of the air by means of the lightly built elastic + wings. Many an insect has over two hundred strokes of its wings in one + <i>second</i>. Hence, in many cases, the familiar hum, comparable on a small + scale to that produced by the rapidly revolving blades of an aeroplane's + propeller. For a short distance a bee can outfly a pigeon, but few insects + can fly far, and they are easily blown away or blown back by the wind. + Dragon-flies and bees may be cited as examples of insects that often fly for + two or three miles. But this is exceptional, and the usual shortness of + insect flight is an important fact for man since it limits the range of + insects like house-flies and mosquitoes which are vehicles of typhoid fever + and malaria respectively. The most primitive insects (spring-tails and + bristle-tails) show no trace of wings, while fleas and lice have become + secondarily wingless. It is interesting to notice that some insects only fly + once in their lifetime, namely, in connection with mating. The evolution of + the insect's wing remains quite<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" + id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span> obscure, but it is probable that insects + could run, leap, and parachute before they could actually fly.</p> + + <p>The extinct Flying Dragons or Pterodactyls had their golden age in the + Cretaceous era, after which they disappeared, leaving no descendants. A fold + of skin was spread out from the sides of the body by the enormously elongated + outermost finger (usually regarded as corresponding to our little finger); it + was continued to the hind-legs and thence to the tail.</p> + + <p>It is unlikely that the Pterodactyls could fly far, for they have at most + a weak keel on their breast-bone; on the other hand, some of them show a + marked fusion of dorsal vertebræ, which, as in flying birds, must have served + as a firm fulcrum for the stroke of the wings. The quaint creatures varied + from the size of a sparrow up to a magnificent spread of 15-20 feet from tip + to tip of the wings. They were the largest of all flying creatures.</p> + + <p>The bird's solution of the problem of flight, which will be discussed + separately, is centred in the feather, which forms a coherent vane for + striking the air. In Pterodactyl and bat the wing is a web-wing or patagium, + and a small web is to be seen on the front side of the bird's wing. But + the bird's patagium is unimportant, and the bird's wing is on an + evolutionary tack of its own—a fore-limb transformed for bearing the + feathers of flight. Feathers are in a general way comparable to the scales of + reptiles, but only in a general way, and no transition stage is known between + the two. Birds evolved from a bipedal Dinosaur stock, as has been noticed + already, and it is highly probable that they began their ascent by taking + running leaps along the ground, flapping their scaly fore-limbs, and + balancing themselves in kangaroo-like fashion with an extended tail. A second + chapter was probably an arboreal apprenticeship, during which they made a + fine art of parachuting—a persistence of which is to be seen in the + pigeon "gliding" from the dovecot to the ground. It is in birds + that the mastery of the air reaches its climax, and the mysterious + "sailing" of the albatross and the vulture is surely the + most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg + 132]</a></span> remarkable locomotor triumph that has ever been achieved. + Without any apparent stroke of the wings, the bird sails for half an hour at + a time with the wind and against the wind, around the ship and in majestic + spirals in the sky, probably taking advantage of currents of air of different + velocities, and continually changing energy of position into energy of motion + as it sinks, and energy of motion into energy of position as it rises. It is + interesting to know that some dragon-flies are also able to + "sail."</p> + + <p>The web-wing of bats involves much more than the fore-arm. The double fold + of skin begins on the side of the neck, passes along the front of the arm, + skips the thumb, and is continued over the elongated palm-bones and fingers + to the sides of the body again, and to the hind-legs, and to the tail if + there is a tail. It is interesting to find that the bones of the bat's + skeleton tend to be lightly built as in birds, that the breast-bone has + likewise a keel for the better insertion of the pectoral muscles, and that + there is a solidifying of the vertebræ of the back, affording as in birds a + firm basis for the wing action. Such similar adaptations to similar needs, + occurring in animals not nearly related to one another, are called + "convergences," and form a very interesting study. In addition to + adaptations which the bat shares with the flying bird, it has many of its + own. There are so many nerve-endings on the wing, and often also on special + skin-leaves about the ears and nose, that the bat flying in the dusk does not + knock against branches or other obstacles. Some say that it is helped by the + echoes of its high-pitched voice, but there is no doubt as to its exquisite + tactility. That it usually produces only a single young one at a time is a + clear adaptation to flight, and similarly the sharp, mountain-top-like cusps + on the back teeth are adapted in insectivorous bats for crunching + insects.</p> + + <p>Whether we think of the triumphant flight of birds, reaching a climax in + migration, or of the marvel that a creature of the earth—as a mammal + essentially is—should evolve such a mastery of the air as we see in + bats, or even of the repeated but<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id= + "Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span> splendid failures which parachuting animals + illustrate, we gain an impression of the insurgence of living creatures in + their characteristic endeavour after fuller well-being.</p> + + <p>We have said enough to show how well adapted many animals are to meet the + particular difficulties of the haunt which they tenant. But difficulties and + limitations are ever arising afresh, and so one fitness follows on another. + It is natural, therefore, to pass to the frequent occurrence of protective + resemblance, camouflage, and mimicry—the subject of the next + article.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>BIBLIOGRAPHY</h3> + + <p><span class="smcap">Elmhirst, R.</span>, <i>Animals of the Shore</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Flattely and Walton</span>, <i>The Biology of the + Shore</i> (1921). + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Furneaux</span>, <i>Life of Ponds and Streams</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Hickson, S. J.</span>, <i>Story of Life in the Seas</i> + and <i>Fauna of the Deep Sea</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Johnstone, J.</span>, <i>Life in the Sea</i> (Cambridge + Manual of Science). + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Miall, L. C.</span>, <i>Aquatic Insects</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Murray, Sir John</span>, <i>The Ocean</i> (Home + University Library). + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Murray, Sir John and Hjort, Dr. J.</span>, <i>The Depths + of the Ocean</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Newbigin, M. I.</span>, <i>Life by the Sea Shore</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Pycraft, W. P.</span>, <i>History of Birds</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Scharff, R. F.</span>, <i>History of the European + Fauna</i> (Contemp. Sci. Series). + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Thomson, J. Arthur</span>, <i>The Wonder of Life</i> + (1914) and <i>The Haunts of Life</i> (1921). + <br /></p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg + 135]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg + 134]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg + 136]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg + 137]</a></span></p> + <hr /> + + <h2>IV</h2> + + <h2>THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE</h2> + <hr /> + + <h3>ANIMAL AND BIRD MIMICRY AND DISGUISE</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <p>For every animal one discovers when observing carefully, there must be ten + unseen. This is partly because many animals burrow in the ground or get in + underneath things and into dark corners, being what is called cryptozoic or + elusive. But it is partly because many animals put on disguise or have in + some way acquired a garment of invisibility. This is very common among + animals, and it occurs in many forms and degrees. The reason why it is so + common is because the struggle for existence is often very keen, and the + reasons why the struggle for existence is keen are four. First, there is the + tendency to over-population in many animals, especially those of low degree. + Second, there is the fact that the scheme of nature involves nutritive chains + or successive incarnations, one animal depending upon another for food, and + all in the long run on plants; thirdly, every vigorous animal is a bit of a + hustler, given to insurgence and sticking out his elbows. There is a fourth + great reason for the struggle for existence, namely, the frequent + changefulness of the physical environment, which forces animals to answer + back or die; but the first three reasons have most to do with the very common + assumption of some sort of disguise. Even when an animal is in no sense a + weakling, it may be very advantageous for it to be inconspicuous when it is + resting or when it is taking care of its young. Our problem is the evolution + of elusiveness, so far at least as that depends on likeness to surroundings, + on protective resemblance to other objects, and in its highest reaches on + true mimicry.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg + 138]</a></span></p> + + <h4 class="sect">Colour Permanently Like That of Surroundings</h4> + + <p>Many animals living on sandy places have a light-brown colour, as is seen + in some lizards and snakes. The green lizard is like the grass and the green + tree-snake is inconspicuous among the branches. The spotted leopard is suited + to the interrupted light of the forest, and it is sometimes hard to tell + where the jungle ends and the striped tiger begins. There is no better case + than the hare or the partridge sitting a few yards off on the ploughed field. + Even a donkey grazing in the dusk is much more readily heard than seen.</p> + + <p>The experiment has been made of tethering the green variety of Praying + Mantis on green herbage, fastening them with silk threads. They escape the + notice of birds. The same is true when the brown variety is tethered on + withered herbage. But if the green ones are put on brown plants, or the brown + ones on green plants, the birds pick them off. Similarly, out of 300 chickens + in a field, 240 white or black and therefore conspicuous, 60 spotted and + inconspicuous, 24 were soon picked off by crows, but only one of these was + spotted. This was not the proportion that there should have been if the + mortality had been fortuitous. There is no doubt that it often pays an animal + to be like its habitual surroundings, like a little piece of scenery if the + animal is not moving. It is safe to say that in process of time wide + departures from the safest coloration will be wiped out in the course of + Nature's ceaseless sifting.</p> + + <p>But we must not be credulous, and there are three cautions to be borne in + mind. (1) An animal may be very like its surroundings without there being any + protection implied. The arrow-worms in the sea are as clear as glass, and so + are many open-sea animals. But this is because their tissues are so watery, + with a specific gravity near that of the salt water. And the invisibility + does not save them, always or often, from being swallowed by larger animals + that gather the harvest of the sea. (2) Among the cleverer animals it looks + as if the creature sometimes sought out a spot where it was most + inconspicuous. A spider may place itself<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span> in the middle of a little patch + of lichen, where its self-effacement is complete. Perhaps it is more + comfortable as well as safer to rest in surroundings the general colour of + which is like that of the animal's body. (3) The fishes that live among + the coral-reefs are startling in their brilliant coloration, and there are + many different patterns. To explain this it has been suggested that these + fishes are so safe among the mazy passages and endless nooks of the reefs, + that they can well afford to wear any colour that suits their constitution. + In some cases this may be true, but naturalists who have put on a diving suit + and walked about among the coral have told us that each kind of fish is + particularly suited to some particular place, and that some are suited for + midday work and others for evening work. Sometimes there is a sort of Box and + Cox arrangement by which two different fishes utilise the same corner at + different times.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image222a" id="image222a"></a> <a href= + "images/image222a.jpg"><img src="images/image222a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE PRAYING MANTIS (Mantis Religiosa>)" title= + "THE PRAYING MANTIS (Mantis Religiosa)" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE PRAYING MANTIS (<i>Mantis Religiosa</i>)</p> + + <p class="wide">A very voracious insect with a quiet, unobtrusive + appearance. It holds its formidable forelegs as if in the attitude of + prayer; its movements are very slow and stealthy; and there is a suggestion + of a leaf in the forewing. But there is no reason to credit the creature + with conscious guile!</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image222b" id="image222b"></a> <a href= + "images/image222b.jpg"><img src="images/image222b_sm.jpg" alt= + "PROTECTIVE COLORATION: A WINTER SCENE IN NORTH SCANDINAVIA" title= + "PROTECTIVE COLORATION: A WINTER SCENE IN NORTH SCANDINAVIA" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>PROTECTIVE COLORATION: A WINTER SCENE IN NORTH SCANDINAVIA</p> + + <p class="wide">Showing Variable Hare, Willow Grouse, and Arctic Fox, all + white in winter and inconspicuous against the snow. But the white dress is + also the dress that is physiologically best, for it loses least of the + animal heat.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image223" id="image223"></a> <a href= + "images/image223.jpg"><img src="images/image223_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE VARIABLE MONITOR (Varanus)" title= + "THE VARIABLE MONITOR (Varanus)" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE VARIABLE MONITOR (<i>Varanus</i>)</p> + + <p class="wide">The monitors are the largest of existing lizards, the + Australian species represented in the photograph attaining a length of four + feet. It has a brown colour with yellow spots, and in spite of its size it + is not conspicuous against certain backgrounds, such as the bark of a + tree.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Gradual Change of Colour</h4> + + <p>The common shore-crab shows many different colours and mottlings, + especially when it is young. It may be green or grey, red or brown, and so + forth, and it is often in admirable adjustment to the colour of the rock-pool + where it is living. Experiments, which require extension, have shown that + when the crab has moulted, which it has to do very often when it is young, + the colour of the new shell tends to harmonise with the general colour of the + rocks and seaweed. How this is brought about, we do not know. The colour does + not seem to change till the next moult, and not then unless there is some + reason for it. A full-grown shore-crab is well able to look after itself, and + it is of interest to notice, therefore, that the variety of coloration is + mainly among the small individuals, who have, of course, a much less secure + position. It is possible, moreover, that the resemblance to the surroundings + admits of more successful hunting, enabling the small crab to take its victim + unawares.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg + 140]</a></span></p> + + <p>Professor Poulton's experiments with the caterpillars of the small + tortoise-shell butterfly showed that in black surroundings the pupæ tend to + be darker, in white surroundings lighter, in gilded boxes golden; and the + same is true in other cases. It appears that the surrounding colour affects + the caterpillars through the skin during a sensitive period—the twenty + hours immediately preceding the last twelve hours of the larval state. The + result will tend to make the quiescent pupæ less conspicuous during the + critical time of metamorphosis. The physiology of this sympathetic colouring + remains obscure.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Seasonal Change of Colouring</h4> + + <p>The ptarmigan moults three times in the year. Its summer plumage is rather + grouselike above, with a good deal of rufous brown; the back becomes much + more grey in autumn; almost all the feathers of the winter plumage are white. + That is to say, they develop without any pigment and with numerous + gas-bubbles in their cells. Now there can be no doubt that this white winter + plumage makes the ptarmigan very inconspicuous amidst the snow. Sometimes one + comes within a few feet of the crouching bird without seeing it, and this + garment of invisibility may save it from the hungry eyes of golden + eagles.</p> + + <p>Similarly the brown stoat becomes the white ermine, mainly by the growth, + of a new suit of white fur, and the same is true of the mountain hare. The + ermine is all white except the black tip of its tail; the mountain hare in + its winter dress is all white save the black tips of its ears. In some cases, + especially in the mountain hare, it seems that individual hairs may turn + white, by a loss of pigment, as may occur in man. According to Metchnikoff, + the wandering amœboid cells of the body, called phagocytes, may creep + up into the hairs and come back again with microscopic burdens of pigment. + The place of the pigment is taken by gas-bubbles, and that is what causes the + whiteness. In no animals is there any white <i>pigment</i>; the white + <i>colour</i> is like that of snow or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" + id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span> foam, it is due to the complete reflection + of the light from innumerable minute surfaces of crystals or bubbles.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image226a" id="image226a"></a> <a href= + "images/image226a.jpg"><img src="images/image226a_sm.jpg" alt= + "BANDED KRAIT: A VERY POISONOUS SNAKE WITH ALTERNATING YELLOW AND DARK BANDS" + title= + "BANDED KRAIT: A VERY POISONOUS SNAKE WITH ALTERNATING YELLOW AND DARK BANDS" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S.</i></p> + + <p>BANDED KRAIT: A VERY POISONOUS SNAKE WITH ALTERNATING YELLOW AND DARK + BANDS</p> + + <p class="wide">It is very conspicuous and may serve as an illustration of + warning coloration. Perhaps, that is to say, its striking coloration serves + as an advertisement, impressing other creatures with the fact that the + Banded Krait should be left alone. It is very unprofitable for a snake to + waste its venom on creatures it does not want.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image226b" id="image226b"></a> <a href= + "images/image226b.jpg"><img src="images/image226b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE WARTY CHAMELEON" title="THE WARTY CHAMELEON" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photos: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S.</i></p> + + <p>THE WARTY CHAMELEON</p> + + <p class="wide">The upper photograph shows the Warty Chameleon inflated and + conspicuous. At another time, however, with compressed body and adjusted + coloration, the animal is very inconspicuous. The lower photograph shows + the sudden protrusion of the very long tongue on a fly.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image227" id="image227"></a> <a href= + "images/image227.jpg"><img src="images/image227_sm.jpg" alt= + "SEASONAL COLOUR-CHANGE: A SUMMER SCENE IN NORTH SCANDINAVIA" title= + "SEASONAL COLOUR-CHANGE: A SUMMER SCENE IN NORTH SCANDINAVIA" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>SEASONAL COLOUR-CHANGE: A SUMMER SCENE IN NORTH SCANDINAVIA</p> + + <p class="wide">Showing a brown Variable Hare, Willow Grouse, and Arctic + Fox, all inconspicuous in their coloration when seen in their natural + surroundings.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>The mountain hare may escape the fox the more readily because its + whiteness makes it so inconspicuous against a background of snow; and yet, at + other times, we have seen the creature standing out like a target on the dark + moorland. So it cuts both ways. The ermine has almost no enemies except the + gamekeeper, but its winter whiteness may help it to sneak upon its victims, + such as grouse or rabbit, when there is snow upon the ground. In both cases, + however, the probability is that the constitutional rhythm which leads to + white hair in winter has been fostered and fixed for a reason quite apart + from protection. The fact is that for a warm-blooded creature, whether bird + or mammal, the physiologically best dress is a white one, for there is less + radiation of the precious animal heat from white plumage or white pelage than + from any other colour. The quality of warm-bloodedness is a prerogative of + birds and mammals, and it means that the body keeps an almost constant + temperature, day and night, year in and year out. This is effected by + automatic internal adjustments which regulate the supply of heat, chiefly + from the muscles, to the loss of heat, chiefly through the skin and from the + lungs. The chief importance of this internal heat is that it facilitates the + smooth continuance of the chemical processes on which life depends. If the + temperature falls, as in hibernating mammals (whose warm-bloodedness is + imperfect), the rate of the vital process is slowed down—sometimes + dangerously. Thus we see how the white coat helps the life of the + creature.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 3</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Rapid Colour-change</h4> + + <p>Bony flat-fishes, like plaice and sole, have a remarkable power of + adjusting their hue and pattern to the surrounding gravel and sand, so that + it is difficult to find them even when we know that they are there. It must + be admitted that they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id= + "Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span> are also very quick to get a sprinkling of + sand over their upturned side, so that only the eyes are left showing. But + there is no doubt as to the exactness with which they often adjust themselves + to be like a little piece of the substratum on which they lie; they will do + this within limits in experimental conditions when they are placed on a quite + artificial floor. As these fishes are very palatable and are much sought + after by such enemies as cormorants and otters, it is highly probably that + their power of self-effacement often saves their life. And it may be effected + within a few minutes, in some cases within a minute.</p> + + <p>In these self-effacing flat-fishes we know with some precision what + happens. The adjustment of colour and pattern is due to changes in the size, + shape, and position of mobile pigment-cells (chromatophores) and the skin. + But what makes the pigment-cells change? The fact that a blind flat-fish does + not change its colour gives us the first part of the answer. The colour and + the pattern of the surroundings must affect the eye. The message travels by + the optic nerve to the brain; from the brain, instead of passing down the + spinal cord, the message travels down the chain of sympathetic ganglia. From + these it passes along the nerves which comes out of the spinal cord and + control the skin. Thus the message reaches the colour-cells in the skin, and + before you have carefully read these lines the flat-fish has slipped on its + Gyges ring and become invisible.</p> + + <p>The same power of rapid colour-change is seen in cuttlefishes, where it is + often an expression of nervous excitement, though it sometimes helps to + conceal. It occurs with much subtlety in the Æsop prawn, Hippolyte, which may + be brown on a brown seaweed, green on sea-lettuce or sea-grass, red on red + seaweed, and so on through an extensive repertory.</p> + + <div class="blockquot"> + <p>According to the nature of the background, [Professor Gamble writes] so + is the mixture of the pigments compounded so as to form a close reproduction + both of its colour and its pattern. A sweep of the shrimp net detaches a + battalion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg + 143]</a></span> of these sleeping prawns, and if we turn the motley into a + dish and give a choice of seaweed, each variety after its kind will select + the one with which it agrees in colour, and vanish. Both when young and when + full-grown, the Æsop prawn takes on the colour of its immediate + surroundings. At nightfall Hippolyte, of whatever colour, changes to a + transparent azure blue: its stolidity gives place to a nervous restlessness; + at the least tremor it leaps violently, and often swims actively from one + food-plant to another. This blue fit lasts till daybreak, and is then + succeeded by the prawn's diurnal tint.</p> + </div> + + <p>Thus, Professor Gamble continues, the colour of an animal may express a + nervous rhythm.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image230" id="image230"></a> <a href= + "images/image230.jpg"><img src="images/image230_sm.jpg" alt= + "PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE" title="PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</i></p> + + <p>PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE</p> + + <p class="wide">Hawk Moth, settled down on a branch, and very difficult to + detect as long as it remains stationary. Note its remarkable sucking + tongue, which is about twice the length of its body. The tongue can be + quickly coiled up and put safely away beneath the lower part of the + head.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image231" id="image231"></a> <a href= + "images/image231.jpg"><img src="images/image231_sm.jpg" alt= + "WHEN ONLY A FEW DAYS OLD, YOUNG BITTERN BEGIN TO STRIKE THE SAME ATTITUDE AS THEIR PARENTS THRUSTING THEIR BILLS UPWARDS AND DRAWING THEIR BODIES UP SO THAT THEY RESEMBLE A BUNCH OF REEDS" + title= + "WHEN ONLY A FEW DAYS OLD, YOUNG BITTERN BEGIN TO STRIKE THE SAME ATTITUDE AS THEIR PARENTS THRUSTING THEIR BILLS UPWARDS AND DRAWING THEIR BODIES UP SO THAT THEY RESEMBLE A BUNCH OF REEDS" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>WHEN ONLY A FEW DAYS OLD, YOUNG BITTERN BEGIN TO STRIKE THE SAME + ATTITUDE AS THEIR PARENTS THRUSTING THEIR BILLS UPWARDS AND DRAWING THEIR + BODIES UP SO THAT THEY RESEMBLE A BUNCH OF REEDS</p> + + <p class="wide">The soft browns and blue-greens harmonise with the dull + sheaths of the young reeds; the nestling bittern is thus completely + camouflaged.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h4 class="sect">The Case of Chameleons</h4> + + <p>The highest level at which rapid colour-change occurs is among lizards, + and the finest exhibition of it is among the chameleons. These quaint + creatures are characteristic of Africa; but they occur also in Andalusia, + Arabia, Ceylon, and Southern India. They are adapted for life on trees, where + they hunt insects with great deliberateness and success. The protrusible + tongue, ending in a sticky club, can be shot out for about seven inches in + the common chameleon. Their hands and feet are split so that they grip the + branches firmly, and the prehensile tail rivals a monkey's. When they + wish they can make themselves very slim, contracting the body from side to + side, so that they are not very readily seen. In other circumstances, + however, they do not practise self-effacement, but the very reverse. They + inflate their bodies, having not only large lungs, but air-sacs in connection + with them. The throat bulges; the body sways from side to side; and the + creature expresses its sentiments in a hiss. The power of colour-change is + very remarkable, and depends partly on the contraction and expansion of the + colour-cells (chromatophores) in the under-skin (or dermis) and partly on + close-packed refractive granules and crystals of a waste-product called + guanin. The repertory of possible<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id= + "Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span> colours in the common chameleon is greater + than in any other animal except the Æsop prawn. There is a legend of a + chameleon which was brown in a brown box, green in a green box, and blue in a + blue box, and died when put into one lined with tartan; and there is no doubt + that one and the same animal has a wide range of colours. The so-called + "chameleon" (<i>Anolis</i>) of North America is so sensitive that a + passing cloud makes it change its emerald hue.</p> + + <p>There is no doubt that a chameleon may make itself more inconspicuous by + changing its colour, being affected by the play of light on its eyes. A + bright-green hue is often seen on those that are sitting among strongly + illumined green leaves. But the colour also changes with the time of day and + with the animal's moods. A sudden irritation may bring about a rapid + change; in other cases the transformation comes about very gradually. When + the colour-change expresses the chameleon's feelings it might be compared + to blushing, but that is due to an expansion of the arteries of the face, + allowing more blood to get into the capillaries of the under-skin. The case + of the chameleon is peculiarly interesting because the animal has two kinds + of tactics—self-effacement on the one hand and bluffing on the other. + There can be little doubt that the power of colour-change sometimes justifies + itself by driving off intruders. Dr. Cyril Crossland observed that a + chameleon attacked by a fox-terrier "turned round and opened its great + pink mouth in the face of the advancing dog, at the same time rapidly + changing colour, becoming almost black. This ruse succeeded every time, the + dog turning off at once." In natural leafy surroundings the startling + effect would be much greater—a sudden throwing off of the mantle of + invisibility and the exposure of a conspicuous black body with a large red + mouth.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 4</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Likeness to Other Things</h4> + + <p>Dr. H. O. Forbes tells of a flat spider which presents a striking + resemblance to a bird's dropping on a leaf. Years after he<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span> first found it + he was watching in a forest in the Far East when his eye fell on a leaf + before him which had been blotched by a bird. He wondered idly why he had not + seen for so long another specimen of the bird-dropping spider + (<i>Ornithoscatoides decipiens</i>), and drew the leaf towards him. + Instantaneously he got a characteristic sharp nip; it was the spider after + all! Here the colour-resemblance was enhanced by a form-resemblance.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image234" id="image234"></a> <a href= + "images/image234.jpg"><img src="images/image234_sm.jpg" alt= + "PROTECTIVE COLORATION OR CAMOUFLAGING" title= + "PROTECTIVE COLORATION OR CAMOUFLAGING" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>A. PROTECTIVE COLORATION OR CAMOUFLAGING, GIVING ANIMALS A GARMENT OF + INVISIBILITY</p> + + <p class="wide">At the foot of the plate is a Nightjar, with plumage like + bark and withering leaves; to the right, resting on a branch, is shown a + Chameleon in a green phase amid green surroundings; the insects on the + reeds are Locusts; while a green Frog, merged into its surroundings, rests + on a leaf near the centre at the top of the picture.</p> + + <p>B. ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF PROTECTIVE COLORATION OR CAMOUFLAGE</p> + + <p class="wide">A shore scene showing Trout in the pool almost invisible + against their background. The Stone Curlews, both adult and young, are very + inconspicuous among the stones on the beach.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>But why should it profit a spider to be like a bird-dropping? Perhaps + because it thereby escapes attention; but there is another possibility. It + seems that some butterflies, allied to our Blues, are often attracted to + excrementitious material, and the spider Dr. Forbes observed had actually + caught its victim. This is borne out by a recent observation by Dr. D. G. H. + Carpenter, who found a Uganda bug closely resembling a bird-dropping on sand. + The bug actually settled down on a bird-dropping on sand, and caught a blue + butterfly which came to feed there!</p> + + <p>Some of the walking-stick insects, belonging to the order of crickets and + grasshoppers (Orthoptera), have their body elongated and narrow, like a thin + dry branch, and they have a way of sticking out their limbs at abrupt and + diverse angles, which makes the resemblance to twigs very close indeed. Some + of these quaint insects rest through the day and have the remarkable habit of + putting themselves into a sort of kataleptic state. Many creatures turn stiff + when they get a shock, or pass suddenly into new surroundings, like some of + the sand-hoppers when we lay them on the palm of our hand; but these + twig-insects put themselves into this strange state. The body is rocked from + side to side for a short time, and then it stiffens. An advantage may be that + even if they were surprised by a bird or a lizard, they will not be able to + betray themselves by even a tremor. Disguise is perfected by a remarkable + habit, a habit which leads us to think of a whole series of different ways of + lying low and saying nothing which are often of life-preserving value. The + top end of the series is seen when a fox plays 'possum.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span></p> + + <p>The leaf-butterfly <i>Kallima</i>, conspicuously coloured on its upper + surface, is like a withered leaf when it settles down and shows the under + side of its wings. Here, again, there is precise form-resemblance, for the + nervures on the wings are like the mid-rib and side veins on a leaf, and the + touch of perfection is given in the presence of whitish spots which look + exactly like the discolorations produced by lichens on leaves. An old + entomologist, Mr. Jenner Weir, confessed that he repeatedly pruned off a + caterpillar on a bush in mistake for a superfluous twig, for many brownish + caterpillars fasten themselves by their posterior claspers and by an + invisible thread of silk from their mouth, and project from the branch at a + twig-like angle. An insect may be the very image of a sharp prickle or a + piece of soft moss; a spider may look precisely like a tiny knob on a branch + or a fragment of lichen; one of the sea-horses (<i>Phyllopteryx</i>) has + frond-like tassels on various parts of its body, so that it looks + extraordinarily like the seaweeds among which it lives. In a few cases, e.g. + among spiders, it has been shown that animals with a special protective + resemblance to something else seek out a position where this resemblance + tells, and there is urgent need for observations bearing on this selection of + environment.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 5</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Mimicry in the True Sense</h4> + + <p>It sometimes happens that in one and the same place there are two groups + of animals not very nearly related which are "doubles" of one + another. Investigation shows that the members of the one group, <i>always in + the majority</i>, are in some way specially protected, e.g. by being + unpalatable. They are the "mimicked." The members of the other + group, <i>always in the minority</i>, have not got the special protection + possessed by the others. They are the "mimickers," though the + resemblance is not, of course, associated with any conscious imitation. The + theory is that the mimickers live on the reputation of the mimicked. If the + mimicked are left alone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id= + "Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span> by birds because they have a reputation for + unpalatability, or because they are able to sting, the mimickers + survive—although they are palatable and stingless. They succeed, not + through any virtue of their own, but because of their resemblance to the + mimicked, for whom they are mistaken. There are many cases of mimetic + resemblance so striking and so subtle that it seems impossible to doubt that + the thing works; there are other cases which are rather far-fetched, and may + be somewhat of the nature of coincidences. Thus although Mr. Bates tells us + that he repeatedly shot humming-bird moths in mistake for humming-birds, we + cannot think that this is a good illustration of mimicry. What is needed for + many cases is what is forthcoming for some, namely, experimental evidence, + e.g. that the unpalatable mimicked butterflies are left in relative peace + while similar palatable butterflies are persecuted. It is also necessary to + show that the mimickers do actually consort with the mimicked. Some beetles + and moths are curiously wasplike, which may be a great advantage; the common + drone-fly is superficially like a small bee; some harmless snakes are very + like poisonous species; and Mr. Wallace maintained that the powerful + "friar-birds" of the Far East are mimicked by the weak and timid + orioles. When the model is unpalatable or repulsive or dangerous, and the + mimic the reverse, the mimicry is called "Batesian" (after Mr. + Bates), but there is another kind of mimicry called Müllerian (after Fritz + Müller) where the mimic is also unpalatable. The theory in this case is that + the mimicry serves as mutual assurance, the members of the ring getting on + better by consistently presenting the same appearance, which has come to mean + to possible enemies a signal, <i>Noli me tangere</i> ("Leave me + alone"). There is nothing out of the question in this theory, but it + requires to be taken in a critical spirit. It leads us to think of + "warning colours," which are the very opposite of the disguises + which we are now studying. Some creatures like skunks, magpies, coral-snakes, + cobras, brightly coloured tree-frogs are obtrusive rather<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span> than elusive, + and the theory of Alfred Russel Wallace was that the flaunting + conspicuousness serves as a useful advertisement, impressing itself on the + memories of inexperienced enemies, who soon learn to leave creatures with + "warning colours" alone. In any case it is plain that an animal + which is as safe as a wasp or a coral-snake can afford to wear any suit of + clothes it likes.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image238a" id="image238a"></a> <a href= + "images/image238a.jpg"><img src="images/image238a_sm.jpg" alt= + "DEAD-LEAF BUTTERFLY (Kallima Inachis) FROM INDIA" title= + "DEAD-LEAF BUTTERFLY (Kallima Inachis) FROM INDIA" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>DEAD-LEAF BUTTERFLY (<i>Kallima Inachis</i>) FROM INDIA</p> + + <p class="wide">It is conspicuous on its upper surface, but when it settles + down on a twig and shows the underside of its wings it is practically + invisible. The colouring of the under surface of the wings is like that of + the withering leaf; there are spots like fungas spots; and the venation of + the wings suggests the mid-rib and veins of the leaf. A, showing upper + surface; B, showing under surface; C, a leaf.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image238b" id="image238b"></a> <a href= + "images/image238b.jpg"><img src="images/image238b_sm.jpg" alt= + "PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN A SMALL SPIDER AND AN ANT" title= + "PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN A SMALL SPIDER AND AN ANT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN A SMALL SPIDER (<i>to the left</i>) AND + AN ANT (<i>to the right</i>)</p> + + <p class="wide">As ants are much dreaded, it is probably profitable to the + spider to be like an ant. It will be noted that the spider has four pairs + of legs and no feelers, whereas the ant has three pairs of legs and a pair + of feelers.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image239a" id="image239a"></a> <a href= + "images/image239a.jpg"><img src="images/image239a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE WASP BEETLE, WHICH, WHEN MOVING AMONGST THE BRANCHES GIVES A WASP-LIKE IMPRESSION" + title= + "THE WASP BEETLE, WHICH, WHEN MOVING AMONGST THE BRANCHES GIVES A WASP-LIKE IMPRESSION" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</i></p> + + <p>THE WASP BEETLE, WHICH, WHEN MOVING AMONGST THE BRANCHES GIVES A + WASP-LIKE IMPRESSION</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image239b" id="image239b"></a> <a href= + "images/image239b.jpg"><img src="images/image239b_sm.jpg" alt= + "HERMIT-CRAB WITH PARTNER SEA-ANEMONES" title= + "HERMIT-CRAB WITH PARTNER SEA-ANEMONES" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>HERMIT-CRAB WITH PARTNER SEA-ANEMONES</p> + + <p class="wide">Hermit-crabs hide their soft tail in the shell of a whelk + or some other sea-snail. But some hermit-crabs place sea-anemones on the + back of their borrowed shell. The sea-anemones mask the hermit-crab and + their tentacles can sting. As for the sea-anemones, they are carried about + by the hermit-crab and they get crumbs from its table. This kind of + mutually beneficial external partnership is called commensalism, i.e. + eating at the same table.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image239c" id="image239c"></a> <a href= + "images/image239c.jpg"><img src="images/image239c_sm.jpg" alt="CUCKOO-SPIT" + title="CUCKOO-SPIT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: G. P. Duffus.</i></p> + + <p>CUCKOO-SPIT</p> + + <p class="wide">The white mass in the centre of the picture is a soapy + froth which the young frog-hopper makes, and within which it lies safe both + from the heat of the sun and almost all enemies. After sojourning for a + time in the cuckoo-spit, the frog-hopper becomes a winged insect.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h4 class="sect">Masking</h4> + + <p>The episode in Scottish history called "The Walking Wood of + Birnam," when the advancing troop masked their approach by cutting down + branches of the trees, has had its counterpart in many countries. But it is + also enacted on the seashore. There are many kinds of crabs that put on + disguise with what looks like deliberateness. The sand-crab takes a piece of + seaweed, nibbles at the end of it, and then rubs it on the back of the + carapace or on the legs so that it fixes to the bristles. As the seaweed + continues to live, the crab soon has a little garden on its back which masks + the crab's real nature. It is most effective camouflaging, but if the + crab continues to grow it has to moult, and that means losing the disguise. + It is then necessary to make a new one. The crab must have on the shore + something corresponding to a reputation; that is to say, other animals are + clearly or dimly aware that the crab is a voracious and combative creature. + How useful to the crab, then, to have its appearance cloaked by a growth of + innocent seaweed, or sponge, or zoophyte. It will enable the creature to + sneak upon its victims or to escape the attention of its own enemies.</p> + + <p>If a narrow-beaked crab is cleaned artificially it will proceed to clothe + itself again, the habit has become instinctive; and it must be admitted that + while a particular crab prefers a particular kind of seaweed for its dress, + it will cover itself with unsuitable and even conspicuous material, such as + pieces of coloured cloth, if nothing better is available. The disguise + differs greatly, for one crab is masked by a brightly coloured and + unpalatable sponge<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg + 149]</a></span> densely packed with flinty needles; another cuts off the + tunic of a sea-squirt and throws it over its shoulders; another trundles + about a bivalve shell. The facts recall the familiar case of the hermit-crab, + which protects its soft tail by tucking it into the empty shell of a + periwinkle or a whelk or some other sea-snail, and that case leads on to the + elaboration known as commensalism, where the hermit-crab fixes sea-anemones + on the back of its borrowed house. The advantage here is beyond that of + masking, for the sea-anemone can sting, which is a useful quality in a + partner. That this second advantage may become the main one is evident in + several cases where the sea-anemone is borne, just like a weapon, on each of + the crustacean's great claws. Moreover, as the term commensalism (eating + at the same table) suggests, the partnership is <i>mutually</i> beneficial. + For the sea-anemone is carried about by the hermit-crab, and it doubtless + gets its share of crumbs from its partner's frequent meals. There is a + very interesting sidelight on the mutual benefit in the case of a dislodged + sea-anemone which sulked for a while and then waited in a state of + preparedness until a hermit-crab passed by and touched it. Whereupon the + sea-anemone gripped and slowly worked itself up on to the back of the + shell.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 6</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Other Kinds of Elusiveness</h4> + + <p>There are various kinds of disguise which are not readily classified. A + troop of cuttlefish swimming in the sea is a beautiful sight. They keep time + with one another in their movements and they show the same change of colour + almost at the same moment. They are suddenly attacked, however, by a small + shark, and then comes a simultaneous discharge of sepia from their ink-bags. + There are clouds of ink in the clear water, for, as Professor Hickson puts + it, the cuttlefishes have thrown dust in the eyes of their enemies. One can + see a newborn cuttlefish do this a minute after it escapes from the + egg.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg + 150]</a></span></p> + + <p>Very beautiful is the way in which many birds, like our common chaffinch, + disguise the outside of their nest with moss and lichen and other trifles + felted together, so that the cradle is as inconspicuous as possible. There + seems to be a touch of art in fastening pieces of spider's web on the + outside of a nest!</p> + + <p>How curious is the case of the tree-sloth of South American forests, that + walks slowly, back downwards, along the undersides of the branches, hanging + on by its long, curved fingers and toes. It is a nocturnal animal, and + therefore not in special danger, but when resting during the day it is almost + invisible because its shaggy hair is so like certain lichens and other + growths on the branches. But the protective resemblance is enhanced by the + presence of a green alga, which actually lives on the surface of the + sloth's hairs—an alga like the one that makes tree-stems and + gate-posts green in damp weather.</p> + + <p>There is no commoner sight in the early summer than the cuckoo-spit on the + grasses and herbage by the wayside. It is conspicuous and yet it is said to + be left severely alone by almost all creatures. In some way it must be a + disguise. It is a sort of soap made by the activity of small frog-hoppers + while they are still in the wingless larval stage, before they begin to hop. + The insect pierces with its sharp mouth-parts the skin of the plant and sucks + in sweet sap which by and by overflows over its body. It works its body up + and down many times, whipping in air, which mixes with the sugary sap, + reminding one of how "whipped egg" is made. But along with the + sugary sap and the air, there is a little ferment from the food-canal and a + little wax from glands on the skin, and the four things mixed together make a + kind of soap which lasts through the heat of the day.</p> + + <p>There are many other modes of disguise besides those which we have been + able to illustrate. Indeed, the biggest fact is that there are so many, for + it brings us back to the idea that life is not an easy business. It is true, + as Walt Whitman says, that animals do not sweat and whine about their + condition; perhaps it is true,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id= + "Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span> as he says, that not one is unhappy over the + whole earth. But there is another truth, that this world is not a place for + the unlit lamp and the ungirt loin, and that when a creature has not armour + or weapons or cleverness it must find some path of safety or go back. One of + these paths of safety is disguise, and we have illustrated its + evolution.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg + 152]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg + 153]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg + 154]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg + 155]</a></span></p> + <hr /> + + <h2>V</h2> + + <h2>THE ASCENT OF MAN</h2> + <hr /> + + <h3>THE ASCENT OF MAN</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <p>No one thinks less of Sir Isaac Newton because he was born as a very puny + infant, and no one should think less of the human race because it sprang from + a stock of arboreal mammals. There is no doubt as to man's apartness from + the rest of creation when he is seen at his best—"a little lower + than the angels, crowned with glory and honour." "What a piece of + work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! in form and + moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in + apprehension so like a God." Nevertheless, all the facts point to his + affiliation to the stock to which monkeys and apes also belong. Not, indeed, + that man is descended from any living ape or monkey; it is rather that he and + they have sprung from a common ancestry—are branches of the same stem. + This conclusion is so momentous that the reasons for accepting it must be + carefully considered. They were expounded with masterly skill in Darwin's + <i>Descent of Man</i> in 1871—a book which was but an expansion of a + chapter in <i>The Origin of Species</i> (1859).</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Anatomical Proof of Man's Relationship with a Simian + Stock</h4> + + <p>The anatomical structure of man is closely similar to that of the + anthropoid apes—the gorilla, the orang, the chimpanzee, and the gibbon. + Bone for bone, muscle for muscle, blood-vessel for blood-vessel, nerve for + nerve, man and ape agree. As the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id= + "Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span> conservative anatomist, Sir Richard Owen, + said, there is between them "an all-pervading similitude of + structure." Differences, of course, there are, but they are not + momentous except man's big brain, which may be three times as heavy as + that of a gorilla. The average human brain weighs about 48 ounces; the + gorilla brain does not exceed 20 ounces at its best. The capacity of the + human skull is never less than 55 cubic inches; in the orang and the + chimpanzee the figures are 26 and 27½ respectively. We are not suggesting + that the most distinctive features of man are such as can be measured and + weighed, but it is important to notice that the main seat of his mental + powers is physically far ahead of that of the highest of the anthropoid + apes.</p> + + <p>Man alone is thoroughly erect after his infancy is past; his head weighted + with the heavy brain does not droop forward as the ape's does; with his + erect attitude there is perhaps to be associated his more highly developed + vocal organs. Compared with an anthropoid ape, man has a bigger and more + upright forehead, a less protrusive face region, smaller cheek-bones and + eyebrow ridges, and more uniform teeth. He is almost unique in having a chin. + Man plants the sole of his foot flat on the ground, his big toe is usually in + a line with the other toes, and he has a better heel than any monkey has. The + change in the shape of the head is to be thought of in connection with the + enlargement of the brain, and also in connection with the natural reduction + of the muzzle region when the hand was freed from being an organ of support + and became suited for grasping the food and conveying it to the mouth.</p> + + <p>Everyone is familiar in man's clothing with traces of the past + persisting in the present, though their use has long since disappeared. There + are buttons on the back of the waist of the morning coat to which the tails + of the coat used to be fastened up, and there are buttons, occasionally with + buttonholes, at the wrist which were once useful in turning up the sleeve. + The same is true of man's body, which is a veritable museum of relics. + Some<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg + 157]</a></span> anatomists have made out a list of over a hundred of these + <i>vestigial</i> structures, and though this number is perhaps too high, + there is no doubt that the list is long. In the inner upper corner of the eye + there is a minute tag—but larger in some races than in + others—which is the last dwindling relic of the third eyelid, used in + cleaning the front of the eye, which most mammals possess in a large and + well-developed form. It can be easily seen, for instance, in ox and rabbit. + In man and in monkeys it has become a useless vestige, and the dwindling must + be associated with the fact that the upper eyelid is much more mobile in man + and monkeys than in the other mammals. The vestigial third eyelid in man is + enough of itself to prove his relationship with the mammals, but it is only + one example out of many. Some of these are discussed in the article dealing + with the human body, but we may mention the vestigial muscles going to the + ear-trumpet, man's dwindling counterpart of the skin-twitching muscle + which we see a horse use when he jerks a fly off his flanks, and the short + tail which in the seven-weeks-old human embryo is actually longer than the + leg. Without committing ourselves to a belief in the entire uselessness of + the vermiform appendix, which grows out as a blind alley at the junction of + the small intestine with the large, we are safe in saying that it is a + dwindling structure—the remains of a blind gut which must have been + capacious and useful in ancestral forms. In some mammals, like the rabbit, + the blind gut is the bulkiest structure in the body, and bears the vermiform + appendix at its far end. In man the appendix alone is left, and it tells its + tale. It is interesting to notice that it is usually longer in the orang than + in man, and that it is very variable, as dwindling structures tend to be. One + of the unpleasant expressions of this variability is the liability to go + wrong: hence appendicitis. Now these vestigial structures are, as Darwin + said, like the unsounded, i.e. functionless, letters in words, such as the + <i>o</i> in "leopard," the <i>b</i> in "doubt," the + <i>g</i> in "reign." They are of no use, but they tell us something + of the history of the words. So do man's vestigial<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span> structures + reveal his pedigree. They must have an historical or evolutionary + significance. No other interpretation is possible.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image250a" id="image250a"></a> <a href= + "images/image250a.jpg"><img src="images/image250a_sm.jpg" alt= + "CHIMPANZEE, SITTING" title="CHIMPANZEE, SITTING" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: New York Zoological Park.</i></p> + + <p>CHIMPANZEE, SITTING</p> + + <p class="wide">The head shows certain facial characteristics, e.g. the + beetling eyebrow ridges, which were marked in the Neanderthal race of men. + Note the shortening of the thumb and the enlargement of the big toe.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image250b" id="image250b"></a> <a href= + "images/image250b.jpg"><img src="images/image250b_sm.jpg" alt= + "CHIMPANZEE, ILLUSTRATING WALKING POWERS" title= + "CHIMPANZEE, ILLUSTRATING WALKING POWERS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: New York Zoological Park.</i></p> + + <p>CHIMPANZEE, ILLUSTRATING WALKING POWERS</p> + + <p>Note the great length of the arms and the relative shortness of the + legs.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image251a" id="image251a"></a> <a href= + "images/image251a.jpg"><img src="images/image251a_sm.jpg" alt= + "SURFACE VIEW OF THE BRAINS OF MAN (1) AND CHIMPANZEE (2)" title= + "SURFACE VIEW OF THE BRAINS OF MAN (1) AND CHIMPANZEE (2)" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>SURFACE VIEW OF THE BRAINS OF MAN (1) AND CHIMPANZEE (2)</p> + + <p class="wide">The human brain is much larger and heavier, more dome-like, + and with much more numerous and complicated convolutions.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image251b" id="image251b"></a> <a href= + "images/image251b.jpg"><img src="images/image251b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" title= + "THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: New York Zoological Park.</i></p> + + <p>SIDE-VIEW OF CHIMPANZEE'S HEAD.</p> + + <p>(Compare with opposite picture.)</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image251b1" id="image251b1"></a> <a href= + "images/image251b1.jpg"><img src="images/image251b1_sm.jpg" alt= + "PROFILE VIEW OF HEAD OF PITHECANTHROPUS" title= + "PROFILE VIEW OF HEAD OF PITHECANTHROPUS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>After a model by J. H. McGregor.</i></p> + + <p>PROFILE VIEW OF HEAD OF PITHECANTHROPUS, THE JAVA APE MAN, RECONSTRUCTED + FROM THE SKULL-CAP.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image251c" id="image251c"></a> <a href= + "images/image251c.jpg"><img src="images/image251c_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE FLIPPER OF A WHALE AND THE HAND OF A MAN" title= + "THE FLIPPER OF A WHALE AND THE HAND OF A MAN" /></a> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a href="images/image251c1.jpg"><img src="images/image251c1_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE FLIPPER OF A WHALE AND THE HAND OF A MAN" title= + "THE FLIPPER OF A WHALE AND THE HAND OF A MAN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE FLIPPER OF A WHALE AND THE HAND OF A MAN</p> + + <p class="wide">In the bones and in their arrangement there is a close + resemblance in the two cases, yet the outcome is very different. The + multiplication of finger joints in the whale is a striking feature.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Some men, oftener than women, show on the inturned margin of the + ear-trumpet or pinna, a little conical projection of great interest. It is a + vestige of the tip of the pointed ear of lower mammals, and it is well named + <i>Darwin's point</i>. It was he who described it as a "surviving + symbol of the stirring times and dangerous days of man's animal + youth."</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Physiological Proof of Man's Relationship with a Simian + Stock</h4> + + <p>The everyday functions of the human body are practically the same as those + of the anthropoid ape, and similar disorders are common to both. Monkeys may + be infected with certain microbes to which man is peculiarly liable, such as + the bacillus of tuberculosis. Darwin showed that various human gestures and + facial expressions have their counterparts in monkeys. The sneering curl of + the upper lip, which tends to expose the canine tooth, is a case in point, + though it may be seen in many other mammals besides monkeys—in dogs, + for instance, which are at some considerable distance from the simian branch + to which man's ancestors belonged.</p> + + <p>When human blood is transfused into a dog or even a monkey, it behaves in + a hostile way to the other blood, bringing about a destruction of the red + blood corpuscles. But when it is transfused into a chimpanzee there is an + harmonious mingling of the two. This is a very literal demonstration of + man's blood-relationship with the higher apes. But there is a finer form + of the same experiment. When the blood-fluid (or serum) of a rabbit, which + has had human blood injected into it, is mingled with human blood, it forms a + cloudy precipitate. It forms almost as marked a precipitate when it is + mingled with the blood of an anthropoid ape. But when it is mingled with the + blood of an American monkey<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id= + "Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span> there is only a slight clouding after a + considerable time and no actual precipitate. When it is added to the blood of + one of the distantly related "half-monkeys" or lemurs there is no + reaction or only a very weak one. With the blood of mammals off the simian + line altogether there is no reaction at all. Thus, as a distinguished + anthropologist, Professor Schwalbe, has said: "We have in this not only + a proof of the literal blood-relationship between man and apes, but the + degree of relationship with the different main groups of apes can be + determined beyond possibility of mistake." We can imagine how this + modern line of experiment would have delighted Darwin.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image254" id="image254"></a> <a href= + "images/image254.jpg"><img src="images/image254_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE GORILLA, INHABITING THE FOREST TRACT OF THE GABOON IN AFRICA" title= + "THE GORILLA, INHABITING THE FOREST TRACT OF THE GABOON IN AFRICA" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE GORILLA, INHABITING THE FOREST TRACT OF THE GABOON IN AFRICA</p> + + <p class="wide">A full-grown individual stands about 5 feet high. The gait + is shuffling, the strength enormous, the diet mainly vegetarian, the temper + rather ferocious.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h4 class="sect">Embryological Proof of Man's Relationship with a Simian + Stock</h4> + + <p>In his individual development, man does in some measure climb up his own + genealogical tree. Stages in the development of the body during its nine + months of ante-natal life are closely similar to stages in the development of + the anthropoid embryo. Babies born in times of famine or siege are sometimes, + as it were, imperfectly finished, and sometimes have what may be described as + monkeyish features and ways. A visit to an institution for the care of + children who show arrested, defective, or disturbed development leaves one + sadly impressed with the risk of slipping down the rungs of the steep ladder + of evolution; and even in adults the occurrence of serious nervous + disturbance, such as "shell-shock," is sometimes marked by relapses + to animal ways. It is a familiar fact that a normal baby reveals the past in + its surprising power of grip, and the careful experiments of Dr. Louis + Robinson showed that an infant three weeks old could support its own weight + for over two minutes, holding on to a horizontal bar. "In many cases no + sign of distress is evinced and no cry uttered, until the grasp begins to + give way." This persistent grasp probably points back to the time when + the baby had to cling to its arboreal mother. The human tail is represented + in the adult by a fusion of four or five vertebræ forming the + "coccyx" at the end of the backbone,<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span> and is normally concealed + beneath the flesh, but in the embryo the tail projects freely and is movable. + Up to the sixth month of the ante-natal sleep the body is covered, all but + the palms and soles, with longish hair (the lanugo), which usually disappears + before birth. This is a stage in the normal development, which is reasonably + interpreted as a recapitulation of a stage in the racial evolution. We draw + this inference when we find that the unborn offspring of an almost hairless + whale has an abundant representation of hairs; we must draw a similar + inference in the case of man.</p> + + <p>It must be noticed that there are two serious errors in the careless + statement often made that man in his development is at one time like a little + fish, at a later stage like a little reptile, at a later stage like a little + primitive mammal, and eventually like a little monkey. The first error here + is that the comparison should be made with <i>embryo</i>-fish, + <i>embryo</i>-reptile, <i>embryo</i>-mammal, and so on. It is in the making + of the embryos that the great resemblance lies. When the human embryo shows + the laying down of the essential vertebrate characters, such as brain and + spinal cord, then it is closely comparable to the embryo of a lower + vertebrate at a similar stage. When, at a subsequent stage, its heart, for + instance, is about to become a four-chambered mammalian heart, it is closely + comparable to the heart of, let us say, a turtle, which never becomes more + than three-chambered. The point is that in the making of the organs of the + body, say brain and kidneys, the embryo of man pursues a path closely + corresponding to the path followed by the embryos of other backboned animals + lower in the scale, but at successive stages it parts company with these, + with the lowest first and so on in succession. A human embryo is never like a + little reptile, but the developing organs pass through stages which very + closely resemble the corresponding stages in lower types which are in a + general way ancestral.</p> + + <p>The second error is that every kind of animal, man included,<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span> has from the + first a certain individuality, with peculiar characteristics which are all + its own. This is expressed by the somewhat difficult word <i>specificity</i>, + which just means that every species is itself and no other. So in the + development of the human embryo, while there are close resemblances to the + embryos of apes, monkeys, other mammals, and even, at earlier stages still, + to the embryos of reptile and fish, it has to be admitted that we are dealing + from first to last with a human embryo with peculiarities of its own.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image258" id="image258"></a> <a href= + "images/image258.jpg"><img src="images/image258_sm.jpg" alt= + "'DARWIN'S POINT' ON HUMAN EAR" title= + "'DARWIN'S POINT' ON HUMAN EAR" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>"DARWIN'S POINT" ON HUMAN EAR (MARKED D.P.)</p> + + <p class="wide">It corresponds to the tip (T) of the ear of an ordinary + mammal, as shown in the hare's ear below. In the young orang the part + corresponding to Darwin's point is still at the tip of the ear.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image259a" id="image259a"></a> <a href= + "images/image259a.jpg"><img src="images/image259a_sm.jpg" alt= + "PROFESSOR SIR ARTHUR KEITH" title="PROFESSOR SIR ARTHUR KEITH" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: J. Russell & Sons.</i></p> + + <p>PROFESSOR SIR ARTHUR KEITH, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S.</p> + + <p class="wide">Conservator of the Museum and Hunterian Professor, Royal + College of Surgeons of England. One of the foremost living anthropologists + and a leading authority on the antiquity of man.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image259b" id="image259b"></a> <a href= + "images/image259b.jpg"><img src="images/image259b_sm.jpg" alt= + "SKELETONS OF THE GIBBON, ORANG, CHIMPANZEE, GORILLA, MAN" title= + "SKELETONS OF THE GIBBON, ORANG, CHIMPANZEE, GORILLA, MAN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>After T. H. Huxley (by permission of Messrs. Macmillan).</i></p> + + <p>SKELETONS OF THE GIBBON, ORANG, CHIMPANZEE, GORILLA, MAN</p> + + <p class="wide">Photographically reduced from diagrams of the natural size + (except that of the gibbon, which was twice as large as nature) drawn by + Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins from specimens in the Museum of the Royal College of + Surgeons.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Every human being begins his or her life as a single cell—a + fertilised egg-cell, a treasure-house of all the ages. For in this living + microcosm, only a small fraction (1/125) of an inch in diameter, there is + condensed—who can imagine how?—all the natural inheritance of + man, all the legacy of his parentage, of his ancestry, of his long pre-human + pedigree. Darwin called the pinhead brain of the ant the most marvellous atom + of matter in the world, but the human ovum is more marvellous still. It has + more possibilities in it than any other thing, yet without fertilisation it + will die. The fertilised ovum divides and redivides; there results a ball of + cells and a sack of cells; gradually division of labour becomes the rule; + there is a laying down of nervous system and food-canal, muscular system and + skeleton, and so proceeds what is learnedly called differentiation. Out of + the apparently simple there emerges the obviously complex. As Aristotle + observed more than two thousand years ago, in the developing egg of the hen + there soon appears the beating heart! There is nothing like this in the + non-living world. But to return to the developing human embryo, there is + formed from and above the embryonic food-canal a skeletal rod, which is + called the notochord. It thrills the imagination to learn that this is the + only supporting axis that the lower orders of the backboned race possess. The + curious thing is that it does not become the backbone, which is certainly one + of the essential features of the vertebrate race. The notochord is the + supporting axis of the pioneer backboned animals,<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span> namely the + Lancelets and the Round-mouths (Cyclostomes), such as the Lamprey. They have + no backbone in the strict sense, but they have this notochord. It can easily + be dissected out in the lamprey—a long gristly rod. It is surrounded by + a sheath which becomes the backbone of most fishes and of all higher animals. + The interesting point is that although the notochord is only a vestige in the + adults of these types, it is never absent from the embryo. It occurs even in + man, a short-lived relic of the primeval supporting axis of the body. It + comes and then it goes, leaving only minute traces in the adult. We cannot + say that it is of any use, unless it serves as a stimulus to the development + of its substitute, the backbone. It is only a piece of preliminary + scaffolding, but there is no more eloquent instance of the living hand of the + past.</p> + + <p>One other instance must suffice of what Professor Lull calls the wonderful + changes wrought in the dark of the ante-natal period, which recapitulate in + rapid abbreviation the great evolutionary steps which were taken by man's + ancestors "during the long night of the geological past." On the + sides of the neck of the human embryo there are four pairs of slits, the + "visceral clefts," openings from the beginning of the food-canals + to the surface. There is no doubt as to their significance. They correspond + to the gill-slits of fishes and tadpoles. Yet in reptiles, birds, and mammals + they have no connection with breathing, which is their function in fishes and + amphibians. Indeed, they are not of any use at all, except that the first + becomes the Eustachian tube bringing the ear-passage into connection with the + back of the mouth, and that the second and third have to do with the + development of a curious organ called the thymus gland. Persistent, + nevertheless, these gill-slits are, recalling even in man an aquatic ancestry + of many millions of years ago.</p> + + <p>When all these lines of evidence are considered, they are seen to converge + in the conclusion that man is derived from a simian<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span> stock of + mammals. He is solidary with the rest of creation. To quote the closing words + of Darwin's <i>Descent of Man</i>:</p> + + <div class="blockquot"> + <p>We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all his + noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, with + benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the humblest living + creature, with his God-like intellect, which has penetrated into the + movements and constitution of the solar system—with all these exalted + powers—man still bears in his bodily frame the indelible stamp of his + lowly origin.</p> + </div> + + <p>We should be clear that this view does not say more than that man sprang + from a stock common to him and to the higher apes. Those who are repelled by + the idea of man's derivation from a simian type should remember that the + theory implies rather more than this, namely, that man is the outcome of a + genealogy which has implied many millions of years of experimenting and + sifting—the groaning and travailing of a whole creation. Speaking of + man's mental qualities, Sir Ray Lankester says: "They justify the + view that man forms a new departure in the gradual unfolding of Nature's + predestined plan." In any case, we have to try to square our views with + the facts, not the facts with our views, and while one of the facts is that + man stands unique and apart, the other is that man is a scion of a + progressive simian stock. Naturalists have exposed the pit whence man has + been digged and the rock whence he has been hewn, but it is surely a + heartening encouragement to know that it is an ascent, not a descent, that we + have behind us. There is wisdom in Pascal's maxim:</p> + + <div class="blockquot"> + <p>It is dangerous to show man too plainly how like he is to the animals, + without, at the same time, reminding him of his greatness. It is equally + unwise to impress him with his greatness and not with his lowliness. It is + worse to leave him in ignorance of both. But it is very profitable to + recognise the two facts.</p> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg + 164]</a></span></p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 3</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Man's Pedigree</h4> + + <p>The facts of anatomy, physiology, and embryology, of which we have given + illustrations, all point to man's affiliation with the order of monkeys + and apes. To this order is given the name Primates, and our first and second + question must be when and whence the Primates began. The rock record answers + the first question: the Primates emerged about the dawn of the Eocene era, + when grass was beginning to cover the earth with a garment. Their ancestral + home was in the north in both hemispheres, and then they migrated to Africa, + India, Malay, and South America. In North America the Primates soon became + extinct, and the same thing happened later on in Europe. In this case, + however, there was a repeopling from the South (in the Lower Miocene) and + then a second extinction (in the Upper Pliocene) before man appeared. There + is considerable evidence in support of Professor R. S. Lull's conclusion, + that in Southern Asia, Africa, and South America the evolution of Primates + was continuous since the first great southward migration, and there is, of + course, an abundant modern representation of Primates in these regions + to-day.</p> + + <p>As to the second question: Whence the Primates sprang, the answer must be + more conjectural. But it is a reasonable view that Carnivores and Primates + sprang from a common Insectivore stock, the one order diverging towards + flesh-eating and hunting on the ground, the other order diverging towards + fruit-eating and arboreal habits. There is no doubt that the Insectivores + (including shrews, tree-shrews, hedgehog, mole, and the like) were very + plastic and progressive mammals.</p> + + <p>What followed in the course of ages was the divergence of branch after + branch from the main Primate stem. First there diverged the South American + monkeys on a line of their own, and then the Old World monkeys, such as the + macaques and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg + 165]</a></span> baboons. Ages passed and the main stems gave off (in the + Oligocene period) the branch now represented by the small anthropoid + apes—the gibbon and the siamang. Distinctly later there diverged the + branch of the large anthropoid apes—the gorilla, the chimpanzee, and + the orang. That left a generalised humanoid stock separated off from all + monkeys and apes, and including the immediate precursors of man. When this + sifting out of a generalised humanoid stock took place remains very + uncertain, some authorities referring it to the Miocene, others to the early + Pliocene. Some would estimate its date at half a million years ago, others at + two millions! The fact is that questions of chronology do not as yet admit of + scientific statement.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image264a" id="image264a"></a> <a href= + "images/image264a.jpg"><img src="images/image264a_sm.jpg" alt= + "SIDE-VIEW OF SKULL OF MAN (M) AND GORILLA (G)" title= + "SIDE-VIEW OF SKULL OF MAN (M) AND GORILLA (G)" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>SIDE-VIEW OF SKULL OF MAN (M) AND GORILLA (G)</p> + + <p class="wide">Notice in the gorilla's skull the protrusive face + region, the big eyebrow ridges, the much less domed cranial cavity, the + massive lower jaw, the big canine teeth. Notice in man's skull the + well-developed forehead, the domed and spacious cranial cavity, the absence + of any snout, the chin process, and many other marked differences + separating the human skull from the ape's.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image264b" id="image264b"></a> <a href= + "images/image264b.jpg"><img src="images/image264b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE SKULL AND BRAIN-CASE OF PITHECANTHROPUS" title= + "THE SKULL AND BRAIN-CASE OF PITHECANTHROPUS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE SKULL AND BRAIN-CASE OF PITHECANTHROPUS, THE JAVA APE-MAN, AS + RESTORED. BY J. H. McGREGOR FROM THE SCANTY REMAINS</p> + + <p class="wide">The restoration shows the low, retreating forehead and the + prominent eyebrow ridges.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image265" id="image265"></a> <a href= + "images/image265.jpg"><img src="images/image265_sm.jpg" alt= + "SUGGESTED GENEALOGICAL TREE OF MAN AND ANTHROPOID APES" title= + "SUGGESTED GENEALOGICAL TREE OF MAN AND ANTHROPOID APES" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>SUGGESTED GENEALOGICAL TREE OF MAN AND ANTHROPOID APES</p> + + <p>From Sir Arthur Keith; the lettering to the right has been slightly + simplified.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>We are on firmer, though still uncertain, ground when we state the + probability that it was in Asia that the precursors of man were separated off + from monkeys and apes, and began to be terrestrial rather than arboreal. + Professor Lull points out that Asia is nearest to the oldest known human + remains (in Java), and that Asia was the seat of the most ancient + civilisations and the original home of many domesticated animals and + cultivated plants. The probability is that the cradle of the human race was + in Asia.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Man's Arboreal Apprenticeship</h4> + + <p>At this point it will be useful to consider man's arboreal + apprenticeship and how he became a terrestrial journeyman. Professor Wood + Jones has worked out very convincingly the thesis that man had no direct + four-footed ancestry, but that the Primate stock to which he belongs was from + its first divergence arboreal. He maintains that the leading peculiarities of + the immediate precursors of man were wrought out during a long arboreal + apprenticeship. The first great gain of arboreal life on bipedal erect lines + (not after the quadrupedal fashion of tree-sloths, for instance) was the + emancipation of the hand. The foot<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" + id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span> became the supporting and branch-gripping + member, and the hand was set free to reach upward, to hang on by, to seize + the fruit, to lift it and hold it to the mouth, and to hug the young one + close to the breast. The hand thus set free has remained plastic—a + generalised, not a specialised member. Much has followed from man's + "handiness."</p> + + <p>The arboreal life had many other consequences. It led to an increased + freedom of movement of the thigh on the hip joint, to muscular arrangements + for balancing the body on the leg, to making the backbone a supple yet stable + curved pillar, to a strongly developed collar-bone which is only found + well-formed when the fore-limb is used for more than support, and to a power + of "opposing" the thumb and the big toe to the other digits of the + hand and foot—an obvious advantage for branch-gripping. But the + evolution of a free hand made it possible to dispense with protrusive lips + and gripping teeth. Thus began the recession of the snout region, the + associated enlargement of the brain-box, and the bringing of the eyes to the + front. The overcrowding of the teeth that followed the shortening of the + snout was one of the taxes on progress of which modern man is often reminded + in his dental troubles.</p> + + <p>Another acquisition associated with arboreal life was a greatly increased + power of turning the head from side to side—a mobility very important + in locating sounds and in exploring with the eyes. Furthermore, there came + about a flattening of the chest and of the back, and the movements of the + midriff (or diaphragm) came to count for more in respiration than the + movements of the ribs. The sense of touch came to be of more importance and + the sense of smell of less; the part of the brain receiving tidings from hand + and eye and ear came to predominate over the part for receiving olfactory + messages. Finally, the need for carrying the infant about among the branches + must surely have implied an intensification of family relations, and favoured + the evolution of gentleness.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image268a" id="image268a"></a> <a href= + "images/image268a.jpg"><img src="images/image268a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE GIBBON IS LOWER THAN THE OTHER APES AS REGARDS ITS SKULL AND DENTITION" + title= + "THE GIBBON IS LOWER THAN THE OTHER APES AS REGARDS ITS SKULL AND DENTITION" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: New York Zoological Park.</i></p> + + <p>THE GIBBON IS LOWER THAN THE OTHER APES AS REGARDS ITS SKULL AND + DENTITION, BUT IT IS HIGHLY SPECIALIZED IN THE ADAPTATION OF ITS LIMBS TO + ARBOREAL LIFE</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image268b" id="image268b"></a> <a href= + "images/image268b.jpg"><img src="images/image268b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE ORANG HAS A HIGH ROUNDED SKULL AND A LONG FACE" title= + "THE ORANG HAS A HIGH ROUNDED SKULL AND A LONG FACE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: New York Zoological Park.</i></p> + + <p>THE ORANG HAS A HIGH ROUNDED SKULL AND A LONG FACE</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image269" id="image269"></a> <a href= + "images/image269.jpg"><img src="images/image269_sm.jpg" alt= + "COMPARISONS OF THE SKELETONS OF HORSE AND MAN" title= + "COMPARISONS OF THE SKELETONS OF HORSE AND MAN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: British Museum (Natural History).</i></p> + + <p>COMPARISONS OF THE SKELETONS OF HORSE AND MAN</p> + + <p class="wide">Bone for bone, the two skeletons are like one another, + though man is a biped and the horse a quadruped. The backbone in man is + mainly vertical; the backbone in the horse is horizontal except in the neck + and the tail. Man's skull is mainly in a line with the backbone; the + horse's at an angle to it. Both man and horse have seven neck vertebræ. + Man has five digits on each limb; the horse has only one digit well + developed on each limb.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg + 167]</a></span></p> + + <p>It may be urged that we are attaching too much importance to the arboreal + apprenticeship, since many tree-loving animals remain to-day very innocent + creatures. To this reasonable objection there are two answers, first that in + its many acquisitions the arboreal evolution of the <i>humanoid</i> + precursors of man prepared the way for the survival of a <i>human</i> type + marked by a great step in brain-development; and second that the passage from + the humanoid to the human was probably associated with <i>a return to mother + earth</i>.</p> + + <p>According to Professor Lull, to whose fine textbook, <i>Organic + Evolution</i> (1917), we are much indebted, "climatic conditions in Asia + in the Miocene or early Pliocene were such as to compel the descent of the + pre-human ancestor from the trees, a step which was absolutely essential to + further human development." Continental elevation and consequent aridity + led to a dwindling of the forests, and forced the ape-man to come to earth. + "And at the last arose the man."</p> + + <p>According to Lull, the descent from the trees was associated with the + assumption of a more erect posture, with increased liberation and plasticity + of the hand, with becoming a hunter, with experiments towards clothing and + shelter, with an exploring habit, and with the beginning of communal + life.</p> + + <p>It is a plausible view that the transition from the humanoid to the human + was effected by a discontinuous variation of considerable magnitude, what is + nowadays called a <i>mutation</i>, and that it had mainly to do with the + brain and the vocal organs. But given the gains of the arboreal + apprenticeship, the stimulus of an enforced descent to terra firma, and an + evolving brain and voice, we can recognise accessory factors which helped + success to succeed. Perhaps the absence of great physical strength prompted + reliance on wits; the prolongation of infancy would help to educate the + parents in gentleness; the strengthening of the feeling of kinship would + favour the evolution of family and social life—of which there are many + anticipations at lower levels. There is<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span> much truth in the saying: + "Man did not make society, society made man."</p> + + <p>A continuation of the story will deal with the emergence of the primitive + types of man and the gradual ascent of the modern species.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 4</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Tentative Men</h4> + + <p>So far the story has been that of the sifting out of a humanoid stock and + of the transition to human kind, from the ancestors of apes and men to the + man-ape, and from the man-ape to man. It looks as if the sifting-out process + had proceeded further, for there were several human branches that did not + lead on to the modern type of man.</p> + + <p>1. The first of these is represented by the scanty fossil remains known as + <i>Pithecanthropus erectus</i>, found in Java in fossiliferous beds which + date from the end of the Pliocene or the beginning of the Pleistocene era. + Perhaps this means half a million years ago, and the remains occurred along + with those of some mammals which are now extinct. Unfortunately the remains + of Pithecanthropus the Erect consisted only of a skull-cap, a thigh-bone, and + two back teeth, so it is not surprising that experts should differ + considerably in their interpretation of what was found. Some have regarded + the remains as those of a large gibbon, others as those of a pre-human + ape-man, and others as those of a primitive man off the main line of ascent. + According to Sir Arthur Keith, Pithecanthropus was "a being human in + stature, human in gait, human in all its parts, save its brain." The + thigh-bone indicates a height of about 5 feet 7 inches, one inch less than + the average height of the men of to-day. The skull-cap indicates a low, flat + forehead, beetling brows, and a capacity about two-thirds of the modern size. + The remains were found by Dubois, in 1894, in Trinil in Central Java.</p> + + <p>2. The next offshoot is represented by the Heidelberg man<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span> (<i>Homo + heidelbergensis</i>), discovered near Heidelberg in 1907 by Dr. Schoetensack. + But the remains consisted only of a lower jaw and its teeth. Along with this + relic were bones of various mammals, including some long since extinct in + Europe, such as elephant, rhinoceros, bison, and lion. The circumstances + indicate an age of perhaps 300,000 years ago. There were also very crude + flint implements (or eoliths). But the teeth are human teeth, and the jaw + seems transitional between that of an anthropoid ape and that of man. Thus + there was no chin. According to most authorities the lower jaw from the + Heidelberg sand-pit must be regarded as a relic of a primitive type off the + main line of human ascent.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image272" id="image272"></a> <a href= + "images/image272.jpg"><img src="images/image272_sm.jpg" alt= + "A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE JAVA MAN" title= + "A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE JAVA MAN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE JAVA MAN</p> + + <p>(<i>Pithecanthropus erectus.</i>)</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>3. It was in all probability in the Pliocene that there took origin the + Neanderthal species of man, <i>Homo neanderthalensis</i>, first known from + remains found in 1856 in the Neanderthal ravine near Düsseldorf. According to + some authorities Neanderthal man was living in Europe a quarter of a million + years ago. Other specimens were afterwards found elsewhere, e.g. in Belgium + ("the men of Spy"), in France, in Croatia, and at Gibraltar, so + that a good deal is known of Neanderthal man. He was a loose-limbed fellow, + short of stature and of slouching gait, but a skilful artificer, fashioning + beautifully worked flints with a characteristic style. He used fire; he + buried his dead reverently and furnished them with an outfit for a long + journey; and he had a big brain. But he had great beetling, ape-like eyebrow + ridges and massive jaws, and he showed "simian characters swarming in + the details of his structure." In most of the points in which he differs + from modern man he approaches the anthropoid apes, and he must be regarded as + a low type of man off the main line. Huxley regarded the Neanderthal man as a + low form of the modern type, but expert opinion seems to agree rather with + the view maintained in 1864 by Professor William King of Galway, that the + Neanderthal man represents a distinct species off the main line of ascent. He + disappeared with apparent suddenness (like some aboriginal races to-day) + about the end of the Fourth Great Ice Age; but<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span> there is evidence that before he + ceased to be there had emerged a successor rather than a descendant—the + modern man.</p> + + <p>4. Another offshoot from the main line is probably represented by the + Piltdown man, found in Sussex in 1912. The remains consisted of the walls of + the skull, which indicate a large brain, and a high forehead without the + beetling eyebrows of the Neanderthal man and Pithecanthropus. The + "find" included a tooth and part of a lower jaw, but these perhaps + belong to some ape, for they are very discrepant. The Piltdown skull + represents the most ancient human remains as yet found in Britain, and Dr. + Smith Woodward's establishment of a separate genus Eoanthropus expresses + his conviction that the Piltdown man was off the line of the evolution of the + modern type. If the tooth and piece of lower jaw belong to the Piltdown + skull, then there was a remarkable combination of ape-like and human + characters. As regards the brain, <i>inferred</i> from the skull-walls, Sir + Arthur Keith says:</p> + + <div class="blockquot"> + <p>All the essential features of the brain of modern man are to be seen in + the brain cast. There are some which must be regarded as primitive. There + can be no doubt that it is built on exactly the same lines as our modern + brains. A few minor alterations would make it in all respects a modern + brain.... Although our knowledge of the human brain is limited—there + are large areas to which we can assign no definite function—we may + rest assured that a brain which was shaped in a mould so similar to our own + was one which responded to the outside world as ours does. Piltdown man saw, + heard, felt, thought, and dreamt much as we do still.</p> + </div> + + <p>And this was 150,000 years ago at a modern estimate, and some would say + half a million.</p> + + <p>There is neither agreement nor certainty as to the antiquity of man, + except that the modern type was distinguishable from its collaterals hundreds + of thousands of years ago. The general impression left is very grand. In + remote antiquity the Primate<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id= + "Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span> stem diverged from the other orders of + mammals; it sent forth its tentative branches, and the result was a tangle of + monkeys; ages passed and the monkeys were left behind, while the main stem, + still probing its way, gave off the Anthropoid apes, both small and large. + But they too were left behind, and the main line gave off other + experiments—indications of which we know in Java, at Heidelberg, in the + Neanderthal, and at Piltdown. None of these lasted or was made perfect. They + represent <i>tentative</i> men who had their day and ceased to be, our + predecessors rather than our ancestors. Still, the main stem goes on + evolving, and who will be bold enough to say what fruit it has yet to + bear!</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image276a" id="image276a"></a> <a href= + "images/image276a.jpg"><img src="images/image276a_sm.jpg" alt= + "PROFILE VIEW OF THE HEAD OF PITHECANTHROPUS" title= + "PROFILE VIEW OF THE HEAD OF PITHECANTHROPUS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>After a model by J. H. McGregor.</i></p> + + <p>PROFILE VIEW OF THE HEAD OF PITHECANTHROPUS, THE JAVA APE-MAN—AN + EARLY OFFSHOOT FROM THE MAIN LINE OF MAN'S ASCENT</p> + + <p class="wide">The animal remains found along with the skull-cap, + thigh-bone, and two teeth of Pithecanthropus seem to indicate the lowest + Pleistocene period, perhaps 500,000 years ago.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image276b" id="image276b"></a> <a href= + "images/image276b.jpg"><img src="images/image276b_sm.jpg" alt= + "PILTDOWN SKULL" title="PILTDOWN SKULL" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>From the reconstruction by J. H. McGregor.</i></p> + + <p>PILTDOWN SKULL. THE DARK PARTS ONLY ARE PRESERVED, NAMELY PORTIONS OF + THE CRANIAL WALLS AND THE NASAL BONES</p> + + <p class="wide">Some authorities include a canine tooth and part of the + lower jaw which were found close by. The remains were found in 1912 in + Thames gravels in Sussex, and are usually regarded as vastly more ancient + than those of Neanderthal Man. It has been suggested that Piltdown Man + lived 100,000 to 150,000 years ago, in the Third Interglacial period.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image277" id="image277"></a> <a href= + "images/image277.jpg"><img src="images/image277_sm.jpg" alt= + "SAND-PIT AT MAUER, NEAR HEIDELBERG" title= + "SAND-PIT AT MAUER, NEAR HEIDELBERG" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Reproduced by permission from Osborn's "Men of the Old Stone + Age."</i></p> + + <p>SAND-PIT AT MAUER, NEAR HEIDELBERG: DISCOVERY SITE OF THE JAW OF + HEIDELBERG MAN</p> + + <p class="wide"><i>a-b.</i> "Newer loess," either of Third + Interglacial or of Postglacial times. + <br /> + <i>b-c.</i> "Older loess" (sandy loess), of the close of Second + Interglacial times. + <br /> + <i>c-f.</i> The "sands of Mauer." + <br /> + <i>d-e.</i> An intermediate layer of clay. + <br /></p> + + <p class="wide">The white cross (X) indicates the spot at the base of the + "sands of Mauer" at which the jaw of Heidelberg was + discovered.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h4 class="sect">Primitive Men</h4> + + <p>Ancient skeletons of men of the modern type have been found in many + places, e.g. Combe Capelle in Dordogne, Galley Hill in Kent, Cro-Magnon in + Périgord, Mentone on the Riviera; and they are often referred to as + "Cave-men" or "men of the Early Stone Age." They had + large skulls, high foreheads, well-marked chins, and other features such as + modern man possesses. They were true men at last—that is to say, like + ourselves! The spirited pictures they made on the walls of caves in France + and Spain show artistic sense and skill. Well-finished statuettes + representing nude female figures are also known. The elaborate burial customs + point to a belief in life after death. They made stone + implements—knives, scrapers, gravers, and the like, of the type known + as Palæolithic, and these show interesting gradations of skill and + peculiarities of style. The "Cave-men" lived between the third and + fourth Ice Ages, along with cave-bear, cave-lion, cave-hyæna, mammoth, woolly + rhinoceros, Irish elk, and other mammals now extinct—taking us back to + 30,000-50,000 years ago, and many would say much more. Some of the + big-brained skulls of these Palæolithic cave-men show not a single feature + that could be called primitive. They show teeth which in size and form are + exactly the same as those of a thousand generations<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span> + afterwards—and suffering from gumboil too! There seems little doubt + that these vigorous Palæolithic Cave-men of Europe were living for a while + contemporaneously with the men of Neanderthal, and it is possible that they + directly or indirectly hastened the disappearance of their more primitive + collaterals. Curiously enough, however, they had not themselves adequate + lasting power in Europe, for they seem for the most part to have dwindled + away, leaving perhaps stray present-day survivors in isolated districts. The + probability is that after their decline Europe was repeopled by immigrants + from Asia. It cannot be said that there is any inherent biological necessity + for the decline of a vigorous race—many animal races go back for + millions of years—but in mankind the historical fact is that a period + of great racial vigour and success is often followed by a period of decline, + sometimes leading to practical disappearance as a definite race. The causes + of this waning remain very obscure—sometimes environmental, sometimes + constitutional, sometimes competitive. Sometimes the introduction of a new + parasite, like the malaria organism, may have been to blame.</p> + + <p>After the Ice Ages had passed, perhaps 25,000 years ago, the Palæolithic + culture gave place to the Neolithic. The men who made rudely dressed but + often beautiful stone implements were succeeded or replaced by men who made + polished stone implements. The earliest inhabitants of Scotland were of this + Neolithic culture, migrating from the Continent when the ice-fields of the + Great Glaciation had disappeared. Their remains are often associated with the + "Fifty-foot Beach" which, though now high and dry, was the seashore + in early Neolithic days. Much is known about these men of the polished + stones. They were hunters, fowlers, and fishermen; without domesticated + animals or agriculture; short folk, two or three inches below the present + standard; living an active strenuous life. Similarly, for the south, Sir + Arthur Keith pictures for us a Neolithic community at Coldrum in Kent, dating + from about 4,000 years ago—a few ticks of the<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span> geological + clock. It consisted, in this case, of agricultural pioneers, men with large + heads and big brains, about two inches shorter in stature than the modern + British average (5 ft. 8 in.), with better teeth and broader palates than men + have in these days of soft food, with beliefs concerning life and death + similar to those that swayed their contemporaries in Western and Southern + Europe. Very interesting is the manipulative skill they showed on a large + scale in erecting standing stones (probably connected with calendar-keeping + and with worship), and on a small scale in making daring operations on the + skull. Four thousand years ago is given as a probable date for that early + community in Kent, but evidences of Neolithic man occur in situations which + demand a much greater antiquity—perhaps 30,000 years. And man was not + young then!</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image280" id="image280"></a> <a href= + "images/image280.jpg"><img src="images/image280_sm.jpg" alt= + "PAINTINGS ON THE ROOF OF THE ALTAMIRA CAVE IN NORTHERN SPAIN" title= + "PAINTINGS ON THE ROOF OF THE ALTAMIRA CAVE IN NORTHERN SPAIN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>PAINTINGS ON THE ROOF OF THE ALTAMIRA CAVE IN NORTHERN SPAIN, SHOWING A + BISON ABOVE AND A GALLOPING BOAR BELOW</p> + + <p class="wide">The artistic drawings, over 2 feet in length, were made by + the Reindeer Men or "Cromagnards" in the time of the Upper or + Post-Glacial Pleistocene, before the appearance of the Neolithic men.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>We must open one more chapter in the thrilling story of the Ascent of + Man—the Metal Ages, which are in a sense still continuing. Metals began + to be used in the late Polished Stone (Neolithic) times, for there were + always overlappings. Copper came first, Bronze second, and Iron last. The + working of copper in the East has been traced back to the fourth millennium + <span class="smcap">B.C.</span>, and there was also a very ancient Copper Age + in the New World. It need hardly be said that where copper is scarce, as in + Britain, we cannot expect to find much trace of a Copper Age.</p> + + <p>The ores of different metals seem to have been smelted together in an + experimental way by many prehistoric metallurgists, and bronze was the alloy + that rewarded the combination of tin with copper. There is evidence of a more + or less definite Bronze Age in Egypt and Babylonia, Greece and Europe.</p> + + <p>It is not clear why iron should not have been the earliest metal to be + used by man, but the Iron Age dates from about the middle of the second + millennium <span class="smcap">B.C.</span> From Egypt the usage spread + through the Mediterranean region to North Europe, or it may have been that + discoveries made in Central Europe, so rich in iron-mines, saturated + southwards, following for instance, the<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span> route of the amber trade from + the Baltic. Compared with stone, the metals afforded much greater + possibilities of implements, instruments, and weapons, and their discovery + and usage had undoubtedly great influence on the Ascent of Man. Occasionally, + however, on his descent.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Retrospect</h4> + + <p>Looking backwards, we discern the following stages: (1) The setting apart + of a Primate stock, marked off from other mammals by a tendency to big + brains, a free hand, gregariousness, and good-humoured talkativeness. (2) The + divergence of marmosets and New World monkeys and Old World monkeys, leaving + a stock—an anthropoid stock—common to the present-day and extinct + apes and to mankind. (3) From this common stock the Anthropoid apes diverged, + far from ignoble creatures, and a humanoid stock was set apart. (4) From the + latter (we follow Sir Arthur Keith and other authorities) there arose what + may be called, without disparagement, tentative or experimental men, + indicated by Pithecanthropus "the Erect," the Heidelberg man, the + Neanderthalers, and, best of all, the early men of the Sussex + Weald—hinted at by the Piltdown skull. It matters little whether + particular items are corroborated or disproved—e.g. whether the + Heidelberg man came before or after the Neanderthalers—the general + trend of evolution remains clear. (5) In any case, the result was the + evolution of <i>Homo sapiens, the man we are</i>—a quite different + fellow from the Neanderthaler. (6) Then arose various stocks of primitive + men, proving everything and holding fast to that which is good. There were + the Palæolithic peoples, with rude stone implements, a strong vigorous race, + but probably, in most cases, supplanted by fresh experiments. These may have + arisen as shoots from the growing point of the old race, or as a fresh + offshoot from more generalised members at a lower level. This is the eternal + possible victory alike of aristocracy and democracy. (7) Palæolithic men were + involved in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg + 175]</a></span> succession of four Great Ice Ages or Glaciations, and it may + be that the human race owes much to the alternation of hard times and easy + times—glacial and interglacial. When the ice-fields cleared off + Neolithic man had his innings. (8) And we have closed the story, in the + meantime, with the Metal Ages.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image284" id="image284"></a> <a href= + "images/image284.jpg"><img src="images/image284_sm.jpg" alt= + "PILTDOWN MAN, PRECEDING NEANDERTHAL MAN" title= + "PILTDOWN MAN, PRECEDING NEANDERTHAL MAN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor.</i></p> + + <p>PILTDOWN MAN, PRECEDING NEANDERTHAL MAN, PERHAPS 100,000 TO 150,000 + YEARS AGO</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image285" id="image285"></a> <a href= + "images/image285.jpg"><img src="images/image285_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE NEANDERTHAL MAN OF LA CHAPELLE-AUX-SAINTS" title= + "THE NEANDERTHAL MAN OF LA CHAPELLE-AUX-SAINTS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor.</i></p> + + <p>THE NEANDERTHAL MAN OF LA CHAPELLE-AUX-SAINTS</p> + + <p class="wide">The men of this race lived in Europe from the Third + Interglacial period through the Fourth Glacial. They disappeared somewhat + suddenly, being replaced by the Modern Man type, such as the Cromagnards. + Many regard the Neanderthal Men as a distinct species.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>It seems not unfitting that we should at this point sound another + note—that of the man of feeling. It is clear in William James's + words:</p> + + <div class="blockquot"> + <p>Bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, are these half-brutish + prehistoric brothers. Girdled about with the immense darkness of this + mysterious universe even as we are, they were born and died, suffered and + struggled. Given over to fearful crime and passion, plunged in the blackest + ignorance, preyed upon by hideous and grotesque delusions, yet steadfastly + serving the profoundest of ideals in their fixed faith that existence in any + form is better than non-existence, they ever rescued triumphantly from the + jaws of ever imminent destruction the torch of life which, thanks to them, + now lights the world for us.</p> + </div> + + <h4 class="sect">Races of Mankind</h4> + + <p>Given a variable stock spreading over diverse territory, we expect to find + it splitting up into varieties which may become steadied into races or + incipient species. Thus we have races of hive-bees, "Italians," + "Punics," and so forth; and thus there arose races of men. Certain + types suited certain areas, and periods of in-breeding tended to make the + distinctive peculiarities of each incipient race well-defined and stable. + When the original peculiarities, say, of negro and Mongol, Australian and + Caucasian, arose as brusque variations or "mutations," then they + would have great staying power from generation to generation. They would not + be readily swamped by intercrossing or averaged off. Peculiarities and + changes of climate and surroundings, not to speak of other change-producing + factors, would provoke new departures from age to age, and so fresh racial + ventures<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg + 176]</a></span> were made. Moreover, the occurrence of out-breeding when two + races met, in peace or in war, would certainly serve to induce fresh starts. + Very important in the evolution of human races must have been the alternating + occurrence of periods of in-breeding (endogamy), tending to stability and + sameness, and periods of out-breeding (exogamy), tending to changefulness and + diversity.</p> + + <p>Thus we may distinguish several more or less clearly defined primitive + races of mankind—notably the African, the Australian, the Mongolian, + and the Caucasian. The woolly-haired African race includes the negroes and + the very primitive bushmen. The wavy-to curly-haired Australian race includes + the Jungle Tribes of the Deccan, the Vedda of Ceylon, the Jungle Folk or + Semang, and the natives of unsettled parts of Australia—all sometimes + slumped together as "Pre-Dravidians." The straight-haired Mongols + include those of Tibet, Indo-China, China, and Formosa, those of many oceanic + islands, and of the north from Japan to Lapland. The Caucasians include + Mediterraneans, Semites, Nordics, Afghans, Alpines, and many more.</p> + + <p>There are very few corners of knowledge more difficult than that of the + Races of Men, the chief reason being that there has been so much movement and + migration in the course of the ages. One physical type has mingled with + another, inducing strange amalgams and novelties. If we start with what might + be called "zoological" races or strains differing, for instance, in + their hair (woolly-haired Africans, straight-haired Mongols, curly-or + wavy-haired Pre-Dravidians and Caucasians), we find these replaced by + <i>peoples</i> who are mixtures of various races, "brethren by + civilisation more than by blood." As Professor Flinders Petrie has said, + the only meaning the term "race" now can have is that of a group of + human beings whose type has been unified by their rate of assimilation + exceeding the rate of change produced by the infiltration of foreign + elements. It is probable, however, that the progress of precise anthropology + will make it possible to distinguish the various racial "strains" + that make up<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg + 177]</a></span> any people. For the human sense of race is so strong that it + convinces us of reality even when scientific definition is impossible. It was + this the British sailor expressed in his answer to the question "What is + a Dago?" "Dagoes," he replied, "is anything wot isn't + our sort of chaps."</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image288" id="image288"></a> <a href= + "images/image288.jpg"><img src="images/image288_sm.jpg" alt= + "RESTORATION BY A. FORESTIER OF THE RHODESIAN MAN WHOSE SKULL WAS DISCOVERED IN 1921" + title= + "RESTORATION BY A. FORESTIER OF THE RHODESIAN MAN WHOSE SKULL WAS DISCOVERED IN 1921" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>RESTORATION BY A. FORESTIER OF THE RHODESIAN MAN WHOSE SKULL WAS + DISCOVERED IN 1921</p> + + <p class="wide">Attention may be drawn to the beetling eyebrow ridges, the + projecting upper lip, the large eye-sockets, the well-poised head, the + strong shoulders.</p> + + <p class="wide">The squatting figure is crushing seeds with a stone, and a + crusher is lying on the rock to his right.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image289" id="image289"></a> <a href= + "images/image289.jpg"><img src="images/image289_sm.jpg" alt= + "RESTORATION BY A. FORESTIER OF THE RHODESIAN MAN WHOSE SKULL WAS DISCOVERED IN 1921" + title= + "RESTORATION BY A. FORESTIER OF THE RHODESIAN MAN WHOSE SKULL WAS DISCOVERED IN 1921" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>RESTORATION BY A. FORESTIER OF THE RHODESIAN MAN WHOSE SKULL WAS + DISCOVERED IN 1921</p> + + <p class="wide">The figure in the foreground, holding a staff, shows the + erect attitude and the straight legs. His left hand holds a flint + implement.</p> + + <p class="wide">On the left, behind the sitting figure, is seen the + entrance to the cave. This new Rhodesian cave-man may be regarded as a + southern representative of a Neanderthal race, or as an extinct type + intermediate between the Neanderthal Men and the Modern Man type.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h4 class="sect">Steps in Human Evolution</h4> + + <p>Real men arose, we believe, by variational uplifts of considerable + magnitude which led to big and complex brains and to the power of reasoned + discourse. In some other lines of mammalian evolution there were from time to + time great advances in the size and complexity of the brain, as is clear, for + instance, in the case of horses and elephants. The same is true of birds as + compared with reptiles, and everyone recognises the high level of excellence + that has been attained by their vocal powers. How these great cerebral + advances came about we do not know, but it has been one of the main trends of + animal evolution to improve the nervous system. Two suggestions may be made. + First, the prolongation of the period of ante-natal life, in intimate + physiological partnership with the mother, may have made it practicable to + start the higher mammal with a much better brain than in the lower orders, + like Insectivores and Rodents, and still more Marsupials, where the period + before birth (gestation) is short. Second, we know that the individual + development of the brain is profoundly influenced by the internal secretions + of certain ductless glands notably the thyroid. When this organ is not + functioning properly the child's brain development is arrested. It may be + that increased production of certain hormones—itself, of course, to be + accounted for—may have stimulated brain development in man's remote + ancestors.</p> + + <p>Given variability along the line of better brains and given a process of + discriminate sifting which would consistently offer rewards to alertness and + foresight, to kin-sympathy and parental care, there seems no great difficulty + in imagining how Man would<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id= + "Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span> evolve. We must not think of an Aristotle or a + Newton except as fine results which justify all the groaning and travailing; + we must think of average men, of primitive peoples to-day, and of our + forbears long ago. We must remember how much of man's advance is + dependent on the external registration of the social heritage, not on the + slowly changing natural inheritance.</p> + + <p>Looking backwards it is impossible, we think, to fail to recognise + progress. There is a ring of truth in the fine description Æschylus gave of + primitive men that—</p> + + <div class="blockquot"> + <p>first, beholding they beheld in vain, and, hearing, heard not, but, like + shapes in dreams, mixed all things wildly down the tedious time, nor knew to + build a house against the sun with wicketed sides, nor any woodwork knew, + but lived like silly ants, beneath the ground, in hollow caves unsunned. + There came to them no steadfast sign of winter, nor of spring + flower-perfumed, nor of summer full of fruit, but blindly and lawlessly they + did all things.</p> + </div> + + <p>Contrast this picture with the position of man to-day. He has mastered the + forces of Nature and is learning to use their resources more and more + economically; he has harnessed electricity to his chariot and he has made the + ether carry his messages. He tapped supplies of material which seemed for + centuries unavailable, having learned, for instance, how to capture and + utilise the free nitrogen of the air. With his telegraph and + "wireless" he has annihilated distance, and he has added to his + navigable kingdom the depths of the sea and the heights of the air. He has + conquered one disease after another, and the young science of heredity is + showing him how to control in his domesticated animals and cultivated plants + the nature of the generations yet unborn. With all his faults he has his + ethical face set in the right direction. The main line of movement is towards + the fuller embodiment of the true, the beautiful, and the good in healthy + lives which are increasingly a satisfaction in themselves.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image292a" id="image292a"></a> <a href= + "images/image292a.jpg"><img src="images/image292a_sm.jpg" alt= + "SIDE-VIEW OF A PREHISTORIC HUMAN SKULL DISCOVERED IN 1921 IN BROKEN HILL CAVE, NORTHERN RHODESIA" + title= + "SIDE-VIEW OF A PREHISTORIC HUMAN SKULL DISCOVERED IN 1921 IN BROKEN HILL CAVE, NORTHERN RHODESIA" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: British Museum (Natural History).</i></p> + + <p>SIDE-VIEW OF A PREHISTORIC HUMAN SKULL DISCOVERED IN 1921 IN BROKEN HILL + CAVE, NORTHERN RHODESIA</p> + + <p class="wide">Very striking are the prominent eyebrow ridges and the + broad massive face. The skull looks less domed than that of modern man, but + its cranial capacity is far above the lowest human limit. The teeth are + interesting in showing marked rotting or "caries," hitherto + unknown in prehistoric skulls. In all probability the Rhodesian man was an + African representative of the extinct Neanderthal species hitherto known + only from Europe.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image292b" id="image292b"></a> <a href= + "images/image292b.jpg"><img src="images/image292b_sm.jpg" alt= + "A CROMAGNON MAN OR CROMAGNARD" title="A CROMAGNON MAN OR CROMAGNARD" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor.</i></p> + + <p>A CROMAGNON MAN OR CROMAGNARD, REPRESENTATIVE OF A STRONG ARTISTIC RACE + LIVING IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE IN THE UPPER PLEISTOCENE, PERHAPS 25,000 + YEARS AGO</p> + + <p class="wide">They seemed to have lived for a while contemporaneously + with the Neanderthal Men, and there may have been interbreeding. Some + Cromagnards probably survive, but the race as a whole declined, and there + was repopulation of Europe from the East.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image293a" id="image293a"></a> <a href= + "images/image293a.jpg"><img src="images/image293a_sm.jpg" alt= + "PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING A NARROW PASSAGE IN THE CAVERN OF FONT-DE-GAUME ON THE BEUNE" + title= + "PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING A NARROW PASSAGE IN THE CAVERN OF FONT-DE-GAUME ON THE BEUNE" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Reproduced by permission from Osborn's "Men of the Old Stone + Age."</i></p> + + <p>PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING A NARROW PASSAGE IN THE CAVERN OF FONT-DE-GAUME ON + THE BEUNE</p> + + <p class="wide">Throughout the cavern the walls are crowded with + engravings; on the left wall, shown in the photograph, are two painted + bison. In the great gallery there may be found not less than eighty + figures—bison, reindeer, and mammoths. A specimen of the last is + reproduced below.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image293b" id="image293b"></a> <a href= + "images/image293b.jpg"><img src="images/image293b_sm.jpg" alt= + "A MAMMOTH DRAWN ON THE WALL OF THE FONT-DE-GAUME CAVERN" title= + "A MAMMOTH DRAWN ON THE WALL OF THE FONT-DE-GAUME CAVERN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>A MAMMOTH DRAWN ON THE WALL OF THE FONT-DE-GAUME CAVERN</p> + + <p class="wide">The mammoth age was in the Middle Pleistocene, while + Neanderthal Men still flourished, probably far over 30,000 years ago.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image293c" id="image293c"></a> <a href= + "images/image293c.jpg"><img src="images/image293c_sm.jpg" alt= + "A GRAZING BISON, DELICATELY AND CAREFULLY DRAWN, ENGRAVED ON A WALL OF THE ALTAMIRA CAVE, NORTHERN SPAIN" + title= + "A GRAZING BISON, DELICATELY AND CAREFULLY DRAWN, ENGRAVED ON A WALL OF THE ALTAMIRA CAVE, NORTHERN SPAIN" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>A GRAZING BISON, DELICATELY AND CAREFULLY DRAWN, ENGRAVED ON A WALL OF + THE ALTAMIRA CAVE, NORTHERN SPAIN</p> + + <p class="wide">This was the work of a Reindeer Man or Cromagnard, in the + Upper or Post-Glacial Pleistocene, perhaps 25,000 years ago. Firelight must + have been used in making these cave drawings and engravings.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg + 179]</a></span></p> + + <h4 class="sect">Factors in Human Progress</h4> + + <p>Many, we believe, were the gains that rewarded the arboreal apprenticeship + of man's ancestors. Many, likewise, were the results of leaving the trees + and coming down to the solid earth—a transition which marked the + emergence of more than tentative men. What great steps followed?</p> + + <p>Some of the greatest were—the working out of a spoken language and + of external methods of registration; the invention of tools; the discovery of + the use of fire; the utilisation of iron and other metals; the taming of wild + animals such as dog and sheep, horses and cattle; the cultivation of wild + plants such as wheat and rice; and the irrigation of fields. All through the + ages necessity has been the mother of invention and curiosity its father; but + perhaps we miss the heart of the matter if we forget the importance of some + leisure time—wherein to observe and think. If our earth had been so + clouded that the stars were hidden from men's eyes the whole history of + our race would have been different. For it was through his leisure-time + observations of the stars that early man discovered the regularity of the + year and got his fundamental impressions of the order of Nature—on + which all his science is founded.</p> + + <p>If we are to think clearly of the factors of human progress we must recall + the three great biological ideas—the living organism, its environment, + and its functioning. For man these mean (1) the living creature, the outcome + of parents and ancestors, a fresh expression of a bodily and mental + inheritance; (2) the surroundings, including climate and soil, the plants and + animals these allow; and (3) the activities of all sorts, occupations and + habits, all the actions and reactions between man and his milieu. In short, + we have to deal with <span class="smcap">Folk, Place, Work</span>; the + <i>Famille</i>, <i>Lieu</i>, <i>Travail</i> of the LePlay school.</p> + + <p>As to <span class="smcap">Folk</span>, human progress depends on intrinsic + racial qualities—notably health and vigour of body, clearness and + alertness of mind, and an indispensable sociality. The most + powerful<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg + 180]</a></span> factors in the world are clear ideas in the minds of + energetic men of good will. The differences in bodily and mental health which + mark races, and stocks within a people, just as they mark individuals, are + themselves traceable back to germinal variations or mutations, and to the + kind of sifting to which the race or stock has been subjected. Easygoing + conditions are not only without stimulus to new departures, they are without + the sifting which progress demands.</p> + + <p>As to <span class="smcap">Place</span>, it is plain that different areas + differ greatly in their material resources and in the availability of these. + Moreover, even when abundant material resources are present, they will not + make for much progress unless the climate is such that they can be readily + utilised. Indeed, climate has been one of the great factors in civilisation, + here stimulating and there depressing energy, in one place favouring certain + plants and animals important to man, in another place preventing their + presence. Moreover, climate has slowly changed from age to age.</p> + + <p>As to <span class="smcap">Work</span>, the form of a civilisation is in + some measure dependent on the primary occupations, whether hunting or + fishing, farming or shepherding; and on the industries of later ages which + have a profound moulding effect on the individual at least. We cannot, + however, say more than that the factors of human progress have always had + these three aspects, Folk, Place, Work, and that if progress is to continue + on stable lines it must always recognise the essential correlation of fitter + folk in body and mind: improved habits and functions, alike in work and + leisure; and bettered surroundings in the widest and deepest sense.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>BIBLIOGRAPHY</h3> + + <p><span class="smcap">Darwin, Charles</span>, <i>Descent of Man</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Haddon, A. C.</span>, <i>Races of Men</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Haddon, A. C.</span>, <i>History of Anthropology</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Keane, A. H.</span>, <i>Man Past and Present</i>. + <br /> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg + 181]</a></span><span class="smcap">Keith, Arthur</span>, <i>Antiquity of + Man</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Lull, R. S.</span>, <i>Organic Evolution</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">McCabe, Joseph</span>, <i>Evolution of Civilization</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Marett, R. R.</span>, <i>Anthropology</i> (Home + University Library). + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Osborn, H. F.</span>, <i>Men of the Early Stone Age</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Sollas, W. J.</span>, <i>Ancient Hunters and their Modern + Representatives</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Tylor, E. B.</span>, <i>Anthropology and Primitive + Culture</i>. + <br /> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg + 182]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg + 183]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg + 184]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg + 185]</a></span></p> + <hr /> + + <h2>VI</h2> + + <h2>EVOLUTION GOING ON</h2> + <hr /> + + <h3>EVOLUTION GOING ON</h3> + + <p>Evolution, as we have seen in a previous chapter, is another word for + race-history. It means the ceaseless process of Becoming, linking generation + to generation of living creatures. The Doctrine of Evolution states the fact + that the present is the child of the past and the parent of the future. It + comes to this, that the living plants and animals we know are descended from + ancestors on the whole simpler, and these from others likewise simpler, and + so on, back and back—till we reach the first living creatures, of + which, unfortunately, we know nothing. Evolution is a process of racial + change in a definite direction, whereby new forms arise, take root, and + flourish, alongside of or in the place of their ancestors, which were in most + cases rather simpler in structure and behaviour.</p> + + <p>The rock-record, which cannot be wrong, though we may read it wrongly, + shows clearly that there was once a time in the history of the Earth when the + only backboned animals were Fishes. Ages passed, and there evolved + Amphibians, with fingers and toes, scrambling on to dry land. Ages passed, + and there evolved Reptiles, in bewildering profusion. There were fish-lizards + and sea-serpents, terrestrial dragons and flying dragons, a prolific and + varied stock. From the terrestrial Dinosaurs it seems that Birds and Mammals + arose. In succeeding ages there evolved all the variety of Birds and all the + variety of Mammals. Until at last arose the Man. The question is whether + similar processes of evolution are still going on.</p> + + <p>We are so keenly aware of rapid changes in mankind, though<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span> these concern + the social heritage much more than the flesh-and-blood natural inheritance, + that we find no difficulty in the idea that evolution is going on in mankind. + We know the contrast between modern man and primitive man, and we are + convinced that in the past, at least, progress has been a reality. That + degeneration may set in is an awful possibility—involution rather than + evolution—but even if going back became for a time the rule, we cannot + give up the hope that the race would recover itself and begin afresh to go + forward. For although there have been retrogressions in the history of life, + continued through unthinkably long ages, and although great races, the Flying + Dragons for instance, have become utterly extinct, leaving no successors + whatsoever, we feel sure that there has been on the whole a progress towards + nobler, more masterful, more emancipated, more intelligent, and <i>better</i> + forms of life—a progress towards what mankind at its best has always + regarded as best, i.e. affording most enduring satisfaction. So we think of + evolution going on in mankind, evolution chequered by involution, but on the + whole <i>progressive evolution</i>.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Evolutionary Prospect for Man</h4> + + <p>It is not likely that man's body will admit of <i>great</i> change, + but there is room for some improvement, e.g. in the superfluous length of the + food-canal and the overcrowding of the teeth. It is likely, however, that + there will be constitutional changes, e.g. of prolonged youthfulness, a + higher standard of healthfulness, and a greater resistance to disease. It is + justifiable to look forward to great improvements in intelligence and in + control. The potentialities of the human brain, as it is, are far from being + utilised to the full, and new departures of promise are of continual + occurrence. What is of great importance is that the new departures or + variations which emerge in fine children should be fostered, not nipped in + the bud, by the social environment, education included. The evolutionary + prospect for man is promising.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image302a" id="image302a"></a> <a href= + "images/image302a.jpg"><img src="images/image302a_sm.jpg" alt= + "PHOTOGRAPH OF A MEDIAN SECTION THROUGH THE SHELL OF THE PEARLY NAUTILUS" + title= + "PHOTOGRAPH OF A MEDIAN SECTION THROUGH THE SHELL OF THE PEARLY NAUTILUS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>PHOTOGRAPH OF A MEDIAN SECTION THROUGH THE SHELL OF THE PEARLY + NAUTILUS</p> + + <p class="wide">It is only the large terminal chamber that is occupied by + the animal.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image302b" id="image302b"></a> <a href= + "images/image302b.jpg"><img src="images/image302b_sm.jpg" alt= + "PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ENTIRE SHELL OF THE PEARLY NAUTILUS" title= + "PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ENTIRE SHELL OF THE PEARLY NAUTILUS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ENTIRE SHELL OF THE PEARLY NAUTILUS</p> + + <p class="wide">The headquarters of the Nautilus are in the Indian and + Pacific Oceans. They sometimes swim at the surface of the sea, but they + usually creep slowly about on the floor of comparatively shallow water.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image302c" id="image302c"></a> <a href= + "images/image302c.jpg"><img src="images/image302c_sm.jpg" alt="NAUTILUS" + title="NAUTILUS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>NAUTILUS</p> + + <p class="wide">A section through the Pearly Nautilus, <i>Nautilus + pompilius</i>, common from Malay to Fiji. The shell is often about 9 inches + long. The animal lives in the last chamber only, but a tube (S) runs + through the empty chambers, perforating the partitions (SE). The bulk of + the animal is marked VM; the eye is shown at E; a hood is marked H; round + the mouth there are numerous lobes (L) bearing protrusible tentacles, some + of which are shown. When the animal is swimming near the surface the + tentacles radiate out in all directions, and it has been described as + "a shell with something like a cauliflower sticking out of it." + The Pearly Nautilus is a good example of a conservative type, for it began + in the Triassic Era. But the family of Nautiloids to which it belongs + illustrates very vividly what is meant by a dwindling race. The Nautiloids + began in the Cambrian, reached their golden age in the Silurian, and began + to decline markedly in the Carboniferous. There are 2,500 extinct or fossil + species of Nautiloids, and only 4 living to-day.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image303" id="image303"></a> <a href= + "images/image303.jpg"><img src="images/image303_sm.jpg" alt="SHOEBILL" + title="SHOEBILL" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: W. S. Berridge.</i></p> + + <p>SHOEBILL</p> + + <p class="wide">A bird of a savage nature, never mixing with other marsh + birds. According to Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, it shows affinities to herons, + storks, pelicans, and gannets, and is a representative of a type equal to + both herons and storks and falling between the two.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg + 187]</a></span></p> + + <p>But it is very important to realise that among plant and animals likewise, + <i>Evolution is going on</i>.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Fountain of Change: Variability</h4> + + <p>On an ordinary big clock we do not readily see that even the minute hand + is moving, and if the clock struck only once in a hundred years we can + conceive of people arguing whether the hands did really move at all. So it + often is with the changes that go on from generation to generation in living + creatures. The flux is so slow, like the flowing of a glacier, that some + people fail to be convinced of its reality. And it must, of course, be + admitted that some kinds of living creatures, like the Lamp-shell + <i>Ligula</i> or the Pearly Nautilus, hardly change from age to age, whereas + others, like some of the birds and butterflies, are always giving rise to + something new. The Evening Primrose among plants, and the Fruit-fly, + Drosophila, among animals, are well-known examples of organisms which are at + present in a sporting or mutating mood.</p> + + <p>Certain dark varieties of moth, e.g. of the Peppered Moth, are taking the + place of the paler type in some parts of England, and the same is true of + some dark forms of Sugar-bird in the West Indian islands. Very important is + the piece of statistics worked out by Professor R. C. Punnett, that "if + a population contains .001 per cent of a new variety, and if that variety has + even a 5 per cent selection advantage over the original form, the latter will + almost completely disappear in less than a hundred generations." This + sort of thing has been going on all over the world for untold ages, and the + face of animate nature has consequently changed.</p> + + <p>We are impressed by striking novelties that crop up—a clever dwarf, + a musical genius, a calculating boy, a cock with a 10 ft. tail, a + "wonder-horse" with a mane reaching to the ground, a tailless cat, + a white blackbird, a copper beech, a Greater Celandine with much cut up + leaves; but this sort of mutation is common, and smaller, less brusque + variations are commoner still. <i>They form the raw materials of possible + evolution.</i> We are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id= + "Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span> actually standing before an apparently + inexhaustible fountain of change. This is evolution going on.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Sporting Jellyfish</h4> + + <p>It is of interest to consider a common animal like the jellyfish Aurelia. + It is admirably suited for a leisurely life in the open sea, where it swims + about by contracting its saucer-shaped body, thus driving water out from its + concavity. By means of millions of stinging cells on its four frilled lips + and on its marginal tentacles it is able to paralyse and lasso minute + crustaceans and the like, which it then wafts into its mouth. It has a very + eventful life-history, for it has in its early youth to pass through a fixed + stage, fastened to rock or seaweed, but it is a successful animal, well + suited for its habitat, and practically cosmopolitan in its distribution. It + is certainly an old-established creature. Yet it is very variable in colour + and in size, and even in internal structure. Very often it is the size of a + saucer or a soup-plate, but giants over two feet in diameter are well known. + Much more important, however, than variation in colour and size are the + inborn changes in structure. Normally a jellyfish has its parts in four or + multiples of four. Thus it has four frilled lips, four tufts of digestive + filaments in its stomach, and four brightly coloured reproductive organs. It + has eight sense-organs round the margin of its disc, eight branched and eight + unbranched radial canals running from the central stomach to a canal round + the circumference. The point of giving these details is just this, that every + now and then we find a jellyfish with its parts in sixes, fives, or threes, + and with a multitude of minor idiosyncrasies. <i>Even in the well-established + jellyfish there is a fountain of change.</i></p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Evolution of Plants</h4> + + <p>It is instructive to look at the various kinds of cabbages, such as + cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, kale and curly greens, and<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span> remember that + they are all scions of the not very promising wild cabbage found on our + shores. And are not all the aristocrat apple-trees of our orchards descended + from the plebeian crab-apple of the roadside? We know far too little about + the precise origin of our cultivated plants, but there is no doubt that after + man got a hold of them he took advantage of their variability to establish + race after race, say, of rose and chrysanthemum, of potato and cereal. The + evolution of cultivated plants is continuing before our eyes, and the + creations of Mr. Luther Burbank, such as the stoneless plum and the primus + berry, the spineless cactus and the Shasta daisy, are merely striking + instances of what is always going on.</p> + + <p>There is reason to believe that the domestic dog has risen three times, + from three distinct ancestors—a wolf, a jackal, and a coyote. So a + multiple pedigree must be allowed for in the case of the dog, and the same is + true in regard to some other domesticated animals. But the big fact is the + great variety of breeds that man has been able to fix, after he once got + started with a domesticated type. There are over 200 well-marked breeds of + domestic pigeons, and there is very strong evidence that all are descended + from the wild rock-dove, just as the numerous kinds of poultry are descended + from the jungle-fowl of some parts of India and the Malay Islands. Even more + familiar is the way in which man has, so to speak, unpacked the complex fur + of the wild rabbit, and established all the numerous colour-varieties which + we see among domestic rabbits. And apart from colour-varieties there are + long-haired Angoras and quaint lop-eared forms, and many more besides. All + this points to evolution going on.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Romance of the Wheat</h4> + + <p>It is well-known that Neolithic man grew wheat, and some authorities have + put the date of the first wheat harvest at between fifteen thousand and ten + thousand years ago. The ancient civilisations<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span> of Babylonia, Egypt, Crete, + Greece, and Rome were largely based on wheat, and it is highly probable that + the first great wheatfields were in the fertile land between the Tigris and + the Euphrates. The oldest Egyptian tombs that contain wheat, which, by the + way, never germinates after its millennia of rest, belong to the First + Dynasty, and are about six thousand years old. But there must have been a + long history of wheat before that.</p> + + <p>Now it is a very interesting fact that the almost certain ancestor of the + cultivated wheat is at present living on the arid and rocky slopes of Mount + Hermon. It is called <i>Triticum hermonis</i>, and it is varying notably + to-day, as it did long ago when it gave rise to the emmer, which was + cultivated in the Neolithic Age and is the ancestor of all our ordinary + wheats. We must think of Neolithic man noticing the big seeds of this Hermon + grass, gathering some of the heads, breaking the brittle spikelet-bearing + axis in his fingers, knocking off the rough awns or bruising the spikelets in + his hand till the glumes or chaff separated off and could be blown away, + chewing a mouthful of the seeds—and resolving to sow and sow again.</p> + + <p>That was the beginning of a long story, in the course of which man took + advantage of the numerous variations that cropped up in this sporting stock + and established one successful race after another on his fields. Virgil + refers in the "Georgics" to the gathering of the largest and + fullest ears of wheat in order to get good seed for another sowing, but it + was not till the first quarter of the nineteenth century that the great step + was taken, by men like Patrick Sheriff of Haddington, of deliberately + selecting individual ears of great excellence and segregating their progeny + from mingling with mediocre stock. This is the method which has been followed + with remarkable success in modern times.</p> + + <p>One of the factors that assisted the Allies in overcoming the food crisis + in the darkest period of the war was the virtue of Marquis Wheat, a very + prolific, early ripening, hard red spring wheat<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span> with excellent milling and + baking qualities. It is now the dominant spring wheat in Canada and the + United States, and it has enormously increased the real wealth of the world + in the last ten years (1921). Now our point is simply that this Marquis Wheat + is a fine example of evolution going on. In 1917 upwards of 250,000,000 + bushels of this wheat were raised in North America, and in 1918 upwards of + 300,000,000 bushels; yet the whole originated from a single grain planted in + an experimental plot at Ottawa by Dr. Charles E. Saunders so recently as the + spring of 1903.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image308a" id="image308a"></a> <a href= + "images/image308a.jpg"><img src="images/image308a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE WALKING-FISH OR MUD-SKIPPER (PERIOPHTHALMUS), COMMON AT THE MOUTHS OF RIVERS IN TROPICAL AFRICA, ASIA, AND NORTH-WEST AUSTRALIA" + title= + "THE WALKING-FISH OR MUD-SKIPPER (PERIOPHTHALMUS), COMMON AT THE MOUTHS OF RIVERS IN TROPICAL AFRICA, ASIA, AND NORTH-WEST AUSTRALIA" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE WALKING-FISH OR MUD-SKIPPER (PERIOPHTHALMUS), COMMON AT THE MOUTHS + OF RIVERS IN TROPICAL AFRICA, ASIA, AND NORTH-WEST AUSTRALIA</p> + + <p class="wide">It skips about by means of its strong pectoral fins on the + mud-flats; it jumps from stone to stone hunting small shore-animals; it + climbs up the roots of the mangrove-trees. The close-set eyes protrude + greatly and are very mobile. The tail seems to help in respiration.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image308b" id="image308b"></a> <a href= + "images/image308b.jpg"><img src="images/image308b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE AUSTRALIAN MORE-PORK OR PODARGUS" title= + "THE AUSTRALIAN MORE-PORK OR PODARGUS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: "The Times."</i></p> + + <p>THE AUSTRALIAN MORE-PORK OR PODARGUS</p> + + <p class="wide">A bird with a frog-like mouth, allied to the British + Nightjar. Now in the London Zoological Gardens.</p> + + <p class="wide">The capacious mouth is well suited for engulfing large + insects such as locusts and mantises, which are mostly caught on the trees. + During the day the More-pork or Frog-mouth sleeps upright on a branch, and + its mottled brown plumage makes it almost invisible.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image309a" id="image309a"></a> <a href= + "images/image309a.jpg"><img src="images/image309a_sm.jpg" alt= + "PELICAN'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR CATCHING AND STORING FISHES" title= + "PELICAN'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR CATCHING AND STORING FISHES" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>PELICAN'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR CATCHING AND STORING FISHES</p> + + <p>There is an enormous dilatable sac beneath the lower jaw.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image309b" id="image309b"></a> <a href= + "images/image309b.jpg"><img src="images/image309b_sm.jpg" alt= + "SPOONBILL'S BILL" title="SPOONBILL'S BILL" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>SPOONBILL'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR SIFTING THE MUD AND CATCHING THE SMALL + ANIMALS, E.G. FISHES, CRUSTACEANS, INSECT LARVÆ, WHICH LIVE THERE</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image309c" id="image309c"></a> <a href= + "images/image309c.jpg"><img src="images/image309c_sm.jpg" alt= + "AVOCET'S BILL" title="AVOCET'S BILL" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>AVOCET'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR A CURIOUS SIDEWAYS SCOOPING IN THE + SHORE-POOLS AND CATCHING SMALL ANIMALS</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image309d" id="image309d"></a> <a href= + "images/image309d.jpg"><img src="images/image309d_sm.jpg" alt= + "HORNBILL'S BILL" title="HORNBILL'S BILL" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>HORNBILL'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR EXCAVATING A NEST IN A TREE, AND ALSO + FOR SEIZING AND BREAKING DIVERSE FORMS OF FOOD, FROM MAMMALS TO TORTOISES, + FROM ROOTS TO FRUITS</p> + + <p>The use of the helmet or casque is obscure.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image309e" id="image309e"></a> <a href= + "images/image309e.jpg"><img src="images/image309e_sm.jpg" alt= + "FALCON'S BILL" title="FALCON'S BILL" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>FALCON'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR SEIZING, KILLING, AND TEARING SMALL + MAMMALS AND BIRDS.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image309f" id="image309f"></a> <a href= + "images/image309f.jpg"><img src="images/image309f_sm.jpg" alt= + "PUFFIN'S BILL" title="PUFFIN'S BILL" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>PUFFIN'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR CATCHING SMALL FISHES NEAR THE SURFACE OF + THE SEA, AND FOR HOLDING THEM WHEN CAUGHT AND CARRYING THEM TO THE NEST</p> + + <p>The scaly covering is moulted in the autumn.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>We must not dwell too long on this particular instance of evolution, + though it has meant much to our race. We wish, however, following Professor + Buller's <i>Essays on Wheat</i> (1919), to explain the method by which + this good seed was discovered. From one we may learn all. The parent of + Marquis Wheat on the male side was the mid-Europe Red Fife—a + first-class cereal. The parent on the female side was less promising, a + rather nondescript, not pure-bred wheat, called Red Calcutta, which was + imported from India into Canada about thirty years ago. The father was part + of a cargo that came from the Baltic to Glasgow, and was happily included in + a sample sent on to David Fife in Ontario about 1842. From one kernel of this + sample David Fife started his stock of Red Fife, which was crossed by Dr. + Saunders with Hard Red Calcutta. The result of the cross was a medley of + types, nearly a hundred varieties altogether, and it was in scrutinising + these that Dr. Saunders hit upon Marquis. He worked steadily through the + material, studying head after head of what resulted from sowing, and + selecting out those that gave most promise. Each of the heads selected was + propagated; most of the results were rejected; the elect were sifted again + and yet again, and finally Marquis Wheat emerged, rich in constructive + possibilities, probably the most valuable food-plant in the world. It is like + a romance to read that "the first crop of the wheat that was destined + within a dozen years to overtax the mightiest elevators<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span> in the land + was stored away in the winter of 1904-5 in a paper packet no larger than an + envelope."</p> + + <p>Thus from the Wild Wheat of Mount Hermon there evolved one of the most + important food-plants of the world. This surely is <i>Evolution going + on</i>.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Changes in the Animal Life of a Country</h4> + + <p>Nothing gives us a more convincing impression of evolution in being than a + succession of pictures of the animal life of a country in different ages. Dr. + James Ritchie, a naturalist of distinction, has written a masterly book, + <i>The Influence of Man on Animal Life in Scotland</i> (1920), in which we + get this succession of pictures. "Within itself," he says, "a + fauna is in a constant state of uneasy restlessness, an assemblage of + creatures which in its parts ebbs and flows as one local influence or another + plays upon it." There are temporary and local changes, endless + disturbances and readjustments of the "balance of nature." One year + there is a plague of field-voles, perhaps next year "grouse + disease" is rife; in one place there is huge increase of starlings, in + another place of rabbits; here cockchafers are in the ascendant, and there + the moles are spoiling the pasture. "But while the parts fluctuate, the + fauna as a whole follows a path of its own. As well as internal tides which + swing to and fro about an average level, there is a drift which carries the + fauna bodily along an 'irretraceable course.'" This is partly + due to considerable changes of climate, for climate calls the tune to which + living creatures dance, but it is also due to new departures among the + animals themselves. We need not go back to the extinct animals and lost + faunas of past ages—for Britain has plenty of relics of + these—which "illustrate the reality of the faunal drift," but + it may be very useful, in illustration of evolution in being, to notice what + has happened in Scotland since the end of the Great Ice Age.</p> + + <p>Some nine thousand years ago or more, certain long-headed,<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span> square-jawed, + short-limbed, but agile hunters and fishermen, whom we call Neolithic Man, + established themselves in Scotland. What was the state of the country + then?</p> + + <div class="blockquot"> + <p>It was a country of swamps, low forests of birch, alder, and willow, + fertile meadows, and snow-capped mountains. Its estuaries penetrated further + inland than they now do, and the sea stood at the level of the Fifty-Foot + Beach. On its plains and in its forests roamed many creatures which are + strange to the fauna of to-day—the Elk and the Reindeer, Wild Cattle, + the Wild Boar and perhaps Wild Horses, a fauna of large animals which paid + toll to the European Lynx, the Brown Bear and the Wolf. In all likelihood, + the marshes resounded to the boom of the Bittern and the plains to the + breeding calls of the Crane and the Great Bustard.</p> + </div> + + <p>Such is Dr. Ritchie's initial picture.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image312a" id="image312a"></a> <a href= + "images/image312a.jpg"><img src="images/image312a_sm.jpg" alt= + "LIFE-HISTORY OF A FROG" title="LIFE-HISTORY OF A FROG" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>LIFE-HISTORY OF A FROG</p> + + <p class="wide">1, Before hatching; 2, newly hatched larvæ hanging on to + water-weed; 3, with external gills; 4, external gills are covered over and + are absorbed; 5, limbless larva about a month old with internal gills; 6, + tadpole with hind-legs, about two months old; 7, with the fore-limbs + emerging; 8, with all four legs free; 9, a young frog, about three months + old, showing the almost complete absorption of the tail and the change of + the tadpole mouth into a frog mouth.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image312b" id="image312b"></a> <a href= + "images/image312b.jpg"><img src="images/image312b_sm.jpg" alt= + "HIND-LEG OF WHIRLIGIG BEETLE WHICH HAS BECOME BEAUTIFULLY MODIFIED FOR AQUATIC LOCOMOTION" + title= + "HIND-LEG OF WHIRLIGIG BEETLE WHICH HAS BECOME BEAUTIFULLY MODIFIED FOR AQUATIC LOCOMOTION" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: J. J. Ward. F.E.S.</i></p> + + <p>HIND-LEG OF WHIRLIGIG BEETLE WHICH HAS BECOME BEAUTIFULLY MODIFIED FOR + AQUATIC LOCOMOTION</p> + + <p class="wide">The flattened tips form an expanding "fan" or + paddle, which opens and closes with astonishing rapidity. The closing of + the "fan," like the "feathering" of an oar, reduces + friction when the leg is being moved forwards for the next stroke.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image313" id="image313"></a> <a href= + "images/image313.jpg"><img src="images/image313_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE BIG ROBBER-CRAB (Birgus Latro), THAT CLIMBS THE COCO-NUT PALM AND BREAKS OFF THE NUTS" + title= + "THE BIG ROBBER-CRAB (Birgus Latro), THAT CLIMBS THE COCO-NUT PALM AND BREAKS OFF THE NUTS" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE BIG ROBBER-CRAB (<i>Birgus Latro</i>), THAT CLIMBS THE COCO-NUT PALM + AND BREAKS OFF THE NUTS</p> + + <p class="wide">It occurs on islands in the Indian Ocean and Pacific, and + is often found far above sea-level. It is able to breathe dry air. One is + seen emerging from its burrow, which is often lined with coco-nut fibre. + The empty coco-nut shell is sometimes used by the Robber-Crab for the + protection of its tail.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Now what happened in this kingdom of Caledonia which Neolithic Man had + found? He began to introduce domesticated animals, and that meant a thinning + of the ranks of predacious creatures. "Safety first" was the + dangerous motto in obedience to which man exterminated the lynx, the brown + bear, and the wolf. Other creatures, such as the great auk, were destroyed + for food, and others like the marten for their furs. Small pests were + destroyed to protect the beginnings of agriculture; larger animals like the + boar were hunted out of existence; others, like the pearl-bearing + river-mussels, yielded to subtler demands. No doubt there was protection + also—protection for sport, for utility, for æsthetic reasons, and + because of humane sentiments; even wholesome superstitions have safeguarded + the robin redbreast and the wren. There were introductions too—the + rabbit for utility, the pheasant for sport, and the peacock for amenity. And + every introduction, every protection, every killing out had its far-reaching + influences.</p> + + <p>But if we are to picture the evolution going on, we must think also of + man's indirect interference with animal life. He destroyed<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span> the forests, + he cultivated the wild, he made bridges, he allowed aliens, like rats and + cockroaches, to get in unawares. Of course, he often did good, as when he + drained swamps and got rid of the mosquitoes which once made malaria rife in + Scotland.</p> + + <p>What has been the net result? Not, as one might think for a moment, a + reduction in the <i>number</i> of different kinds of animals. Fourteen or so + species of birds and beasts have been banished from Scotland since man + interfered, but as far as numbers go they have been more than replaced by + deliberate introductions like fallow deer, rabbit, squirrel, and pheasant, + and by accidental introductions like rats and cockroaches. But the change is + rather in <i>quality</i> than in quantity; the smaller have taken the place + of the larger, rather paltry pigmies of noble giants. Thus we get a vivid + idea that evolution, especially when man interferes, is not necessarily + progressive. That depends on the nature of the sieves with which the living + materials are sifted. As Dr. Ritchie well says, the standard of the wild + fauna as regards size has fallen and is falling, and it is not in size only + that there is loss, there is a deterioration of quality. "For how can + the increase of Rabbits and Sparrows and Earthworms and Caterpillars, and the + addition of millions of Rats and Cochroaches and Crickets and Bugs, ever take + the place of those fine creatures round the memories of which the glamour of + Scotland's past still plays—the Reindeer and the Elk, the Wolf, the + Brown Bear, the Lynx, and the Beaver, the Bustard, the Crane, the Bumbling + Bittern, and many another, lost or disappearing." Thus we see again that + evolution is going on.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 3</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Adventurers</h4> + + <p>All through the millions of years during which animals have tenanted the + earth and the waters under the earth, there has been a search for new + kingdoms to conquer, for new corners in which to make a home. And this still + goes on. <i>It has been and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id= + "Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span> is one of the methods of evolution to fill + every niche of opportunity.</i> There is a spider that lives inside a + pitcher-plant, catching some of the inquisitive insects which slip down the + treacherous internal surface of the trap. There is another that makes its + home in crevices among the rocks on the shore of the Mediterranean, or even + in empty tubular shells, keeping the water out, more or less successfully, by + spinning threads of silk across the entrance to its retreat. The beautiful + brine-shrimp, <i>Artemia salina</i>, that used to occur in British salterns + has found a home in the dense waters of the Great Salt Lake of Utah. Several + kinds of earthworms have been found up trees, and there is a fish, Arges, + that climbs on the stones of steep mountain torrents of the Andes. The + intrepid explorers of the <i>Scotia</i> voyage found quite a number of Arctic + terns spending our winter within the summer of the Antarctic + Circle—which means girdling the globe from pole to pole; and every now + and then there are incursions of rare birds, like Pallas's Sand-grouse, + into Britain, just as if they were prospecting in search of a promised land. + Twice or thrice the distinctively North American Killdeer Plover has been + found in Britain, having somehow or other got across the Atlantic. We miss + part of the meaning of evolution if we do not catch this note of insurgence + and adventure, which some animal or other never ceases to sound, though many + establish themselves in a security not easily disturbed, and though a small + minority give up the struggle against the stream and are content to + acquiesce, as parasites or rottenness eaters, in a drifting life of ease.</p> + + <p>More important than very peculiar cases is the broad fact that over and + over again in different groups of animals there have been attempts to master + different kinds of haunts—such as the underground world, the trees, the + freshwaters, and the air. There are burrowing amphibians, burrowing reptiles, + burrowing birds, and burrowing mammals; there are tree-toads, tree-snakes, + tree-lizards, tree-kangaroos, tree-sloths, tree-shrews, tree-mice, + tree-porcupines, and so on; enough of a list to show, without<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span> mentioning + birds, how many different kinds of animals have entered upon an arboreal + apprenticeship—an apprenticeship often with far-reaching consequences. + What the freeing of the hand from being an organ of terrestrial support has + meant in the evolution of monkeys is a question that gives a spur to our + imagination.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Case of the Robber Crab</h4> + + <p>On some of the coral islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans there lives + a land-crab, Birgus, which has learned to breathe on land. It breathes dry + air by means of curious blood-containing tufts in the upper part of its + gill-cavity, and it has also rudimentary gills. It is often about a foot + long, and it has very heavy great claws, especially on the left-hand side. + With this great claw it hammers on the "eye-hole" of a coconut, + from which it has torn off the fibrous husk. It hammers until a hole is made + by which it can get at the pulp. Part of the shell is sometimes used as a + protection for the soft abdomen—for the robber-crab, as it is called, + is an offshoot from the hermit-crab stock. Every year this quaint explorer, + which may go far up the hills and climb the coco-palms, has to go back to the + sea to spawn. The young ones are hatched in the same state as in our common + shore-crab. That is to say, they are free-swimming larvæ which pass through + an open-water period before they settle down on the shore, and eventually + creep up on to dry land. Just as open-water turtles lay their eggs on sandy + shores, going back to their old terrestrial haunt, so the robber-crab, which + has almost conquered the dry land, has to return to the seashore to breed. + There is a peculiar interest in the association of the robber-crab with the + coco-palm, for that tree is not a native of these coral islands, but has been + introduced, perhaps from Mexico, by the Polynesian mariners before the + discovery of America by Columbus. So the learning to deal with coconuts is a + recent achievement, and we are face to face with a very good example of + evolution going on.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image318" id="image318"></a> <a href= + "images/image318.jpg"><img src="images/image318_sm.jpg" alt= + "EARLY LIFE-HISTORY OF THE SALMON" title= + "EARLY LIFE-HISTORY OF THE SALMON" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>EARLY LIFE-HISTORY OF THE SALMON</p> + + <p class="wide">1. The fertilised egg, shed in the gravelly bed of the + river.</p> + + <p class="wide">2. The embryo within the egg, just before hatching. The + embryo has been constricted off from the yolk-laden portion of the egg.</p> + + <p class="wide">3. The newly hatched salmon, or alevin, encumbered with its + legacy of yolk (Y.S.).</p> + + <p class="wide">4 and 5. The larval salmon, still being nourished from the + yolk-sac (Y.S.), which is diminishing in size as the fish grows larger.</p> + + <p class="wide">6. The salmon fry about six weeks old, with the yolk fully + absorbed, so that the young fish has now to feed for itself. The fry become + parr, which go to the sea as smolts, and return as grilse.</p> + + <p class="wide">In all cases the small figures to the right indicate the + natural size.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image319" id="image319"></a> <a href= + "images/image319.jpg"><img src="images/image319_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE SALMON LEAPING AT THE FALL IS A MOST FASCINATING SPECTACLE" title= + "THE SALMON LEAPING AT THE FALL IS A MOST FASCINATING SPECTACLE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE SALMON LEAPING AT THE FALL IS A MOST FASCINATING SPECTACLE</p> + + <p class="wide">Again and again we see them jumping out of the seething + foam beneath the fall, casting themselves into the curtain of the + down-rushing water, only to be carried back by it into the depths whence + they have risen. One here and another there makes its effort good, touches + the upper lip of the cataract, gives a swift stroke of its tail, and rushes + on towards those upper reaches which are the immemorial spawning beds of + its race.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg + 197]</a></span></p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Story of the Salmon</h4> + + <p>In late autumn or in winter the salmon spawn in the rivers. The female + makes a shallow trough in the gravel by moving her tail from side to side, + and therein lays many eggs. The male, who is in attendance, fertilises these + with the milt, and then the female covers them deeply with gravel. The + process is repeated over and over again for a week or more till all the eggs + are shed. For three to four months the eggs develop, and eventually there + emerge the larvæ or <i>alevins</i>, which lurk among the pebbles. They cannot + swim much, for they are encumbered by a big legacy of yolk. In a few weeks, + perhaps eight, the protruding bag of yolk has disappeared and the <i>fry</i>, + about an inch long, begin to move about more actively and to fend for + themselves. By the end of the year they have grown to be rather trout-like + <i>parr</i>, about four inches long. In two years these are double that + length. Usually in the second year, but it may be earlier or later, the parr + become silvery <i>smolts</i>, which go out to sea, usually about the month of + May. They feed on young herring and the like and grow large and strong. When + they are about three and a half years old they come up the rivers as + <i>grilse</i> and may spawn. Or they may pass through the whole grilse stage + in the sea and come up the rivers with all the characters of the full-grown + fish. In many cases the salmon spawn only once, and some (they are called + <i>kelts</i> after spawning) are so much exhausted by starting a new + generation that they die or fall a victim to otters and other enemies. In the + case of the salmon of the North Pacific (in the genus <i>Oncorhynchus</i>, + not <i>Salmo</i>) all the individuals die after spawning, none being able to + return to the sea. It must be remembered that full-grown salmon do not as a + rule feed in fresh water, though they may be unable to resist snapping at the + angler's strange creations. A very interesting fact is that the salmon + keeps as it were a diary of its movements, which vary a good deal in + different rivers. This diary is written in the scales, and a careful reading + of the concentric lines on the scales shows the age of the fish, + and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span> + when it went out to sea, and whether it has spawned or not, and more + besides.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Interpretation of the Salmon's Story</h4> + + <p>When an animal frequents two different haunts, in one of which it breeds, + it is very often safe to say that the breeding-place represents the original + home. The flounder is quite comfortable far up the rivers, but it has to go + to the shore-waters to spawn, and there is no doubt that the flounder is a + marine fish which has recently learned to colonise the fresh waters. Its + relatives, like plaice and sole, are strictly marine. But it is impossible to + make a dogma of the rule that the breeding-place corresponds to the original + home. Thus some kinds of bass, which belong to the marine family of + sea-perches, live in the sea or in estuaries, while two have become permanent + residents in fresh water. Or, again, the members of the herring family are + very distinctively marine, but the shad, which belong to this family, spawn + in rivers and may spend their lives there.</p> + + <p>So there are two different ways of interpreting the life-history of the + salmon. Some authorities regard the salmon as a marine fish which is + establishing itself in fresh water. But others read the story the other way + and regard the salmon as a member of a freshwater race, that has taken to the + sea for feeding purposes. In regard to trout, we know that the ranks of those + in rivers and lakes are continually being reinforced by migrants from the + sea, and that some trout go down to the sea while others remain in the + freshwater. We know also in regard to a related fish, the char, that while + the great majority of kinds are now permanent residents in cold and deep, + isolated northern lakes, there are Arctic forms which live in the sea but + enter the rivers to spawn. These facts favour the view that the salmon was + originally a marine fish. But there are arguments on both sides, and, for our + present purpose, the important fact is that the salmon is conquering + <i>two</i> haunts. Its evolution is going on.<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Romance of the Eel</h4> + + <p>Early in summer, at dates varying with the distance of the rivers from the + open Atlantic, crowds of young eels or elvers come up-stream. Sometimes the + procession or eel-fare includes thousands of individuals, each about the + length of our first finger, and as thick as a stout knitting needle. They + obey an inborn impulse to swim against the stream, seeking automatically to + have both sides of their body equally stimulated by the current. So they go + straight ahead. The obligation works only during the day, for when the sun + goes down behind the hills the elvers snuggle under stones or beneath the + bank and rest till dawn. In the course of time they reach the quiet upper + reaches of the river or go up rivulets and drainpipes to the isolated ponds. + Their impulse to go on must be very imperious, for they may wriggle up the + wet moss by the side of a waterfall or even make a short excursion in a damp + meadow.</p> + + <p>In the quiet-flowing stretches of the river or in the ponds they feed and + grow for years and years. They account for a good many young fishes. + Eventually, after five or six years in the case of the males, six to eight + years in the case of the females, the well-grown fishes, perhaps a foot and a + half to two feet long, are seized by a novel restlessness. They are beginning + to be mature. They put on a silvery jacket and become large of eye, and they + return to the sea. In getting away from the pond it may be necessary to + wriggle through the damp meadow-grass before reaching the river. They travel + by night and rather excitedly. The Arctic Ocean is too cold for them and the + North Sea too shallow. They must go far out to sea, to where the old margin + of the once larger continent of Europe slopes down to the great abysses, from + the Hebrides southwards. Eels seem to spawn in the deep dark water; but the + just liberated eggs have not yet been found. The young fry rises to near the + surface and becomes a knife-blade-like larva, transparent all but its eye. It + lives for many months in this state, growing to be about three inches long, + rising and sinking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg + 200]</a></span> in the water, and swimming gently. These open-sea young eels + are known as Leptocephali, a name given to them before their real nature was + proved. They gradually become shorter, and the shape changes from + knife-blade-like to cylindrical. During this change they fast, and the weight + of their delicate body decreases. They turn into glass-eels, about 2½ inches + long, like a knitting-needle in girth. They begin to move towards the distant + shores and rivers, and they may be a year and a half old before they reach + their destination and go up-stream as elvers. Those that ascend the rivers of + the Eastern Baltic must have journeyed three thousand miles. It is certain + that no eel ever matures or spawns in fresh water. It is practically certain + that all the young eels ascending the rivers of North Europe have come in + from the Atlantic, some of them perhaps from the Azores or further out still. + It is interesting to inquire how the young eels circumvent the Falls of the + Rhine and get into Lake Constance, or how their kindred on the other side of + the Atlantic overcome the obstacle of Niagara; but it is more important to + lay emphasis on the variety of habitats which this fish is trying—the + deep waters, the open sea, the shore, the river, the pond, and even, it may + be, a little taste of solid earth. It seems highly probable that the common + eel is a deep-water marine fish which has learned to colonise the + freshwaters. It has been adventurous and it has succeeded. The only shadow on + the story of achievement is that there seems to be no return from the + spawning. There is little doubt that death is the nemesis of their + reproduction. In any case, no adult eel ever comes back from the deep sea. We + are minded of Goethe's hard saying: "Death is Nature's expert + advice to get plenty of life."</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 4</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Forming New Habits</h4> + + <p>There is a well-known mudfish of Australia, Neoceratodus by name, which + has turned its swim-bladder into a lung and comes to the surface to spout. It + expels vitiated air with considerable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" + id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span> force and takes fresh gulps. At the same + time, like an ordinary fish, it has gills which allow the usual interchange + of gases between the blood and the water. Now this Australian mudfish or + double-breather (Dipnoan), which may be a long way over a yard in length, is + a direct and little-changed descendant of an ancient extinct fish, Ceratodus, + which lived in Mesozoic times, as far back as the Jurassic, which probably + means over five millions of years ago. The Queensland mudfish is an + antiquity, and there has not been much change in its lineage for millions of + years. We might take it as an illustration of the inertia of evolution. And + yet, though its structure has changed but little, the fish probably + illustrates evolution in process, for it is a fish that is learning to + breathe dry air. It cannot leave the water; but it can live comfortably in + pools which are foul with decomposing animal and vegetable matter. In + partially dried-up and foul waterholes, full of dead fishes of various kinds, + Neoceratodus has been found vigorous and lively. Unless we take the view, + which is <i>possible</i>, that the swim-bladder of fishes was originally a + lung, the mud-fishes are learning to breathe dry air. They illustrate + evolution agoing.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image324" id="image324"></a> <a href= + "images/image324.jpg"><img src="images/image324_sm.jpg" alt= + "DIAGRAM OF THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE COMMON EEL (Anguilla Vulgalis)" title= + "DIAGRAM OF THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE COMMON EEL (Anguilla Vulgalis)" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>DIAGRAM OF THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE COMMON EEL (<i>Anguilla + Vulgalis</i>)</p> + + <p class="wide">1. The transparent open-sea knife-blade-like larva called a + Leptocephalus.</p> + + <p class="wide">2 and 3. The gradual change of shape from knife-blade-like + to cylindrical. The body becomes shorter and loses weight.</p> + + <p class="wide">4. The young elver, at least a year old, which makes its + way from the open sea to the estuaries and rivers. It is 2/3 inches long + and almost cylindrical.</p> + + <p class="wide">5. The fully-formed eel.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image325a" id="image325a"></a> <a href= + "images/image325a.jpg"><img src="images/image325a_sm.jpg" alt="CASSOWARY" + title="CASSOWARY" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Gambier Bolton.</i></p> + + <p>CASSOWARY</p> + + <p class="wide">Its bare head is capped with a helmet. Unlike the plumage + of most birds its feathers are loose and hair-like, whilst its wings are + merely represented by a few black quills. It is flightless and entirely + dependent on its short powerful legs to carry it out of danger.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image325b" id="image325b"></a> <a href= + "images/image325b.jpg"><img src="images/image325b_sm.jpg" alt="THE KIWI" + title="THE KIWI" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Gambier Bolton.</i></p> + + <p>THE KIWI, ANOTHER FLIGHTLESS BIRD, OF REMARKABLE APPEARANCE, HABITS, AND + STRUCTURE</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p class="wide">The herring-gull is by nature a fish-eater; but of recent + years, in some parts of Britain, it has been becoming in the summer months + more and more of a vegetarian, scooping out the turnips, devouring potatoes, + settling on the sheaves in the harvest field and gorging itself with grain. + Similar experiments, usually less striking, are known in many birds; but the + most signal illustration is that of the kea or Nestor parrot of New Zealand, + which has taken to lighting on the loins of the sheep, tearing away the + fleece, cutting at the skin, and gouging out fat. Now the parrot belongs to a + vegetarian or frugivorous stock, and this change of diet in the relatively + short time since sheep-ranches were established in New Zealand is very + striking. Here, since we know the dates, we may speak of evolution going on + under our eyes. It must be remembered that variations in habit may give + an<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span> + animal a new opportunity to test variations in structure which arise + mysteriously from within, as expressions of germinal changefulness rather + than as imprints from without. For of the transmissibility of the latter + there is little secure evidence.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Experiments in Locomotion</h4> + + <p>It is very interesting to think of the numerous types of locomotion which + animals have discovered—pulling and punting, sculling and rowing, and + of the changes that are rung on these four main methods. How striking is the + case of the frilled lizard (Chlamydosaurus) of Australia, which at the + present time is, as it were, experimenting in bipedal + progression—always a rather eventful thing to do. It gets up on its + hind-legs and runs totteringly for a few feet, just like a baby learning to + walk.</p> + + <p>How beautiful is the adventure which has led our dipper or + water-ouzel—a bird allied to the wrens—to try walking and flying + under water! How admirable is the volplaning of numerous + parachutists—"flying fish," "flying frog," + "flying dragon," "flying phalanger," "flying + squirrel," and more besides, which take great leaps through the air. For + are these not the splendid failures that might have succeeded in starting new + modes of flight?</p> + + <p>Most daring of all, perhaps, are the aerial journeys undertaken by many + small spiders. On a breezy morning, especially in the autumn, they mount on + gate-posts and palings and herbage, and, standing with their head to the + wind, pay out three or four long threads of silk. When the wind tugs at these + threads, the spinners let go, and are borne, usually back downwards, on the + wings of the wind from one parish to another. It is said that if the wind + falls they can unfurl more sail, or furl if it rises. In any case, these + wingless creatures make aerial journeys. When tens of thousands of the used + threads sink to earth, there is a "shower of gossamer." On his + <i>Beagle</i> voyage Darwin observed that vast numbers of small gossamer + spiders were borne on to the ship when it was sixty miles distant from the + land.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image328a" id="image328a"></a> <a href= + "images/image328a.jpg"><img src="images/image328a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE AUSTRALIAN FRILLED LIZARD, WHICH IS AT PRESENT TRYING TO BECOME A BIPED" + title= + "THE AUSTRALIAN FRILLED LIZARD, WHICH IS AT PRESENT TRYING TO BECOME A BIPED" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE AUSTRALIAN FRILLED LIZARD, WHICH IS AT PRESENT TRYING TO BECOME A + BIPED</p> + + <p class="wide">When it gets up on its hind-legs and runs for a short + distance it folds its big collar round its neck.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image328b" id="image328b"></a> <a href= + "images/image328b.jpg"><img src="images/image328b_sm.jpg" alt= + "A CARPET OF GOSSAMER" title="A CARPET OF GOSSAMER" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>A CARPET OF GOSSAMER</p> + + <p class="wide">The silken threads used by thousands of gossamer spiders in + their migrations are here seen entangled in the grass, forming what is + called a shower of gossamer. At the edge of the grass the gossamer forms a + curtain, floating out and looking extraordinarily like waves breaking on a + seashore.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image329a" id="image329a"></a> <a href= + "images/image329a.jpg"><img src="images/image329a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE WATER-SPIDER" title="THE WATER-SPIDER" /></a> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a href="images/image329b.jpg"><img src="images/image329b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE WATER-SPIDER" title="THE WATER-SPIDER" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE WATER-SPIDER</p> + + <p class="wide">The spider is seen just leaving its diving-bell to ascend + to the surface to capture air.</p> + + <p class="wide">The spider jerks its body and legs out at the surface and + then dives—</p> + + <p class="wide">—carrying with it what looks like a silvery + air-bubble—air entangled in the hair.</p> + + <p class="wide">The spider reaches its air-dome. Note how the touch of its + legs indents the inflated balloon.</p> + + <p class="wide">Running down the side of the nest, the spider</p> + + <p class="wide">—brushes off the air at the entrance, and the bubble + ascends into the silken balloon.</p> + + <p><i>Photos: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.</i></p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg + 203]</a></span></p> + + <h4 class="sect">New Devices</h4> + + <p>It is impossible, we must admit, to fix dates, except in a few cases, + relatively recent; but there is a smack of modernity in some striking devices + which we can observe in operation to-day. Thus no one will dispute the + statement that spiders are thoroughly terrestrial animals breathing dry air, + but we have the fact of the water-spider conquering the under-water world. + There are a few spiders about the seashore, and a few that can survive + douching with freshwater, but the particular case of the true water-spider, + <i>Argyroneta natans</i>, stands by itself because the creature, as regards + the female at least, has <i>conquered</i> the sub-aquatic environment. A + flattish web is woven, somehow, underneath the water, and pegged down by + threads of silk. Along a special vertical line the mother spider ascends to + the surface and descends again, having entangled air in the hairs of her + body. She brushes off this air underneath her web, which is thereby buoyed up + into a sort of dome. She does this over and over again, never getting wet all + the time, until the domed web has become like a diving-bell, full of dry air. + In this eloquent anticipation of man's rational device, this + creature—far from being endowed with reason—lays her eggs and + looks after her young. The general significance of the facts is that when + competition is keen, a new area of exploitation is a promised land. Thus + spiders have spread over all the earth except the polar areas. But here is a + spider with some spirit of adventure, which has endeavoured, instead of + trekking, to find a new corner near at home. It has tackled a problem surely + difficult for a terrestrial animal, the problem of living in great part under + water, and it has solved it in a manner at once effective and beautiful.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">In Conclusion</h4> + + <p>We have given but a few representative illustrations of a great theme. + When we consider the changefulness of living creatures, the transformations + of cultivated plants and domesticated<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" + id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span> animals, the gradual alterations in the + fauna of a country, the search after new haunts, the forming of new habits, + and the discovery of many inventions, are we not convinced that Evolution is + going on? And why should it stop?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id= + "Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg + 206]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg + 207]</a></span></p> + <hr /> + + <h2>VII</h2> + + <h2>THE DAWN OF MIND</h2> + <hr /> + + <h3>THE DAWN OF MIND</h3> + + <p>In the story of evolution there is no chapter more interesting than the + emergence of mind in the animal kingdom. But it is a difficult chapter to + read, partly because "mind" cannot be seen or measured, only + <i>inferred</i> from the outward behaviour of the creature, and partly + because it is almost impossible to avoid reading ourselves into the much + simpler animals.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Two Extremes to be Avoided</h4> + + <p>The one extreme is that of uncritical generosity which credits every + animal, like Brer Rabbit—who, by the way, was the hare—with human + qualities. The other extreme is that of thinking of the animal as if it were + an automatic machine, in the working of which there is no place or use for + mind. Both these extremes are to be avoided.</p> + + <p>When Professor Whitman took the eggs of the Passenger Pigeon (which became + extinct not long ago with startling rapidity) and placed them a few inches to + one side of the nest, the bird looked a little uneasy and put her beak under + her body as if to feel for something that was not there. But she did not try + to retrieve her eggs, close at hand as they were. In a short time she flew + away altogether. This shows that the mind of the pigeon is in some respects + very different from the mind of man. On the other hand, when a certain clever + dog, carrying a basket of eggs, with the handle in his mouth, came to a stile + which had to be negotiated, he laid the basket on the ground, pushed it + gently through a low gap to the other side, and then took a running leap + over. We dare not talk of this dog as an automatic machine.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span></p> + + <h4 class="sect">A Caution in Regard to Instinct</h4> + + <p>In studying the behaviour of animals, which is the only way of getting at + their mind, for it is only of our own mind that we have direct knowledge, it + is essential to give prominence to the fact that there has been throughout + the evolution of living creatures a strong tendency to enregister or engrain + capacities of doing things effectively. Thus certain abilities come to be + inborn; they are parts of the inheritance, which will express themselves + whenever the appropriate trigger is pulled. The newly born child does not + require to learn its breathing movements, as it afterwards requires to learn + its walking movements. The ability to go through the breathing movements is + inborn, engrained, enregistered.</p> + + <p>In other words, there are hereditary pre-arrangements of nerve-cells and + muscle-cells which come into activity almost as easily as the beating of the + heart. In a minute or two the newborn pigling creeps close to its mother and + sucks milk. It has not to learn how to do this any more than we have to learn + to cough or sneeze. Thus animals have many useful ready-made, or almost + ready-made, capacities of doing apparently clever things. In simple cases of + these inborn pre-arrangements we speak of reflex actions; in more complicated + cases, of instinctive behaviour. Now the caution is this, that while these + inborn capacities usually work well in natural conditions, they sometimes + work badly when the ordinary routine is disturbed. We see this when a pigeon + continues sitting for many days on an empty nest, or when it fails to + retrieve its eggs only two inches away. But it would be a mistake to call the + pigeon, because of this, an unutterably stupid bird. We have only to think of + the achievements of homing pigeons to know that this cannot be true. We must + not judge animals in regard to those kinds of behaviour which have been + handed over to instinct, and go badly agee when the normal routine is + disturbed. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the enregistered instinctive + capacities work well, and the advantage of<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span> their becoming stereotyped was + to leave the animal more free for adventures at a higher level. Being "a + slave of instinct" may give the animal a security that enables it to + discover some new home or new food or new joy. Somewhat in the same way, a + man of methodical habits, which he has himself established, may gain leisure + to make some new departure of racial profit.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image336a" id="image336a"></a> <a href= + "images/image336a.jpg"><img src="images/image336a_sm.jpg" alt= + "JACKDAW BALANCING ON A GATEPOST" title= + "JACKDAW BALANCING ON A GATEPOST" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: O. J. Wilkinson.</i></p> + + <p>JACKDAW BALANCING ON A GATEPOST</p> + + <p class="wide">The jackdaw is a big-brained, extremely alert, very + educable, loquacious bird.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image336b" id="image336b"></a> <a href= + "images/image336b.jpg"><img src="images/image336b_sm.jpg" alt= + "TWO OPOSSUMS FEIGNING DEATH" title="TWO OPOSSUMS FEIGNING DEATH" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>From Ingersoll's "The Wit of the Wild."</i></p> + + <p>TWO OPOSSUMS FEIGNING DEATH</p> + + <p class="wide">The Opossums are mainly arboreal marsupials, insectivorous + and carnivorous, confined to the American Continent from the United States + to Patagonia. Many have no pouch and carry their numerous young ones on + their back, the tail of the young twined round that of the mother. The + opossums are agile, clever creatures, and famous for "playing + 'possum," lying inert just as if they were dead.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image337a" id="image337a"></a> <a href= + "images/image337a.jpg"><img src="images/image337a_sm.jpg" alt= + "MALE OF THREE-SPINED STICKLEBACK" title= + "MALE OF THREE-SPINED STICKLEBACK" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>MALE OF THREE-SPINED STICKLEBACK, MAKING A NEST OF WATER-WEED, GLUED + TOGETHER BY VISCID THREADS SECRETED FROM THE KIDNEYS AT THE BREEDING + SEASON</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image337b" id="image337b"></a> <a href= + "images/image337b.jpg"><img src="images/image337b_sm.jpg" alt= + "A FEMALE STICKLEBACK" title="A FEMALE STICKLEBACK" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>A FEMALE STICKLEBACK ENTERS THE NEST WHICH THE MALE HAS MADE, LAYS THE + EGGS INSIDE, AND THEN DEPARTS</p> + + <p class="wide">In many cases two or three females use the same nest, the + stickleback being polygamous. Above the nest the male, who mounts guard, is + seen driving away an intruder.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>When we draw back our finger from something very hot, or shut our eye to + avoid a blow from a rebounding branch, we do not will the action; and this is + more or less the case, probably, when a young mammal sucks its mother for the + first time. Some Mound-birds of Celebes lay their eggs in warm volcanic ash + by the shore of the sea, others in a great mass of fermenting vegetation; it + is inborn in the newly hatched bird to struggle out as quickly as it can from + such a strange nest, else it will suffocate. If it stops struggling too soon, + it perishes, for it seems that the trigger of the instinct cannot be pulled + twice. Similarly, when the eggs of the turtle, that have been laid in the + sand of the shore, hatch out, the young ones make <i>instinctively</i> for + the sea. Some of the crocodiles bury their eggs two feet or so below the + surface among sand and decaying vegetation—an awkward situation for a + birthplace. When the young crocodile is ready to break out of the egg-shell, + just as a chick does at the end of the three weeks of brooding, it utters + <i>instinctively</i> a piping cry. On hearing this, the watchful mother digs + away the heavy blankets, otherwise the young crocodile would be buried alive + at birth. Now there is no warrant for believing that the young Mound-birds, + young crocodiles, and young turtles have an intelligent appreciation of what + they do when they are hatched. They act instinctively, "as to the manner + born." But this is not to say that their activity is not backed by + endeavour or even suffused with a certain amount of awareness. Of course, it + is necessarily difficult for man, who is so much a creature of intelligence, + to get even an inkling of the mental side of instinctive behaviour.</p> + + <p>In many of the higher reaches of animal instinct, as in + courtship<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg + 210]</a></span> or nest-building, in hunting or preparing the food, it looks + as if the starting of the routine activity also "rang up" the + higher centres of the brain and put the intelligence on the <i>qui vive</i>, + ready to interpose when needed. So the twofold caution is this: (1) We must + not depreciate the creature too much if, in unusual circumstances, it acts in + an ineffective way along lines of behaviour which are normally handed over to + instinct; and (2) we must leave open the possibility that even routine + instinctive behaviour may be suffused with awareness and backed by + endeavour.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">A Useful Law</h4> + + <p>But how are we to know when to credit the animal with intelligence and + when with something less spontaneous? Above all, how are we to know when the + effective action, like opening the mouth the very instant it is touched by + food in the mother's beak, is just a physiological action like coughing + or sneezing, and when there is behind it—a mind at work? The answer to + this question is no doubt that given by Prof. Lloyd Morgan, who may be called + the founder of comparative psychology, that we must describe the piece of + behaviour very carefully, just as it occurred, without reading anything into + it, and that we must not ascribe it to a higher faculty if it can be + satisfactorily accounted for in terms of a lower one. In following this + principle we may be sometimes niggardly, for the behaviour may have a mental + subtlety that we have missed; but in nine cases out of ten our conclusions + are likely to be sound. It is the critical, scientific way.</p> + + <p>Bearing this law in mind, let us take a survey of the emergence of mind + among backboned animals.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Senses of Fishes</h4> + + <p>Fishes cannot shut their eyes, having no true lids; but the eyes + themselves are very well developed and the vision is acute,<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span> especially for + moving objects. Except in gristly fishes, the external opening to the ear has + been lost, so that sound-waves and coarser vibrations must influence the + inner ear, which is well developed, through the surrounding flesh and bones. + It seems that the main use of the ear in fishes is in connection with + balancing, not with hearing. In many cases, however, the sense of hearing has + been demonstrated; thus fishes will come to the side of a pond to be fed when + a bell is rung or when a whistle is blown by someone not visible from the + water. The fact that many fishes pay no attention at all to loud noises does + not prove that they are deaf, for an animal may hear a sound and yet remain + quite indifferent or irresponsive. This merely means that the sound has no + vital interest for the animal. Some fishes, such as bullhead and dogfish, + have a true sense of smell, detecting by their nostrils very dilute + substances permeating the water from a distance. Others, such as members of + the cod family, perceive their food in part at least by the sense of taste, + which is susceptible to substances near at hand and present in considerable + quantity. This sense of taste may be located on the fins as well as about the + mouth. At this low level the senses of smell and taste do not seem to be very + readily separated. The chief use of the sensitive line or lateral line seen + on each side of a bony fish is to make the animal aware of slow vibrations + and changes of pressure in the water. The skin responds to pressures, the ear + to vibrations of high frequency; the lateral line is between the two in its + function.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Interesting Ways of Fishes</h4> + + <p>The brain of the ordinary bony fish is at a very low level. Thus the + cerebral hemispheres, destined to become more and more the seat of + intelligence, are poorly developed. In gristly fishes, like skates and + sharks, the brain is much more promising. But although the state of the brain + does not lead one to expect very much from a bony fish like trout or eel, + haddock or herring, illustrations<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id= + "Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span> are not wanting of what might be called pretty + pieces of behaviour. Let us select a few cases.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Stickleback's Nest</h4> + + <p>The three-spined and two-spined sticklebacks live equally well in fresh or + salt water; the larger fifteen-spined stickleback is entirely marine. In all + three species the male fish makes a nest, in fresh or brackish water in the + first two cases, in shore-pools in the third case. The little species use the + leaves and stems of water-plants; the larger species use seaweed and + zoophyte. The leaves or fronds are entangled together and fastened by + glue-like threads, secreted, strange to say, by the kidneys. It is just as if + a temporary diseased condition had been regularised and turned to good + purpose. Going through the nest several times, the male makes a little room + in the middle. Partly by coercion and partly by coaxing he induces a + female—first one and then another—to pass through the nest with + two doors, depositing eggs during her short sojourn. The females go their + way, and the male mounts guard over the nest. He drives off intruding fishes + much bigger than himself. When the young are hatched, the male has for a time + much to do, keeping his charges within bounds until they are able to move + about with agility. It seems that sticklebacks are short-lived fishes, + probably breeding only once; and it is reasonable to suppose that their + success as a race depends to some extent on the paternal care. Now if we + could believe that the nesting behaviour had appeared suddenly in its present + form, we should be inclined to credit the fish with considerable mental + ability. But we are less likely to be so generous if we reflect that the + routine has been in all likelihood the outcome of a long racial process of + slight improvements and critical testings. The secretion of the glue probably + came about as a pathological variation; its utilisation was perhaps + discovered by accident; the types that had wit enough to take advantage of + this were most successful; the routine became enregistered hereditarily. The + stickleback is not so clever as it looks.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image342a" id="image342a"></a> <a href= + "images/image342a.jpg"><img src="images/image342a_sm.jpg" alt= + "HOMING PIGEON" title="HOMING PIGEON" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Imperial War Museum.</i></p> + + <p>HOMING PIGEON</p> + + <p class="wide">A blue chequer hen, which during the War (in September of + 1918) flew 22 miles in as many minutes, saving the crew of an aeroplane in + difficulties.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image342b" id="image342b"></a> <a href= + "images/image342b.jpg"><img src="images/image342b_sm.jpg" alt= + "CARRIER PIGEON" title="CARRIER PIGEON" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Imperial War Museum.</i></p> + + <p>CARRIER PIGEON</p> + + <p class="wide">Carrier pigeons were much used in the War to carry + messages. The photograph shows how the message is fixed to the carrier + pigeon's leg, in the form of light rings.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image343a" id="image343a"></a> <a href= + "images/image343a.jpg"><img src="images/image343a_sm.jpg" alt= + "YELLOW-CROWNED PENGUIN" title="YELLOW-CROWNED PENGUIN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: James's Press Agency.</i></p> + + <p>YELLOW-CROWNED PENGUIN</p> + + <p class="wide">Notice the flightless wings turned into flippers, which are + often flapped very vigorously. The very strong feet are also noteworthy. + Penguins are mostly confined to the Far South.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image343b" id="image343b"></a> <a href= + "images/image343b.jpg"><img src="images/image343b_sm.jpg" alt= + "PENGUINS ARE 'A PECULIAR PEOPLE'" title= + "PENGUINS ARE 'A PECULIAR PEOPLE'" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Cagcombe & Co.</i></p> + + <p>PENGUINS ARE "A PECULIAR PEOPLE"</p> + + <p class="wide">Their wings have been turned into flippers for swimming in + the sea and tobogganing on snow. The penguins come back over hundreds of + miles of trackless waste to their birthplace, where they breed. When they + reach the Antarctic shore they walk with determination to a suitable site, + often at the top of a steep cliff. Some species waddle 130 steps per + minute, 6 inches per step, two-thirds of a mile per hour.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg + 213]</a></span></p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Mind of a Minnow</h4> + + <p>To find solid ground on which to base an appreciation of the behaviour of + fishes, it is necessary to experiment, and we may refer to Miss Gertrude + White's interesting work on American minnows and sticklebacks. After the + fishes had become quite at home in their artificial surroundings, their + lessons began. Cloth packets, one of which contained meat and the other + cotton, were suspended at opposite ends of the aquarium. The mud-minnows did + not show that they perceived either packet, though they swam close by them; + the sticklebacks were intrigued at once. Those that went towards the packet + containing meat darted furiously upon it and pulled at it with great + excitement. Those that went towards the cotton packet turned sharply away + when they were within about two inches off. They then perceived what those at + the other end were after and joined them—a common habit amongst fishes. + Although the minnows were not interested in the tiny "bags of + mystery," they were even more alert than the sticklebacks in perceiving + moving objects in or on the water, and there is no doubt that both these + shallow-water species discover their food largely by sense of sight.</p> + + <p>The next set of lessons had to do with colour-associations. The fishes + were fed on minced snail, chopped earthworm, fragments of liver, and the + like, and the food was given to them from the end of forceps held above the + surface of the water, so that the fishes could not be influenced by smell. + They had to leap out of the water to take the food from the forceps. Discs of + coloured cardboard were slipped over the end of the forceps, so that what the + fishes saw was a morsel of food in the centre of a coloured disc. After a + week or so of preliminary training, they were so well accustomed to the + coloured discs that the presentation of one served as a signal for the fishes + to dart to the surface and spring out of the water. When baits of paper were + substituted for the food, the fishes continued to jump at the discs. When, + however, a blue disc was persistently used for the paper bait and a red + disc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg + 214]</a></span> for the real food, or <i>vice versa</i>, some of the minnows + learned to discriminate infallibly between shadow and substance, both when + these were presented alternately and when they were presented simultaneously. + This is not far from the dawn of mind.</p> + + <p>In the course of a few lessons, both minnows and sticklebacks learned to + associate particular colours with food, and other associations were also + formed. A kind of larva that a minnow could make nothing of after repeated + trials was subsequently ignored. The approach of the experimenter or anyone + else soon began to serve as a food-signal. There can be no doubt that in the + ordinary life of fishes there is a process of forming useful associations and + suppressing useless responses. Given an inborn repertory of profitable + movements that require no training, given the power of forming associations + such as those we have illustrated, and given a considerable degree of sensory + alertness along certain lines, fishes do not require much more. And in truth + they have not got it. Moving with great freedom in three dimensions in a + medium that supports them and is very uniform and constant, able in most + cases to get plenty of food without fatiguing exertions and to dispense with + it for considerable periods if it is scarce, multiplying usually in great + abundance so that the huge infantile mortality hardly counts, rarely dying a + natural death but usually coming with their strength unabated to a violent + end, fishes hold their own in the struggle for existence without much in the + way of mental endowment. Their brain has more to do with motion than with + mentality, and they have remained at a low psychical level.</p> + + <p>Yet just as we should greatly misjudge our own race if we confined our + attention to everyday routine, so in our total, as distinguished from our + average, estimate of fishes, we must remember the salmon surmounting the + falls, the wary trout eluding the angler's skill, the common mud-skipper + (Periophthalmus) of many tropical shores which climbs on the rocks and the + roots of the mangrove-trees, or actively hunts small shore-animals. + We<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span> + must remember the adventurous life-history of the eel and the quaint ways in + which some fishes, males especially, look after their family. The male + sea-horse puts the eggs in his breast-pocket; the male Kurtus carries them on + the top of his head; the cock-paidle or lumpsucker guards them and aerates + them in a corner of a shore-pool.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 3</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Mind of Amphibians</h4> + + <p>Towards the end of the age of the Old Red Sandstone or Devonian, a great + step in evolution was taken—the emergence of Amphibians. The earliest + representatives had fish-like characters even more marked than those which + may be discerned in the tadpoles of our frogs and toads, and there is no + doubt that amphibians sprang from a fish stock. But they made great strides, + associated in part with their attempts to get out of the water on to dry + land. From fossil forms we cannot say much in regard to soft parts; but if we + consider the living representatives of the class, we may credit amphibians + with such important acquisitions as fingers and toes, a three-chambered + heart, true ventral lungs, a drum to the ear, a mobile tongue, and vocal + cords. When animals began to be able to grasp an object and when they began + to be able to utter sufficient sounds, two new doors were opened. Apart from + insects, whose instrumental music had probably begun before the end of the + Devonian age, amphibians were the first animals to have a voice. The primary + meaning of this voice was doubtless, as it is to-day in our frogs, a + sex-call; but it was the beginning of what was destined to play a very + important part in the evolution of the mind. In the course of ages the + significance of the voice broadened out; it became a parental call; it became + an infant's cry. Broadening still, it became a very useful means of + recognition among kindred, especially in the dark and in the intricacies of + the forest. Ages passed, and the voice rose on another turn of the + evolutionary spiral to be expressive of particular<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span> emotions + beyond the immediate circle of sex—emotions of joy and of fear, of + jealousy and of contentment. Finally, we judge, the animal—perhaps the + bird was first—began to give utterance to particular "words," + indicative not merely of emotions, but of particular things with an emotional + halo, such as "food," "enemy," "home." Long + afterwards, words became <i>in man</i> the medium of reasoned discourse. + Sentences were made and judgments expressed. But was not the beginning in the + croaking of Amphibia?</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Senses of Amphibians</h4> + + <p>Frogs have good eyes, and the toad's eyes are "jewels." + There is evidence of precise vision in the neat way in which a frog catches a + fly, flicking out its tongue, which is fixed in front and loose behind. There + is also experimental proof that a frog discriminates between red and blue, or + between red and white, and an interesting point is that while our skin is + sensitive to heat rays but not to light, the skin of the frog answers back to + light rays as well. Professor Yerkes experimented with a frog which had to go + through a simple labyrinth if it wished to reach a tank of water. At the + first alternative between two paths, a red card was placed on the wrong side + and a white one on the other. When the frog had learned to take the correct + path, marked by the white card, Prof. Yerkes changed the cards. The confusion + of the frog showed how thoroughly it had learned its lesson.</p> + + <p>We know very little in regard to sense of smell or taste in amphibians; + but the sense of hearing is well developed, more developed than might be + inferred from the indifference that frogs show to almost all sounds except + the croaking of their kindred and splashes in the water.</p> + + <p>The toad looks almost sagacious when it is climbing up a bank, and some of + the tree-frogs are very alert; but there is very little that we dare say + about the amphibian mind. We have mentioned that frogs may learn the secret + of a simple maze, and toads<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id= + "Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span> sometimes make for a particular spawning-pond + from a considerable distance. But an examination of their brains, occupying a + relatively small part of the broad, flat skull, warns us not to expect much + intelligence. On the other hand, when we take frogs along a line that is very + vital to them, namely, the discrimination of palatable and unpalatable + insects, we find, by experiment, that they are quick to learn and that they + remember their lessons for many days. Frogs sometimes deposit their eggs in + very unsuitable pools of water; but perhaps that is not quite so stupid as it + looks. The egg-laying is a matter that has been, as it were, handed over to + instinctive registration.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image348a" id="image348a"></a> <a href= + "images/image348a.jpg"><img src="images/image348a_sm.jpg" alt="HARPY-EAGLE" + title="HARPY-EAGLE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: W. S. Berridge.</i></p> + + <p>HARPY-EAGLE</p> + + <p class="wide">"Clean and dainty and proud as a Spanish + Don."</p> + + <p class="wide">It is an arboreal and cliff-loving bird, feeding chiefly on + mammals, very fierce and strong. The under parts are mostly white, with a + greyish zone on the chest. The upper parts are blackish-grey. The harpy + occurs from Mexico to Paraguay and Bolivia.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image348b" id="image348b"></a> <a href= + "images/image348b.jpg"><img src="images/image348b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE DINGO OR WILD DOG OF AUSTRALIA, PERHAPS AN INDIGENOUS WILD SPECIES, PERHAPS A DOMESTICATED DOG THAT HAS GONE WILD OR FERAL" + title= + "THE DINGO OR WILD DOG OF AUSTRALIA, PERHAPS AN INDIGENOUS WILD SPECIES, PERHAPS A DOMESTICATED DOG THAT HAS GONE WILD OR FERAL" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S.</i></p> + + <p>THE DINGO OR WILD DOG OF AUSTRALIA, PERHAPS AN INDIGENOUS WILD SPECIES, + PERHAPS A DOMESTICATED DOG THAT HAS GONE WILD OR FERAL</p> + + <p class="wide">It does much harm in destroying sheep. It is famous for its + persistent "death-feigning," for an individual has been known to + allow part of its skin to be removed, in the belief that it was dead, + before betraying its vitality.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image349" id="image349"></a> <a href= + "images/image349.jpg"><img src="images/image349_sm.jpg" alt= + "WOODPECKER, HAMMERING AT A COTTON-REEL, ATTACHED TO A TREE" title= + "WOODPECKER, HAMMERING AT A COTTON-REEL, ATTACHED TO A TREE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>WOODPECKER, HAMMERING AT A COTTON-REEL, ATTACHED TO A TREE</p> + + <p class="wide">Notice how the stiff tail-feathers braced against the stem + help the bird to cling on with its toes. The original hole, in which this + woodpecker inserted nuts for the purposes of cracking the shell and + extracting the kernel, is seen towards the top of the tree. But the taker + of the photograph tied on a hollowed-out cotton-reel as a receptacle for a + nut, and it was promptly discovered and used by the bird.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h4 class="sect">Experiments in Parental Care</h4> + + <p>It must be put to the credit of amphibians that they have made many + experiments in methods of parental care, as if they were feeling their way to + new devices. A common frog lays her clumps of eggs in the cradle of the + water, sometimes far over a thousand together; the toad winds two long + strings round and between water-weeds; and in both cases that is all. There + is no parental care, and the prolific multiplication covers the enormous + infantile mortality. This is the spawning solution of the problem of securing + the continuance of the race. But there is another solution, that of parental + care associated with an economical reduction of the number of eggs. Thus the + male of the Nurse-Frog (Alytes), not uncommon on the Continent, fixes a + string of twenty to fifty eggs to the upper part of his hind-legs, and + retires to his hole, only coming out at night to get some food and to keep up + the moisture about the eggs. In three weeks, when the tadpoles are ready to + come out, he plunges into the pond and is freed from his living burden and + his family cares. In the case of the thoroughly aquatic Surinam Toad (Pipa), + the male helps to press the eggs, perhaps a hundred in number, on to the back + of the female, where each sinks into a pocket of skin with a little lid. By + and by fully formed young toads jump out of the pockets.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span></p> + + <p>In the South American tree-frogs called Nototrema there is a pouch on the + back of the female in which the eggs develop, and it is interesting to find + that in some species what come out are ordinary tadpoles, while in other + species the young emerge as miniatures of their parents. Strangest of all, + perhaps, is the case of Darwin's Frog (Rhinoderma of Chili), where the + young, about ten to fifteen in number, develop in the male's + croaking-sacs, which become in consequence enormously distended. Eventually + the strange spectacle is seen of miniature frogs jumping out of their + father's mouth. Needless to say we are not citing these methods of + parental care as examples of intelligence; but perhaps they correct the + impression of amphibians as a rather humdrum race. Whatever be the mental + aspect of the facts, there has certainly been some kind of experimenting, and + the increase of parental care, so marked in many amphibians, with associated + reduction of the number of offspring is a finger-post on the path of + progress.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 4</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Reptilian Mind</h4> + + <p>We speak of the wisdom of the serpent; but it is not very easy to justify + the phrase. Among all the multitude of reptiles—snakes, lizards, + turtles, and crocodiles, a motley crowd—we cannot see much more than + occasional traces of intelligence. The inner life remains a tiny rill.</p> + + <p>No doubt many reptiles are very effective; but it is an instinctive rather + than an intelligent efficiency. The well-known "soft-shell" + tortoise of the United States swims with powerful strokes and runs so quickly + that it can hardly be overtaken. It hunts vigorously for crayfish and insect + larvæ in the rivers. It buries itself in the mud when cold weather comes. It + may lie on a floating log ready to slip into the water at a moment's + notice; it may bask on a sunny bank or in the warm shallows. Great wariness + is shown in choosing times and places for egg-laying. The mother tramps the + earth down upon the buried eggs. All is effective.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span> Similar + statements might be made in regard to scores of other reptiles; but what we + see is almost wholly of the nature of instinctive routine, and we get little + glimpse of more than efficiency and endeavour.</p> + + <p>In a few cases there is proof of reptiles finding their way back to their + homes from a considerable distance, and recognition of persons is + indubitable. Gilbert White remarks of his tortoise: "Whenever the good + old lady came in sight who had waited on it for more than thirty years, it + always hobbled with awkward alacrity towards its benefactress, while to + strangers it was altogether inattentive." Of definite learning there are + a few records. Thus Professor Yerkes studied a sluggish turtle of retiring + disposition, taking advantage of its strong desire to efface itself. On the + path of the darkened nest of damp grass he interposed a simple maze in the + form of a partitioned box. After wandering about constantly for thirty-five + minutes the turtle found its way through the maze by chance. Two hours + afterwards it reached the nest in fifteen minutes; and after another interval + of two hours it only required five minutes. After the third trial, the routes + became more direct, there was less aimless wandering. The time of the + twentieth trial was forty-five seconds; that of the thirtieth, forty seconds. + In the thirtieth case, the path followed was quite direct, and so it was on + the fiftieth trip, which only required thirty-five seconds. Of course, the + whole thing did not amount to very much; but there was a definite learning, + <i>a learning from experience</i>, which has played an important part in the + evolution of animal behaviour.</p> + + <p>Comparing reptiles with amphibians, we may recognise an increased + masterliness of behaviour and a hint of greater plasticity. The records of + observers who have made pets of reptiles suggest that the life of feeling or + emotion is growing stronger, and so do stories, if they can be accepted, + which suggest the beginning of conjugal affection.</p> + + <p>The error must be guarded against of interpreting in terms<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span> of + intelligence what is merely the outcome of long-continued structure + adaptation. When the limbless lizard called the Slow-worm is suddenly seized + by the tail, it escapes by surrendering the appendage, which breaks across a + preformed weak plane. But this is a reflex action, not a reflective one. It + is comparable to our sudden withdrawal of our finger from a very hot cinder. + The Egg-eating African snake Dasypeltis gets the egg of a bird into its + gullet unbroken, and cuts the shell against downward-projecting sharp points + of the vertebræ. None of the precious contents is lost and the broken + "empties" are returned. It is admirable, indeed unsurpassable; but + it is not intelligent.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 5</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Mind in Birds</h4> + + <p>Sight and hearing are highly developed in birds, and the senses, besides + pulling the triggers of inborn efficiencies, supply the raw materials for + intelligence. There is some truth, though not the whole truth, in the old + philosophical dictum, that there is nothing in the intellect which was not + previously in the senses. Many people have admired the certainty and alacrity + with which gulls pick up a fragment of biscuit from the white wake of a + steamer, and the incident is characteristic. In their power of rapidly + altering the focus of the eye, birds are unsurpassed.</p> + + <p>To the sense of sight in birds, the sense of hearing comes a good second. + A twig breaks under our feet, and out sounds the danger-call of the bird we + were trying to watch. Many young birds, like partridges, respond when two or + three hours old to the anxious warning note of the parents, and squat + motionless on the ground, though other sounds, such as the excited clucking + of a foster-mother hen, leave them indifferent. They do not know what they + are doing when they squat; they are obeying the living hand of the past which + is within them. Their behaviour is instinctive. But the present point is the + discriminating quality of the sense of hearing; and that is corroborated by + the singing of birds.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id= + "Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span> It is emotional art, expressing feelings in + the medium of sound. On the part of the females, who are supposed to listen, + it betokens a cultivated ear.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image354" id="image354"></a> <a href= + "images/image354.jpg"><img src="images/image354_sm.jpg" alt="THE BEAVER" + title="THE BEAVER" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE BEAVER</p> + + <p class="wide">The beaver will gnaw through trees a foot in diameter; to + save itself more trouble than is necessary, it will stop when it has gnawed + the trunk till there is only a narrow core left, having the wit to know + that the autumn gales will do the rest.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image355" id="image355"></a> <a href= + "images/image355.jpg"><img src="images/image355_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE THRUSH AT ITS ANVIL" title="THE THRUSH AT ITS ANVIL" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: F. R. Hinkins & Son.</i></p> + + <p>THE THRUSH AT ITS ANVIL</p> + + <p class="wide">The song-thrush takes the snail's shell in its bill, + and knocks it against a stone until it breaks, making the palatable flesh + available.</p> + + <p class="wide">Many broken shells are often found around the anvil.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>As to the other senses, touch is not highly developed except about the + bill, where it reaches a climax in birds like the wood-cock, which probe for + unseen earthworms in the soft soil. Taste seems to be poorly developed, for + most birds bolt their food, but there is sometimes an emphatic rejection of + unpalatable things, like toads and caterpillars. Of smell in birds little is + known, but it has been proved to be present in certain cases, e.g. in some + nocturnal birds of prey. It seems certain that it is by sight, not by smell, + that the eagles gather to the carcass; but perhaps there is more smell in + birds than they are usually credited with. One would like to experiment with + the oil from the preen gland of birds to see whether the scent of this does + not help in the recognition of kin by kin at night or amid the darkness of + the forest. There may be other senses in birds, such as a sense of + temperature and a sense of balance; but no success has attended the attempts + made to demonstrate a magnetic sense, which has been impatiently postulated + by students of bird migration in order to "explain" how the birds + find their way. The big fact is that in birds there are two widely open + gateways of knowledge, the sense of sight and the sense of hearing.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Instinctive Aptitudes</h4> + + <p>Many a young water-bird, such as a coot, swims right away when it is + tumbled into water for the first time. So chicks peck without any learning or + teaching, very young ducklings catch small moths that flit by, and young + plovers lie low when the danger-signal sounds. But birds seem strangely + limited as regards many of these instinctive capacities—limited when + compared with the "little-brained" ants and bees, which have from + the first such a rich repertory of ready-made cleverness. The limitation in + birds is of great interest, for it means that intelligence is + coming<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg + 222]</a></span> to its own and is going to take up the reins at many corners + of the daily round. Professor Lloyd Morgan observed that his chickens + incubated in the laboratory had no instinctive awareness of the significance + of their mother's cluck when she was brought outside the door. Although + thirsty and willing to drink from a moistened finger-tip, they did not + instinctively recognize water, even when they walked through a saucerful. + Only when they happened to peck their toes as they stood in the water did + they appreciate water as the stuff they wanted, and raise their bills up to + the sky. Once or twice they actually stuffed their crops with + "worms" of red worsted!</p> + + <p>Instinctive aptitudes, then, the young birds have, but these are more + limited than in ants, bees, and wasps; and the reason is to be found in the + fact that the brain is now evolving on the tack of what Sir Ray Lankester has + called "educability." Young birds <i>learn</i> with prodigious + rapidity; the emancipation of the mind from the tyranny of hereditary + obligations has begun. Young birds make mistakes, like the red worsted + mistake, but they do not make the same mistakes often. They are able to + profit by experience in a very rapid way. We do not mean that creatures of + the little-brain type, like ants, bees, and wasps, are unable to profit by + experience or are without intelligence. There are no such hard-and-fast + lines. We mean that in the ordinary life of insects the enregistered + instinctive capacities are on the whole sufficient for the occasion, and that + intelligent educability is very slightly developed. Nor do we mean that birds + are quite emancipated from the tyranny of engrained instinctive obligations, + and can always "ring up" intelligence in a way that is impossible + for the stereotyped bee. The sight of a pigeon brooding on an empty nest, + while her two eggs lie disregarded only a couple of inches away, is enough to + show that along certain lines birds may find it impossible to get free from + the trammels of instinct. The peculiar interest of birds is that they have + many instincts and yet a notable power of learning intelligently.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span></p> + + <h4 class="sect">Intelligence co-operating with Instinct</h4> + + <p>Professor Lloyd Morgan was foster-parent to two moorhens which grew up in + isolation from their kindred. They swam instinctively, but they would not + dive, neither in a large bath nor in a current. But it happened one day when + one of these moorhens was swimming in a pool on a Yorkshire stream, that a + puppy came barking down the bank and made an awkward feint towards the young + bird. In a moment the moorhen dived, disappeared from view, and soon + partially reappeared, his head just peeping above the water beneath the + overhanging bank. This was the first time the bird had dived, and the + performance was absolutely true to type.</p> + + <p>There can be little doubt as to the meaning of this observation. The + moorhen has an hereditary or instinctive capacity for swimming and diving, + but the latter is not so easily called into activity as the former. The + particular moorhen in question had enjoyed about two months of swimming + experience, which probably counted for something, but in the course of that + experience nothing had pulled the trigger of the diving capacity. On an + eventful day the young moorhen saw and heard the dog; it was emotionally + excited; it probably did to some extent intelligently appreciate a novel and + meaningful situation. Intelligence cooperated with instinct, and the bird + dived appropriately.</p> + + <p>Birds have inborn predispositions to certain effective ways of pecking, + scratching, swimming, diving, flying, crouching, lying low, nest-building, + and so on; but they are marked off from the much more purely instinctive ants + and bees by the extent to which individual "nurture" seems to + mingle with the inherited "nature." The two together result in the + fine product which we call the bird's behaviour. After Lloyd Morgan's + chicks had tried a few conspicuous and unpalatable caterpillars, they had no + use for any more. They learned in their early days with prodigious rapidity, + illustrating the deep difference between the "big-brain" type, + relatively poor in its endowment of instinctive<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span> capacities, but eminently + "educable," and the "little-brain" type, say, of ants and + bees, richly endowed with instinctive capacities, but very far from being + quick or glad to learn. We owe it to Sir Ray Lankester to have made it clear + that these two types of brain are, as it were, on different tacks of + evolution, and should not be directly pitted against one another. The + "little-brain" type makes for a climax in the ant, where + instinctive behaviour reaches a high degree of perfection; the + "big-brain" type reaches its climax in horse and dog, in elephant + and monkey. The particular interest that attaches to the behaviour of birds + is in the combination of a good deal of instinct with a great deal of + intelligent learning. This is well illustrated when birds make a nest out of + new materials or in some quite novel situation. It is clearly seen when birds + turn to some new kind of food, like the Kea parrot, which attacks the sheep + in New Zealand.</p> + + <p>Some young woodpeckers are quite clever in opening fir cones to get at the + seeds, and this might be hastily referred to a well-defined hereditary + capacity. But the facts are that the parents bring their young ones first the + seeds themselves, then partly opened cones, and then intact ones. There is an + educative process, and so it is in scores of cases.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Using their Wits</h4> + + <p>When the Greek eagle lifts the Greek tortoise in its talons, and lets it + fall from a height so that the strong carapace is broken and the flesh + exposed, it is making intelligent use of an expedient. Whether it discovered + the expedient by experimenting, as is possible, or by chance, as is more + likely, it uses it intelligently. In the same way herring-gulls lift + sea-urchins and clams in their bills, and let them fall on the rocks so that + the shells are broken. In the same way rooks deal with freshwater + mussels.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Thrush's Anvil</h4> + + <p>A very instructive case is the behaviour of the song-thrush when it takes + a wood-snail in its beak and hammers it against a<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span> stone, its + so-called anvil. To a young thrush, which she had brought up by hand, Miss + Frances Pitt offered some wood-snails, but it took no interest in them until + one put out its head and began to move about. The bird then pecked at the + snail's horns, but was evidently puzzled when the creature retreated + within the shelter of the shell. This happened over and over again, the + thrush's inquisitive interest increasing day by day. It pecked at the + shell and even picked it up by the lip, but no real progress was made till + the sixth day, when the thrush seized the snail and beat it on the ground as + it would a big worm. On the same day it picked up a shell and knocked it + repeatedly against a stone, trying first one snail and then another. After + fifteen minutes' hard work, the thrush managed to break one, and after + that it was all easy. A certain predisposition to beat things on the ground + was doubtless present, but the experiment showed that the use of an anvil + could be arrived at by an untutored bird. After prolonged trying it found out + how to deal with a difficult situation. It may be said that in more natural + conditions this might be picked up by imitation, but while this is quite + possible, it is useful to notice that experiments with animals lead us to + doubt whether imitation counts for nearly so much as used to be believed.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 6</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Mind of the Mammal</h4> + + <p>When we watch a collie at a sheep-driving competition, or an elephant + helping the forester, or a horse shunting waggons at a railway siding, we are + apt to be too generous to the mammal mind. For in the cases we have just + mentioned, part of man's mind has, so to speak, got into the + animal's. On the other hand, when we study rabbits and guinea-pigs, we + are apt to be too stingy, for these rodents are under the average of mammals, + and those that live in domestication illustrate the stupefying effect of a + too sheltered life. The same applies to domesticated sheep contrasted with + wild sheep, or even with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id= + "Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span> their own lambs. If we are to form a sound + judgment on the intelligence of mammals we must not attend too much to those + that have profited by man's training, nor to those whose mental life has + been dulled by domestication.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Instinctive Aptitudes</h4> + + <p>What is to be said of the behaviour of beavers who gnaw the base of a tree + with their chisel-edged teeth till only a narrow core is left—to snap + in the first gale, bringing the useful branches down to the ground? What is + to be said of the harvest-mouse constructing its nest, or of the squirrel + making cache after cache of nuts? These and many similar pieces of behaviour + are fundamentally instinctive, due to inborn predispositions of nerve-cells + and muscle-cells. But in mammals they seem to be often attended by a certain + amount of intelligent attention, saving the creature from the tyranny of + routine so marked in the ways of ants and bees.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Sheer Dexterity</h4> + + <p>Besides instinctive aptitudes, which are exhibited in almost equal + perfection by all the members of the same species, there are acquired + dexterities which depend on individual opportunities. They are also marked by + being outside and beyond ordinary routine—not that any rigorous + boundary line can be drawn. We read that at Mathura on the Jumna doles of + food are provided by the piety of pilgrims for the sacred river-tortoises, + which are so crowded when there is food going that their smooth carapaces + form a more or less continuous raft across the river. On that unsteady + slippery bridge the Langur monkeys (<i>Semnopithecus entellus</i>) venture + out and in spite of vicious snaps secure a share of the booty. This picture + of the monkeys securing a footing on the moving mass of turtle-backs is + almost a diagram of sheer dexterity. It illustrates the spirit of adventure, + the will to experiment, which is, we believe, the main motive-force in new + departures in behaviour.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image362" id="image362"></a> <a href= + "images/image362.jpg"><img src="images/image362_sm.jpg" alt= + "ALSATIAN WOLF-DOG" title="ALSATIAN WOLF-DOG" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Lafayette</i></p> + + <p>ALSATIAN WOLF-DOG</p> + + <p class="wide">An animal of acute senses and great intelligence. It was of + great service in the war.</p> + + <p class="wide">(The dog shown, Arno von Indetal, is a trained police dog + and did service abroad during the war.)</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image363a" id="image363a"></a> <a href= + "images/image363a.jpg"><img src="images/image363a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE POLAR BEAR OF THE FAR NORTH" title= + "THE POLAR BEAR OF THE FAR NORTH" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: W. S. Berridge.</i></p> + + <p>THE POLAR BEAR OF THE FAR NORTH</p> + + <p class="wide">An animal of extraordinary strength, able with a stroke of + its paw to lift a big seal right out of the water and send it crashing + along the ice. The food consists chiefly of seals. The sexes wander + separately. A hole is often dug as a winter retreat, but there is no + hibernation. A polar bear in captivity has been seen making a current with + its paw in the water of its pool in order to secure floating buns without + trouble—an instance of sheer intelligence.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image363b" id="image363b"></a> <a href= + "images/image363b.jpg"><img src="images/image363b_sm.jpg" alt= + "AN ALLIGATOR 'YAWNING' IN EXPECTATION OF FOOD" title= + "AN ALLIGATOR 'YAWNING' IN EXPECTATION OF FOOD" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>From the Smithsonian Report</i>, 1914</p> + + <p>AN ALLIGATOR "YAWNING" IN EXPECTATION OF FOOD</p> + + <p>Note the large number of sharp conical teeth fixed in sockets along the + jaws.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg + 227]</a></span></p> + + <h4 class="sect">Power of Association</h4> + + <p>A bull-terrier called Jasper, studied by Prof. J. B. Watson, showed great + power of associating certain words with certain actions. From a position + invisible to the dog the owner would give certain commands, such as "Go + into the next room and bring me a paper lying on the floor." Jasper did + this at once, and a score of similar things.</p> + + <p>Lord Avebury's dog Van was accustomed to go to a box containing a + small number of printed cards and select the card TEA or OUT, as the occasion + suggested. It had established an association between certain black marks on a + white background and the gratification of certain desires. It is probable + that some of the extraordinary things horses and dogs have been known to do + in the way of stamping a certain number of times in supposed indication of an + answer to an arithmetical question (in the case of horses), or of the name of + an object drawn (in the case of dogs), are dependent on clever associations + established by the teacher between minute signs and a number of stampings. + What is certain is that mammals have in varying degrees a strong power of + establishing associations. There is often some delicacy in the association + established. Everyone knows of cases where a dog, a cat, or a horse will + remain quite uninterested, to all appearance, in its owner's movements + until some little detail, such as taking a key from its peg, pulls the + trigger. Now the importance of this in the wild life of the fox or the hare, + the otter or the squirrel, is obviously that the young animals learn to + associate certain sounds in their environment with definite possibilities. + They have to learn an alphabet of woodcraft, the letters of which are chiefly + sounds and scents.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Dancing Mouse as a Pupil</h4> + + <p>The dancing or waltzing mouse is a Japanese variety with many + peculiarities, such as having only one of the three semicircular canals of + the ear well developed. It has a strong tendency<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span> to waltz round + and round in circles without sufficient cause and to trip sideways towards + its dormitory instead of proceeding in the orthodox head-on fashion. But this + freak is a very educable creature, as Professor Yerkes has shown. In a + careful way he confronted his mouse-pupil with alternative pathways marked by + different degrees of illumination, or by different colours. If the mouse + chose compartment A, it found a clear passage direct to its nest; if it chose + compartment B, it was punished by a mild electric shock and it had to take a + roundabout road home. Needless to say, the A compartment was sometimes to the + right hand, sometimes to the left, else mere position would have been a + guide. The experiments showed that the dancing mice learn to discriminate the + right path from the wrong, and similar results have been got from other + mammals, such as rats and squirrels. There is no proof of learning by ideas, + but there is proof of learning by experience. And the same must be true in + wild life.</p> + + <p>Many mammals, such as cats and rats, learn how to manipulate puzzle-boxes + and how to get at the treasure at the heart of a Hampton Court maze. Some of + the puzzle-boxes, with a reward of food inside, are quite difficult, for the + various bolts and bars have to be dealt with in a particular order, and yet + many mammals master the problem. What is plain is that they gradually + eliminate useless movements, that they make fewer and fewer mistakes, that + they eventually succeed, and that they register the solution within + themselves so that it remains with them for a time. It looks a little like + the behaviour of a man who learns a game of skill without thinking. It is a + learning by experience, not by ideas or reflection. Thus it is very difficult + to suppose that a rat or a cat could form any idea or even picture of the + Hampton Court maze—which they nevertheless master.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Learning Tricks</h4> + + <p>Given sufficient inducement many of the cleverer mammals will learn to do + very sensible things, and no one is wise enough to<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span> say that they + never understand what they are doing. Yet it is certain that trained animals + often exhibit pieces of behaviour which are not nearly so clever as they + look. The elephant at the Belle Vue Gardens in Manchester used to collect + pennies from benevolent visitors. When it got a penny in its trunk it put it + in the slot of an automatic machine which delivered up a biscuit. When a + visitor gave the elephant a halfpenny it used to throw it back with disgust. + At first sight this seemed almost wise, and there was no doubt some + intelligent appreciation of the situation. But it was largely a matter of + habituation, the outcome of careful and prolonged training. The elephant was + laboriously taught to put the penny in the slot and to discriminate between + the useful pennies and the useless halfpennies. It was not nearly so clever + as it looked.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Using their Wits</h4> + + <p>In the beautiful Zoological Park in Edinburgh the Polar Bear was wont to + sit on a rocky peninsula of a water-filled quarry. The visitors threw in + buns, some of which floated on the surface. It was often easy for the Polar + Bear to collect half a dozen by plunging into the pool. But it had discovered + a more interesting way. At the edge of the peninsula it scooped the water + gently with its huge paw and made a current which brought the buns ashore. + This was a simple piece of behaviour, but it has the smack of + intelligence—of putting two and two together in a novel way. It + suggests the power of making what is called a "perceptual + inference."</p> + + <p>On the occasion of a great flood in a meadow it was observed that a number + of mares brought their foals to the top of a knoll, and stood round about + them protecting them against the rising water. A dog has been known to show + what was at any rate a plastic appreciation of a varying situation in + swimming across a tidal river. It changed its starting-point, they say, + according to the flow or ebb of the tide. Arctic foxes and some other + wild<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg + 230]</a></span> mammals show great cleverness in dealing with traps, and the + manipulative intelligence of elephants is worthy of all our admiration.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 7</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Why is there not more Intelligence?</h4> + + <p>When we allow for dexterity and power of association, when we recognise a + certain amount of instinctive capacity and a capacity for profiting by + experience in an intelligent way, we must admit a certain degree of + disappointment when we take a survey of the behaviour of mammals, especially + of those with very fine brains, from which we should naturally expect great + things. Why is there not more frequent exhibition of intelligence in the + stricter sense?</p> + + <p>The answer is that most mammals have become in the course of time very + well adapted to the ordinary conditions of their life, and tend to leave well + alone. They have got their repertory of efficient answers to the ordinary + questions of everyday life, and why should they experiment? In the course of + the struggle for existence what has been established is efficiency in normal + circumstances, and therefore even the higher animals tend to be no cleverer + than is necessary. So while many mammals are extraordinarily efficient, they + tend to be a little dull. Their mental equipment is adequate for the everyday + conditions of their life, but it is not on sufficiently generous lines to + admit of, let us say, an interest in Nature or adventurous experiment. + Mammals always tend to "play for safety."</p> + + <p>We hasten, however, to insert here some very interesting saving + clauses.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Experimentation in Play</h4> + + <p>A glimpse of what mammals are capable of, were it necessary, may be + obtained by watching those that are playful, such as lambs and kids, foals + and calves, young foxes and others. For<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span> these young creatures let + themselves go irresponsibly, they are still unstereotyped, they test what + they and their fellows can do. The experimental character of much of animal + play is very marked.</p> + + <p>It is now recognised by biologists that play among animals is the young + form of work, and that the playing period, often so conspicuous, is vitally + important as an apprenticeship to the serious business of life and as an + opportunity for learning the alphabet of Nature. But the playing period is + much more; it is one of the few opportunities animals have of making + experiments without too serious responsibilities. Play is Nature's device + for allowing elbow-room for new departures (behaviour-variations) which may + form part of the raw materials of progress. Play, we repeat, gives us a + glimpse of the possibilities of the mammal mind.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Other Glimpses of Intelligence</h4> + + <p>A squirrel is just as clever as it needs to be and no more; and of some + vanishing mammals, like the beaver, not even this can be said. Humdrum + non-plastic efficiency is apt to mean stagnation. Now we have just seen that + in the play of young mammals there is an indication of unexhausted + possibilities, and we get the same impression when we think of three other + facts. (<i>a</i>) In those mammals, like dog and horse, which have entered + into active cooperative relations with man, we see that the mind of the + mammal is capable of much more than the average would lead us to think. When + man's sheltering is too complete and the domesticated creature is passive + in his grip, the intelligence deteriorates. (<i>b</i>) When we study mammals, + like the otter, which live a versatile life in a very complex and difficult + environment, we get an inspiriting picture of the play of wits. (<i>c</i>) + Thirdly, when we pass to monkeys, where the fore-limb has become a free hand, + where the brain shows a relatively great improvement, where "words" + are much used, we cannot fail to recognise the emergence of + something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg + 232]</a></span> new—a restless inquisitiveness, a desire to investigate + the world, an unsatisfied tendency to experiment. We are approaching the Dawn + of Reason.</p> + + <h3>THE MIND OF MONKEYS</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 8</h3> + + <p>There is a long gamut between the bushy-tailed, almost squirrel-like + marmosets and the big-brained chimpanzee. There is great variety of + attainment at different levels in the Simian tribe.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Keen Senses</h4> + + <p>To begin at the beginning, it is certain that monkeys have a first-class + sensory equipment, especially as regards sight, hearing, and touch. The axes + of the two eyes are directed forwards as in man, and a large section of the + field of vision is common to both eyes. In other words, monkeys have a more + complete stereoscopic vision than the rest of the mammals enjoy. They look + more and smell less. They can distinguish different colours, apart from + different degrees of brightness in the coloured objects. They are quick to + discriminate differences in the shapes of things, e.g. boxes similar in size + but different in shape, for if the prize is always put in a box of the same + shape they soon learn (by association) to select the profitable one. They + learn to discriminate cards with short words or with signs printed on them, + coming down when the "Yes" card is shown, remaining on their perch + when the card says "No." Bred to a forest life where alertness is a + life-or-death quality, they are quick to respond to a sudden movement or to + pick out some new feature in their surroundings. And what is true of vision + holds also for hearing.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Power of Manipulation</h4> + + <p>Another quality which separates monkeys very markedly from ordinary + mammals is their manipulative expertness, the co-ordination<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span> of hand and + eye. This great gift follows from the fact that among monkeys the fore-leg + has been emancipated. It has ceased to be indispensable as an organ of + support; it has become a climbing, grasping, lifting, handling organ. The + fore-limb has become a free hand, and everyone who knows monkeys at all is + aware of the zest with which they use their tool. They enjoy pulling things + to pieces—a kind of dissection—or screwing the handle off a brush + and screwing it on again.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image370a" id="image370a"></a> <a href= + "images/image370a.jpg"><img src="images/image370a_sm.jpg" alt="BABY ORANG" + title="BABY ORANG" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: W. P. Dando</i></p> + + <p>BABY ORANG</p> + + <p class="wide">Notice the small ears and the suggestion of good temper. + The mother orang will throw prickly fruits and pieces of branches at those + who intrude on her maternal care.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image370b" id="image370b"></a> <a href= + "images/image370b.jpg"><img src="images/image370b_sm.jpg" alt="ORANG-UTAN" + title="ORANG-UTAN" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Gambier Bolton.</i></p> + + <p>ORANG-UTAN</p> + + <p class="wide">A large and heavy ape, frequenting forests in Sumatra and + Borneo, living mainly in trees, where a temporary nest is made. The + expression is melancholy, the belly very protuberant, the colour + yellow-brown, the movements are cautious and slow.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image371" id="image371"></a> <a href= + "images/image371.jpg"><img src="images/image371_sm.jpg" alt="CHIMPANZEE" + title="CHIMPANZEE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>1. CHIMPANZEE</p> + + <p>2. BABY ORANG-UTAN</p> + + <p>3. ORANG-UTAN</p> + + <p>4. BABY CHIMPANZEES</p> + + <p><i>Photos: James's Press Agency.</i></p> + + <p class="wide">In his famous book on <i>The Expression of the Emotions in + Man and Animals</i> (1872) Charles Darwin showed that many forms of facial + expression familiar in man have their counterparts in apes and other + mammals. He also showed how important the movements of expression are as + means of communication between mother and offspring, mate and mate, kith + and kin.</p> + + <p class="wide">The anthropoid apes show notable differences of temperament + as the photographs show. The chimpanzee is lively, cheerful, and educable. + The orang is also mild of temper, but often and naturally appears + melancholy in captivity. This is not suggested, however, by our photograph + of the adult. Both chimpanzee and orang are markedly contrasted with the + fierce and gloomy gorilla.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h4 class="sect">Activity for Activity's Sake</h4> + + <p>Professor Thorndike hits the nail on the head when he lays stress on the + intensity of activity in monkeys—activity both of body and mind. They + are pent-up reservoirs of energy, which almost any influence will tap. Watch + a cat or a dog, Professor Thorndike says; it does comparatively few things + and is content for long periods to do nothing. It will be splendidly active + in response to some stimulus such as food or a friend or a fight, but if + nothing appeals to its special make-up, which is very utilitarian in its + interests, it will do nothing. "Watch a monkey and you cannot enumerate + the things he does, cannot discover the stimuli to which he reacts, cannot + conceive the <i>raison d'etre</i> of his pursuits. Everything appeals to + him. He likes to be active for the sake of activity."</p> + + <p>This applies to mental activity as well, and the quality is one of + extraordinary interest, for it shows the experimenting mood at a higher turn + of the spiral than in any other creature, save man. It points forward to the + scientific spirit. We cannot, indeed, believe in the sudden beginning of any + quality, and we recall the experimenting of playing mammals, such as kids and + kittens, or of inquisitive adults like Kipling's mongoose, + Riki-Tiki-Tavi, which made it his business in life to find out about things. + But in monkeys the habit of restless experimenting rises to a higher pitch. + They appear to be curious about the world. The psychologist whom we have + quoted tells of a monkey which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id= + "Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span> happened to hit a projecting wire so as to + make it vibrate. He went on repeating the performance hundreds of times + during the next few days. Of course, he got nothing out of it, save fun, but + it was grist to his mental mill. "The fact of mental life is to monkeys + it own reward." The monkey's brain is "tender all over, + functioning throughout, set off in action by anything and + everything."</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Sheer Quickness</h4> + + <p>Correlated with the quality of restless inquisitiveness and delight in + activity for its own sake there is the quality of quickness. We mean not + merely the locomotor agility that marks most monkeys, but quickness of + perception and plan. It is the sort of quality that life among the branches + will engender, where it is so often a case of neck or nothing. It is the + quality which we describe as being on the spot, though the phrase has slipped + from its original moorings. Speaking of his Bonnet Monkey, an Indian macaque, + second cousin to the kind that lives on the Rock of Gibraltar, Professor S. + J. Holmes writes: "For keenness of perception, rapidity of action, + facility in forming good practical judgments about ways and means of escaping + pursuit and of attaining various other ends, Lizzie had few rivals in the + animal world.... Her perceptions and decisions were so much more rapid than + my own that she would frequently transfer her attention, decide upon a line + of action, and carry it into effect before I was aware of what she was about. + Until I came to guard against her nimble and unexpected manœuvres, she + succeeded in getting possession of many apples and peanuts which I had not + intended to give her except upon the successful performance of some + task."</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Quick to Learn</h4> + + <p>Quite fundamental to any understanding of animal behaviour is the + distinction so clearly drawn by Sir Ray Lankester between the + "little-brain" type, rich in inborn or instinctive + capacities,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg + 235]</a></span> but relatively slow to learn, and the "big-brain" + type, with a relatively poor endowment of specialised instincts, but with + great educability. The "little-brain" type finds its climax in ants + and bees; the "big-brain" type in horses and dogs, elephants and + monkeys. And of all animals monkeys are the quickest to learn, if we use the + word "learn" to mean the formation of useful associations between + this and that, between a given sense-presentation and a particular piece of + behaviour.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Case of Sally</h4> + + <p>Some of us remember Sally, the chimpanzee at the "Zoo" with + which Dr. Romanes used to experiment. She was taught to give her teacher the + number of straws he asked for, and she soon learned to do so up to five. If + she handed a number not asked for, her offer was refused; if she gave the + proper number, she got a piece of fruit. If she was asked for five straws, + she picked them up individually and placed them in her mouth, and when she + had gathered five she presented them together in her hand. Attempts to teach + her to give six to ten straws were not very successful. For Sally "above + six" meant "many," and besides, her limits of patience were + probably less than her range of computation. This was hinted at by the highly + interesting circumstance that when dealing with numbers above five she very + frequently doubled over a straw so as to make it present two ends and thus + appear as two straws. The doubling of the straw looked like an intelligent + device to save time, and it was persistently resorted to in spite of the fact + that her teacher always refused to accept a doubled straw as equivalent to + two straws. Here we get a glimpse of something beyond the mere association of + a sound—"Five"—and that number of straws.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Case of Lizzie</h4> + + <p>The front of the cage in which Professor Holmes kept Lizzie was made of + vertical bars which allowed her to reach out with her arm. On a board with an + upright nail as handle, there was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id= + "Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span> placed an apple—out of Lizzie's + reach. She reached immediately for the nail, pulled the board in and got the + apple. "There was no employment of the method of trial and error; there + was direct appropriate action following the perception of her relation to + board, nail, and apple." Of course her ancestors may have been adepts at + drawing a fruit-laden branch within their reach, but the simple experiment + was very instructive. All the more instructive because in many other cases + the experiments indicate a gradual sifting out of useless movements and an + eventful retention of the one that pays. When Lizzie was given a vaseline + bottle containing a peanut and closed with a cork, she at once pulled the + cork out with her teeth, obeying the instinct to bite at new objects, but she + never learned to turn the bottle upside down and let the nut drop out. She + often got the nut, and after some education she got it more quickly than she + did at first, but there was no indication that she ever perceived the fit and + proper way of getting what she wanted. "In the course of her intent + efforts her mind seemed so absorbed with the object of desire that it was + never focussed on the means of attaining that object. There was no + deliberation, and no discrimination between the important and the unimportant + elements in her behaviour. The gradually increasing facility of her + performances depended on the apparently unconscious elimination of useless + movements." This may be called learning, but it is learning at a very + low level; it is far from learning by ideas; it is hardly even learning by + experiment; it is not more than learning by experience, it is not more than + fumbling at learning!</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Trial and Error</h4> + + <p>A higher note is struck in the behaviour of some more highly endowed + monkeys. In many experiments, chiefly in the way of getting into boxes + difficult to open, there is evidence (1) of attentive persistent experiment + (2) of the rapid elimination of ineffective movements, and (3) of remembering + the solution when it<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id= + "Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span> was discovered. Kinnaman taught two macaques + the Hampton Court Maze, a feat which probably means a memory of movements, + and we get an interesting glimpse in his observation that they began to smack + their lips audibly when they reached the latter part of their course, and + began to feel, dare one say, "We are right this time."</p> + + <p>In getting into "puzzle-boxes" and into + "combination-boxes" (where the barriers must be overcome in a + definite order), monkeys learn by the trial and error method much more + quickly than cats and dogs do, and a very suggestive fact emphasized by + Professor Thorndike is "a process of sudden acquisition by a rapid, + often apparently instantaneous abandonment of the unsuccessful movements and + selection of the appropriate one, which rivals in suddenness the selections + made by human beings in similar performances." A higher note still was + sounded by one of Thorndike's monkeys which opened a puzzle-box at once, + eight months after his previous experience with it. For here was some sort of + registration of a solution.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Imitation</h4> + + <p>Two chimpanzees in the Dublin Zoo were often to be seen washing the two + shelves of their cupboard and "wringing" the wet cloth in the + approved fashion. It was like a caricature of a washerwoman, and someone + said, "What mimics they are!" Now we do not know whether that was + or was not the case with the chimpanzees, but the majority of the experiments + that have been made do not lead us to attach to imitation so much importance + as is usually given to it by the popular interpreter. There are instances + where a monkey that had given up a puzzle in despair returned to it when it + had seen its neighbour succeed, but most of the experiments suggested that + the creature has to find out for itself. Even with such a simple problem as + drawing food near with a stick, it often seems of little use to show the + monkey how it is done. Placing a bit of food outside his + monkey's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg + 238]</a></span> cage, Professor Holmes "poked it about with the stick so + as to give her a suggestion of how the stick might be employed to move the + food within reach, but although the act was repeated many times Lizzie never + showed the least inclination to use the stick to her advantage." Perhaps + the idea of a "tool" is beyond the Bonnet Monkey, yet here again we + must be cautious, for Professor L. T. Hobhouse had a monkey of the same + macaque genus which learned in the course of time to use a crooked stick with + great effect.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Case of Peter</h4> + + <p>Perhaps the cleverest monkey as yet studied was a performing chimpanzee + called Peter, which has been generally described by Dr. Lightner Witmer. + Peter could skate and cycle, thread needles and untie knots, smoke a + cigarette and string beads, screw in nails and unlock locks. But what Peter + was thinking about all the time it was hard to guess, and there is very + little evidence to suggest that his rapid power of putting two and two + together ever rose above a sort of concrete mental experimenting, which Dr. + Romanes used to call perceptual inference. Without supposing that there are + hard-and-fast boundary lines, we cannot avoid the general conclusion that, + while monkeys are often intelligent, they seldom, if ever, show even hints of + reason, i.e. of working or playing with general ideas. That remains Man's + prerogative.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Bustle of the Mind</h4> + + <p>In mammals like otters, foxes, stoats, hares, and elephants, what a + complex of tides and currents there must be in the brain-mind! We may think + of a stream with currents at different levels. Lowest there are the <i>basal + appetites</i> of hunger and sex, often with eddies rising to the surface. + Then there are the <i>primary emotions</i>, such as fear of hereditary + enemies and maternal affection for offspring. Above these are <i>instinctive + aptitudes</i>, inborn powers of doing clever things without having to + learn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg + 239]</a></span> how. But in mammals these are often expressed along with, or + as it were through, the controlled life of <i>intelligent activity</i>, where + there is more clear-cut perceptual influence.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image378a" id="image378a"></a> <a href= + "images/image378a.jpg"><img src="images/image378a_sm.jpg" alt="CHIMPANZEE" + title="CHIMPANZEE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: W. P. Dando.</i></p> + + <p>CHIMPANZEE</p> + + <p class="wide">An African ape, at home in the equatorial forests, a lively + and playful creature, eminently educable.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image378b" id="image378b"></a> <a href= + "images/image378b.jpg"><img src="images/image378b_sm.jpg" alt= + "YOUNG CHEETAHS, OR HUNTING LEOPARDS" title= + "YOUNG CHEETAHS, OR HUNTING LEOPARDS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: W. S. Berridge.</i></p> + + <p>YOUNG CHEETAHS, OR HUNTING LEOPARDS</p> + + <p class="wide">Trained to hunt from time immemorial and quite easily + tamed. Cheetahs occur in India, Persia, Turkestan, and Africa.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image379" id="image379"></a> <a href= + "images/image379.jpg"><img src="images/image379_sm.jpg" alt="COMMON OTTER" + title="COMMON OTTER" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: C. Reid.</i></p> + + <p>COMMON OTTER</p> + + <p class="wide">One of the most resourceful of animals and the "most + playsomest crittur on God's earth." It neither stores nor + hibernates, but survives in virtue of its wits and because of the careful + education of the young. The otter is a roving animal, often with more than + one resting-place; it has been known to travel fifteen miles in a + night.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Higher still are the records or memories of individual experience and the + registration of individual habits, while on the surface is the instreaming + multitude of messages from the outside world, like raindrops and hailstones + on the stream, some of them penetrating deeply, being, as we say, full of + meaning. The mind of the higher animal is in some respects like a child's + mind, in having little in the way of clear-cut ideas, in showing no reason in + the strict sense, and in its extraordinary educability, but it differs from + the child's mind entirely in the sure effectiveness of a certain + repertory of responses. It is efficient to a degree.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">"Until at last arose the Man."</h4> + + <p>Man's brain is more complicated than that of the higher + apes—gorilla, orang, and chimpanzee—and it is relatively larger. + But the improvements in structure do not seem in themselves sufficient to + account for man's great advance in intelligence. The rill of inner life + has become a swift stream, sometimes a rushing torrent. Besides perceptual + inference or <i>Intelligence</i>—a sort of picture-logic, which some + animals likewise have—there is conceptual inference—or + <i>Reason</i>—an internal experimenting with general ideas. Even the + cleverest animals, it would seem, do not get much beyond playing with + "particulars"; man plays an internal game of chess with + "universals." Intelligent behaviour may go a long way with mental + images; rational conduct demands general ideas. It may be, however, that + "percepts" and "concepts" differ rather in degree than in + kind, and that the passage from one to the other meant a higher power of + forming associations. A clever dog has probably a generalised percept of man, + as distinguished from a memory-image of the particular men it has known, but + man alone has the concept Man,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id= + "Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span> or Mankind, or Humanity. Experimenting with + concepts or general ideas is what we call Reason.</p> + + <p>Here, of course, we get into deep waters, and perhaps it is wisest not to + attempt too much. So we shall content ourselves here with pointing out that + Man's advance in intelligence and from intelligence to reason is closely + wrapped up with his power of speech. What animals began—a small + vocabulary—he has carried to high perfection. But what is distinctive + is not the vocabulary so much as the habit of making sentences, of expressing + judgments in a way which admitted of communication between mind and mind. The + multiplication of words meant much, the use of words as symbols of general + ideas meant even more, for it meant the possibility of playing the internal + game of thinking; but perhaps the most important advance of all was the means + of comparing notes with neighbours, of corroborating individual experience by + social intercourse. With words, also, it became easier to enregister outside + himself the gains of the past. It is not without significance that the Greek + Logos, which may be translated "the word," may also be translated + Mind.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 9</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Looking Backwards</h4> + + <p>When we take a survey of animal behaviour we see a long inclined plane. + The outer world provokes simple creatures to answer back; simple creatures + act experimentally on their surroundings. From the beginning this twofold + process has been going on, receiving stimuli from the environment and acting + upon the environment, and according to the efficiency of the reactions and + actions living creatures have been sifted for millions of years. One main + line of advance has been opening new gateways of knowledge—the senses, + which are far more than five in number. The other main line of advance has + been in most general terms, experimenting or testing, probing and proving, + trying one key after another till a door is unlocked. There is<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span> progress in + multiplying the gateways of knowledge and making them more discriminating, + and there is progress in making the modes of experimenting more wide-awake, + more controlled, and more resolute. But behind both of these is the + characteristically vital power of enregistering within the organism the + lessons of the past. In the life of the individual these enregistrations are + illustrated by memories and habituations and habits; in the life of the race + they are illustrated by reflex actions and instinctive capacities.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Body and Mind</h4> + + <p>We must not shirk the very difficult question of the relation between the + bodily and the mental side of behaviour.</p> + + <p>(<i>a</i>) Some great thinkers have taught that the mind is a reality by + itself which plays upon the instrument of the brain and body. As the + instrument gets worn and dusty the playing is not so good as it once was, but + the player is still himself. This theory of the essential independence of the + mind is a very beautiful one, but those who like it when applied to + themselves are not always so fond of it when it is applied to other + intelligent creatures like rooks and elephants. It may be, however, that + there is a gradual emancipation of the mind which has gone furthest in Man + and is still progressing.</p> + + <p>(<i>b</i>) Some other thinkers have taught that the inner life of thought + and feeling is only, as it were, an echo of the really important + activity—that of the body and brain. Ideas are just foam-bells on the + hurrying streams and circling eddies of matter and energy that make up our + physiological life. To most of us this theory is impossible, because we are + quite sure that ideas and feelings and purposes, which cannot be translated + into matter and motion, are the clearest realities in our experience, and + that they count for good and ill all through our life. They are more than the + tickings of the clock; they make the wheels go round.<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span></p> + + <p>(<i>c</i>) There are others who think that the most scientific position is + simply to recognise both the bodily and the mental activities as equally + important, and so closely interwoven that they cannot be separated. Perhaps + they are just the outer and the inner aspects of one reality—the life + of the creature. Perhaps they are like the concave and convex curves of a + dome, like the two sides of a shield. Perhaps the life of the organism is + always a unity, at one time appearing more conspicuously as Mind-body, at + another time as Body-mind. The most important fact is that neither aspect can + be left out. By no jugglery with words can we get Mind out of Matter and + Motion. And since we are in ourselves quite sure of our Mind, we are probably + safe in saying that in the beginning was Mind. This is in accordance with + Aristotle's saying that there is nothing in the end which was not also in + kind present in the beginning—whatever we mean by beginning.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">In conclusion</h4> + + <p>What has led to the truly wonderful result which we admire in a creature + like a dog or an otter, a horse or a hare? In general, we may say, just two + main processes—(1) testing all things, and (2) holding fast that which + is good. New departures occur and these are tested for what they are worth. + Idiosyncrasies crop up and they are sifted. New cards come mysteriously from + within into the creature's hand, and they are played—for better or + for worse. So by new variations and their sifting, by experimenting and + enregistering the results, the mind has gradually evolved and will continue + to evolve.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg + 243]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg + 244]</a></span></p> + + <p> </p> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg + 245]</a></span></p> + <hr /> + + <h2>VIII</h2> + + <h2>FOUNDATIONS OF THE UNIVERSE</h2> + <hr /> + + <h3>THE WORLD OF ATOMS</h3> + + <p>Most people have heard of the oriental race which puzzled over the + foundations of the universe, and decided that it must be supported on the + back of a giant elephant. But the elephant? They put it on the back of a + monstrous tortoise, and there they let the matter end. If every animal in + nature had been called upon, they would have been no nearer a foundation. + Most ancient peoples, indeed, made no effort to find a foundation. The + universe was a very compact little structure, mainly composed of the earth + and the great canopy over the earth which they called the sky. They left it, + as a whole, floating in nothing. And in this the ancients were wiser than + they knew. Things do not fall down unless they are pulled down by that + mysterious force which we call gravitation. The earth, it is true, is pulled + by the sun, and would fall into it; but the earth escapes this fiery fate by + circulating at great speed round the sun. The stars pull each other; but it + has already been explained that they meet this by travelling rapidly in + gigantic orbits. Yet we do, in a new sense of the word, need foundations of + the universe. Our mind craves for some explanation of the matter out of which + the universe is made. For this explanation we turn to modern Physics and + Chemistry. Both these sciences study, under different aspects, matter and + energy; and between them they have put together a conception of the + fundamental nature of things which marks an epoch in the history of human + thought.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg + 246]</a></span></p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 1</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Bricks of the Cosmos</h4> + + <p>More than two thousand years ago the first men of science, the Greeks of + the cities of Asia Minor, speculated on the nature of matter. You can grind a + piece of stone into dust. You can divide a spoonful of water into as many + drops as you like. Apparently you can go on dividing as long as you have got + apparatus fine enough for the work. But there must be a limit, these Greeks + said, and so they supposed that all matter was ultimately composed of minute + particles which were indivisible. That is the meaning of the Greek word + "atom."</p> + + <p>Like so many other ideas of these brilliant early Greek thinkers, the atom + was a sound conception. We know to-day that matter is composed of atoms. But + science was then so young that the way in which the Greeks applied the idea + was not very profound. A liquid or a gas, they said, consisted of round, + smooth atoms, which would not cling together. Then there were atoms with + rough surfaces, "hooky" surfaces, and these stuck together and + formed solids. The atoms of iron or marble, for instance, were so very hooky + that, once they got together, a strong man could not tear them apart. The + Greeks thought that the explanation of the universe was that an infinite + number of these atoms had been moving and mixing in an infinite space during + an infinite time, and had at last hit by chance on the particular combination + which is our universe.</p> + + <p>This was too simple and superficial. The idea of atoms was cast aside, + only to be advanced again in various ways. It was the famous Manchester + chemist, John Dalton, who restored it in the early years of the nineteenth + century. He first definitely formulated the atomic theory as a scientific + hypothesis. The whole physical and chemical science of that century was now + based upon the atom, and it is quite a mistake to suppose that recent + discoveries have discredited "atomism." An atom is the smallest + particle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg + 247]</a></span> of a chemical element. No one has ever seen an atom. Even the + wonderful new microscope which has just been invented cannot possibly show us + particles of matter which are a million times smaller than the breadth of a + hair; for that is the size of atoms. We can weigh them and measure them, + though they are invisible, and we know that all matter is composed of them. + It is a new discovery that atoms are not indivisible. They consist themselves + of still smaller particles, as we shall see. But the atoms exist all the + same, and we may still say that they are the bricks of which the material + universe is built.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image388a" id="image388a"></a> <a href= + "images/image388a.jpg"><img src="images/image388a_sm.jpg" alt= + "SIR ERNEST RUTHERFORD" title="SIR ERNEST RUTHERFORD" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Elliott & Fry.</i></p> + + <p>SIR ERNEST RUTHERFORD</p> + + <p class="wide">One of our most eminent physicists who has succeeded Sir J. + J. Thomson as Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of + Cambridge. The modern theory of the structure of the atom is largely due to + him.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image388b" id="image388b"></a> <a href= + "images/image388b.jpg"><img src="images/image388b_sm.jpg" alt= + "J. CLERK-MAXWELL" title="J. CLERK-MAXWELL" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Rischgitz Collection.</i></p> + + <p>J. CLERK-MAXWELL</p> + + <p class="wide">One of the greatest scientific men who have ever lived. He + revolutionised physics with his electro-magnetic theory of light, and + practically all modern researches have had their origin, direct or + indirect, in his work. Together with Faraday he constitutes one of the main + scientific glories of the nineteenth century.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image389a" id="image389a"></a> <a href= + "images/image389a.jpg"><img src="images/image389a_sm.jpg" alt= + "SIR WILLIAM CROOKES" title="SIR WILLIAM CROOKES" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Ernest H. Mills.</i></p> + + <p>SIR WILLIAM CROOKES</p> + + <p class="wide">Sir William Crookes experimented on the electric discharge + in vacuum tubes and described the phenomena as a "fourth state of + matter." He was actually observing the flight of electrons, but he did + not fully appreciate the nature of his experiments.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image389b" id="image389b"></a> <a href= + "images/image389b.jpg"><img src="images/image389b_sm.jpg" alt= + "PROFESSOR SIR W. H. BRAGG" title="PROFESSOR SIR W. H. BRAGG" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Photo Press</i></p> + + <p>PROFESSOR SIR W. H. BRAGG</p> + + <p>One of the most distinguished physicists of the present day.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>But if we had some magical glass by means of which we could see into the + structure of material things, we should not see the atoms put evenly together + as bricks are in a wall. As a rule, two or more atoms first come together to + form a larger particle, which we call a "molecule." Single atoms do + not, as a rule, exist apart from other atoms; if a molecule is broken up, the + individual atoms seek to unite with other atoms of another kind or amongst + themselves. For example, three atoms of oxygen form what we call ozone; two + atoms of hydrogen uniting with one atom of oxygen form water. It is molecules + that form the mass of matter; a molecule, as it has been expressed, is a + little building of which atoms are the bricks.</p> + + <p>In this way we get a useful first view of the material things we handle. + In a liquid the molecules of the liquid cling together loosely. They remain + together as a body, but they roll over and away from each other. There is + "cohesion" between them, but it is less powerful than in a solid. + Put some water in a kettle over the lighted gas, and presently the tiny + molecules of water will rush through the spout in a cloud of steam and + scatter over the kitchen. The heat has broken their bond of association and + turned the water into something like a gas; though we know that the particles + will come together again, as they cool, and form once more drops of + water.</p> + + <p>In a gas the molecules have full individual liberty. They<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span> are in a state + of violent movement, and they form no union with each other. If we want to + force them to enter into the loose sort of association which molecules have + in a liquid, we have to slow down their individual movements by applying + severe cold. That is how a modern man of science liquefies gases. No power + that we have will liquefy air at its ordinary temperature. In <i>very</i> + severe cold, on the other hand, the air will spontaneously become liquid. + Some day, when the fires of the sun have sunk very low, the temperature of + the earth will be less than -200° C.: that is to say, more than two hundred + degrees Centigrade below freezing-point. It will sink to the temperature of + the moon. Our atmosphere will then be an ocean of liquid air, 35 feet deep, + lying upon the solidly frozen masses of our water-oceans.</p> + + <p>In a solid the molecules cling firmly to each other. We need a force equal + to twenty-five tons to tear asunder the molecules in a bar of iron an inch + thick. Yet the structure is not "solid" in the popular sense of the + word. If you put a piece of solid gold in a little pool of mercury, the gold + will take in the mercury <i>between</i> its molecules, as if it were porous + like a sponge. The hardest solid is more like a lattice-work than what we + usually mean by "solid"; though the molecules are not fixed, like + the bars of a lattice-work, but are in violent motion; they vibrate about + equilibrium positions. If we could see right into the heart of a bit of the + hardest steel, we should see billions of separate molecules, at some distance + from each other, all moving rapidly to and fro.</p> + + <p>This molecular movement can, in a measure, be made visible. It was noticed + by a microscopist named Brown that, in a solution containing very fine + suspended particles, the particles were in constant movement. Under a + powerful microscope these particles are seen to be violently agitated; they + are each independently darting hither and thither somewhat like a lot of + billiard balls on a billiard table, colliding and bounding about in all + directions. Thousands of times a second these encounters occur, and this + lively commotion is always going on, this incessant colliding of<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span> one molecule + with another is the normal condition of affairs; not one of them is at rest. + The reason for this has been worked out, and it is now known that these + particles move about because they are being incessantly bombarded by the + molecules of the liquid. The molecules cannot, of course, be seen, but the + fact of their incessant movement is revealed to the eye by the behaviour of + the visible suspended particles. This incessant movement in the world of + molecules is called the Brownian movement, and is a striking proof of the + reality of molecular motions.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 2</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Wonder-World of Atoms</h4> + + <p>The exploration of this wonder-world of atoms and molecules by the + physicists and chemists of to-day is one of the most impressive triumphs of + modern science. Quite apart from radium and electrons and other sensational + discoveries of recent years, the study of ordinary matter is hardly inferior, + either in interest or audacity, to the work of the astronomer. And there is + the same foundation in both cases—marvellous apparatus, and trains of + mathematical reasoning that would have astonished Euclid or Archimedes. + Extraordinary, therefore, as are some of the facts and figures we are now + going to give in connection with the minuteness of atoms and molecules, let + us bear in mind that we owe them to the most solid and severe processes of + human thought.</p> + + <p>Yet the principle can in most cases be made so clear that the reader will + not be asked to take much on trust. It is, for instance, a matter of common + knowledge that gold is soft enough to be beaten into gold leaf. It is a + matter of common sense, one hopes, that if you beat a measured cube of gold + into a leaf six inches square, the mathematician can tell the thickness of + that leaf without measuring it. As a matter of fact, a single grain of gold + has been beaten into a leaf seventy-five inches square. Now the mathematician + can easily find that when a single grain of gold is beaten out to that size, + the leaf must be 1/367,000 of an inch thick,<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span> or about a thousand times + thinner than the paper on which these words are printed; yet the leaf must be + several molecules thick.</p> + + <p>The finest gold leaf is, in fact, too thick for our purpose, and we turn + with a new interest to that toy of our boyhood the soap-bubble. If you + carefully examine one of these delicate films of soapy water, you notice + certain dark spots or patches on them. These are their thinnest parts, and by + two quite independent methods—one using electricity and the other + light—we have found that at these spots the bubble is less than the + three-millionth of an inch thick! But the molecules in the film cling + together so firmly that they must be at least twenty or thirty deep in the + thinnest part. A molecule, therefore, must be far less than the + three-millionth of an inch thick.</p> + + <p>We found next that a film of oil on the surface of water may be even + thinner than a soap-bubble. Professor Perrin, the great French authority on + atoms, got films of oil down to the fifty-millionth of an inch in thickness! + He poured a measured drop of oil upon water. Then he found the exact limits + of the area of the oil-sheet by blowing upon the water a fine powder which + spread to the edge of the film and clearly outlined it. The rest is safe and + simple calculation, as in the case of the beaten grain of gold. Now this film + of oil must have been at least two molecules deep, so a single molecule of + oil is considerably less than a hundred-millionth of an inch in diameter.</p> + + <p>Innumerable methods have been tried, and the result is always the same. A + single grain of indigo, for instance, will colour a ton of water. This + obviously means that the grain contains billions of molecules which spread + through the water. A grain of musk will scent a room—pour molecules + into every part of it—for several years, yet not lose one-millionth of + its mass in a year. There are a hundred ways of showing the minuteness of the + ultimate particles of matter, and some of these enable us to give definite + figures. On a careful comparison of the best methods we can say that the + average molecule of matter is less<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" + id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span> than the 1/125,000,000 of an inch in + diameter. In a single cubic centimetre of air—a globule about the size + of a small marble—there are thirty million trillion molecules. And + since the molecule is, as we saw, a group or cluster of atoms, the atom + itself is smaller. Atoms, for reasons which we shall see later, differ very + greatly from each other in size and weight. It is enough to say that some of + them are so small that it would take 400,000,000 of them, in a line, to cover + an inch of space; and that it takes at least a quintillion atoms of gold to + weigh a single gramme. Five million atoms of helium could be placed in a line + across the diameter of a full stop.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image394a" id="image394a"></a> <a href= + "images/image394a.jpg"><img src="images/image394a_sm.jpg" alt= + "An atom is the smallest particle of a chemical element." title= + "An atom is the smallest particle of a chemical element." /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p class="wide">An atom is the smallest particle of a chemical element. Two + or more atoms come together to form a molecule: thus molecules form the + mass of matter. A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of hydrogen and + one atom of oxygen. Molecules of different substances, therefore, are of + different sizes according to the number and kind of the particular atoms of + which they are composed. A starch molecule contains no less than 25,000 + atoms.</p> + + <p class="wide">Molecules, of course, are invisible. The above diagram + illustrates the <i>comparative</i> sizes of molecules.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image394b" id="image394b"></a> <a href= + "images/image394b.jpg"><img src="images/image394b_sm.jpg" alt= + "INCONCEIVABLE NUMBERS AND INCONCEIVABLY SMALL PARTICLES" title= + "INCONCEIVABLE NUMBERS AND INCONCEIVABLY SMALL PARTICLES" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>INCONCEIVABLE NUMBERS AND INCONCEIVABLY SMALL PARTICLES</p> + + <p class="wide">The molecules, which are inconceivably small, are, on the + other hand, so numerous that if one was able to place, end to end, all + those contained in, for example, a cubic centimetre of gas (less than a + fifteenth of a cubic inch), one would obtain a line capable of passing two + hundred times round the earth.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image394c" id="image394c"></a> <a href= + "images/image394c.jpg"><img src="images/image394c_sm.jpg" alt= + ">WHAT IS A MILLION?" title=">WHAT IS A MILLION?T" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>WHAT IS A MILLION?</p> + + <p class="wide">In dealing with the infinitely small, it is difficult to + apprehend the vast figures with which scientists confront us. A million is + one thousand thousand. We may realise what this implies if we consider that + a clock, beating seconds, takes approximately 278 hours (i.e. one week four + days fourteen hours) to tick one million times. A billion is one million + million. To tick a billion the clock would tick for over 31,735 years.</p> + + <p class="wide">(In France and America a thousand millions is called a + billion.)</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image395" id="image395"></a> <a href= + "images/image395.jpg"><img src="images/image395_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE BROWNIAN MOVEMENT" title="THE BROWNIAN MOVEMENT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE BROWNIAN MOVEMENT</p> + + <p class="wide">A diagram, constructed from actual observations, showing + the erratic paths pursued by very fine particles suspended in a liquid, + when bombarded by the molecules of the liquid. This movement is called the + Brownian movement, and it furnishes a striking illustration of the truth of + the theory that the molecules of a body are in a state of continual + motion.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h4 class="sect">The Energy of Atoms</h4> + + <p>And this is only the beginning of the wonders that were done with + "ordinary matter," quite apart from radium and its revelations, to + which we will come presently. Most people have heard of "atomic + energy," and the extraordinary things that might be accomplished if we + could harness this energy and turn it to human use. A deeper and more + wonderful source of this energy has been discovered in the last twenty years, + but it is well to realise that the atoms themselves have stupendous energy. + The atoms of matter are vibrating or gyrating with extraordinary vigour. The + piece of cold iron you hold in your hand, the bit of brick you pick up, or + the penny you take from your pocket is a colossal reservoir of energy, since + it consists of trillions of moving atoms. To realise the total energy, of + course, we should have to witness a transformation such as we do in atoms of + radio-active elements, about which we shall have something to say + presently.</p> + + <p>If we put a grain of indigo in a glass of water, or a grain of musk in a + perfectly still room, we soon realise that molecules travel. Similarly, the + fact that gases spread until they fill every "empty" available + space shows definitely that they consist of small particles travelling at + great speed. The physicist brings his refined methods to bear on these + things, and he measures the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id= + "Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span> energy and velocity of these infinitely minute + molecules. He tells us that molecules of oxygen, at the temperature of + melting ice, travel at the rate of about 500 yards a second—more than a + quarter of a mile a second. Molecules of hydrogen travel at four times that + speed, or three times the speed with which a bullet leaves a rifle. Each + molecule of the air, which seems so still in the house on a summer's day, + is really travelling faster than a rifle bullet does at the beginning of its + journey. It collides with another molecule every twenty-thousandth of an inch + of its journey. It is turned from its course 5,000,000,000 times in every + second by collisions. If we could stop the molecules of hydrogen gas, and + utilise their energy, as we utilise the energy of steam or the energy of the + water at Niagara, we should find enough in every gramme of gas (about + two-thousandths of a pound) to raise a third of a ton to a height of forty + inches.</p> + + <p>I have used for comparison the speed of a rifle bullet, and in an earlier + generation people would have thought it impossible even to estimate this. It + is, of course, easy. We put two screens in the path of the bullet, one near + the rifle and the other some distance away. We connect them electrically and + use a fine time-recording machine, and the bullet itself registers the time + it takes to travel from the first to the second screen.</p> + + <p>Now this is very simple and superficial work in comparison with the system + of exact and minute measurements which the physicist and chemist use. In one + of his interesting works Mr. Charles R. Gibson gives a photograph of two + exactly equal pieces of paper in the opposite pans of a fine balance. A + single word has been written in pencil on one of these papers, and that + little scraping of lead has been enough to bring down the scale! The + spectroscope will detect a quantity of matter four million times smaller even + than this; and the electroscope is a million times still more sensitive than + the spectroscope. We have a heat-measuring instrument, the bolometer, which + makes the best thermometer seem Early Victorian. It records the millionth of + a degree of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg + 253]</a></span> temperature. It is such instruments, multiplied by the score, + which enable us to do the fine work recorded in these pages.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image398" id="image398"></a> <a href= + "images/image398.jpg"><img src="images/image398_sm.jpg" alt="A SOAP BUBBLE" + title="A SOAP BUBBLE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Reproduced from "The Forces of Nature" (Messrs. + Macmillan).</i></p> + + <p>A SOAP BUBBLE</p> + + <p class="wide">The iridescent colours sometimes seen on a soap bubble, as + in the illustration, may also be seen in very fine sections of crystals, in + glass blown into extremely fine bulbs, on the wings of dragon-flies and the + surface of oily water. The different colours correspond to different + thicknesses of the surface. Part of the light which strikes these thin + coatings is reflected from the upper surface, but another part of the light + penetrates the transparent coating and is reflected from the lower surface. + It is the mixture of these two reflected rays, their + "interference" as it is called, which produces the colours + observed. The "black spots" on a soap bubble are the places where + the soapy film is thinnest. At the black spots the thickness of the bubble + is about the three-millionth part of an inch. If the whole bubble were as + thin as this it would be completely invisible.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 3</h3> + + <h3>THE DISCOVERY OF X-RAYS AND RADIUM</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Discovery of Sir Wm. Crookes</h4> + + <p>But these wonders of the atom are only a prelude to the more romantic and + far-reaching discoveries of the new physics—the wonders of the + electron. Another and the most important phase of our exploration of the + material universe opened with the discovery of radium in 1898.</p> + + <p>In the discovery of radio-active elements, a new property of matter was + discovered. What followed on the discovery of radium and of the X-rays we + shall see.</p> + + <p>As Sir Ernest Rutherford, one of our greatest authorities, recently said, + the new physics has dissipated the last doubt about the reality of atoms and + molecules. The closer examination of matter which we have been able to make + shows positively that it is composed of atoms. But we must not take the word + now in its original Greek meaning (an "indivisible" thing). The + atoms are not indivisible. They can be broken up. They are composed of still + smaller particles.</p> + + <p>The discovery that the atom was composed of smaller particles was the + welcome realisation of a dream that had haunted the imagination of the + nineteenth century. Chemists said that there were about eighty different + kinds of atoms—different kinds of matter—but no one was satisfied + with the multiplicity. Science is always aiming at simplicity and unity. It + may be that science has now taken a long step in the direction of explaining + the fundamental unity of all the matter. The chemist was unable to break up + these "elements" into something simpler, so he called their atoms + "indivisible" in that sense. But one man of science after another + expressed the hope that we would yet discover<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span> some fundamental matter of which + the various atoms were composed—<i>one primordial substance from which + all the varying forms of matter have been evolved or built up</i>. Prout + suggested this at the very beginning of the century, when atoms were + rediscovered by Dalton. Father Secchi, the famous Jesuit astronomer said that + all the atoms were probably evolved from ether; and this was a very favoured + speculation. Sir William Crookes talked of "prothyl" as the + fundamental substance. Others thought hydrogen was the stuff out of which all + the other atoms were composed.</p> + + <p>The work which finally resulted in the discovery of radium began with some + beautiful experiments of Professor (later Sir William) Crookes in the + eighties.</p> + + <p>It had been noticed in 1869 that a strange colouring was caused when an + electric charge was sent through a vacuum tube—the walls of the glass + tube began to glow with a greenish phosphorescence. A vacuum tube is one from + which nearly all the air has been pumped, although we can never completely + empty the tube. Crookes used such ingenious methods that he reduced the gas + in his tubes until it was twenty million times thinner than the atmosphere. + He then sent an electric discharge through, and got very remarkable results. + The negative pole of the electric current (the "cathode") <i>gave + off rays which faintly lit the molecules of the thin gas in the tube</i>, and + caused a pretty fluorescence on the glass walls of the tube. What were these + Rays? Crookes at first thought they corresponded to a "new or fourth + state of matter." Hitherto we had only been familiar with matter in the + three conditions of solid, liquid, and gaseous.</p> + + <p>Now Crookes really had the great secret under his eyes. But about twenty + years elapsed before the true nature of these rays was finally and + independently established by various experiments. The experiments proved + "that the rays consisted of a stream of negatively charged particles + travelling with enormous velocities from 10,000 to 100,000 miles a second. In + addition, it was found<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id= + "Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span> that the mass of each particle was exceedingly + small, about 1/1800 of the mass of a hydrogen atom, the lightest atom known + to science." <i>These particles or electrons, as they are now called, + were being liberated from the atom.</i> The atoms of matter were breaking + down in Crookes tubes. At that time, however, it was premature to think of + such a thing, and Crookes preferred to say that the particles of the gas were + electrified and hurled against the walls of the tube. He said that it was + ordinary matter in a new state—"radiant matter." Another + distinguished man of science, Lenard, found that, when he fitted a little + plate of aluminum in the glass wall of the tube, the mysterious rays passed + through this as if it were a window. They must be waves in the ether, he + said.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image402a" id="image402a"></a> <a href= + "images/image402a.jpg"><img src="images/image402a_sm.jpg" alt= + "DETECTING A SMALL QUANTITY OF MATTER" title= + "DETECTING A SMALL QUANTITY OF MATTER" /></a> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a href="images/image402a1.jpg"><img src="images/image402a1_sm.jpg" alt= + "DETECTING A SMALL QUANTITY OF MATTER" title= + "DETECTING A SMALL QUANTITY OF MATTER" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>From "Scientific Ideas of To-day</i>."</p> + + <p>DETECTING A SMALL QUANTITY OF MATTER</p> + + <p class="wide">In the left-hand photograph the two pieces of paper exactly + balance. The balance used is very sensitive, and when the single word + "atoms" has been written with a lead pencil upon one of the + papers the additional weight is sufficient to depress one of the pans as + shown in the second photograph. The spectroscope will detect less than + one-millionth of the matter contained in the word pencilled above.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image402b" id="image402b"></a> <a href= + "images/image402b.jpg"><img src="images/image402b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THIS X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH IS THAT OF A HAND OF A SOLDIER WOUNDED IN THE GREAT WAR" + title= + "THIS X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH IS THAT OF A HAND OF A SOLDIER WOUNDED IN THE GREAT WAR" /> + </a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Reproduced by permission of X-Rays Ltd.</i></p> + + <p>THIS X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH IS THAT OF A HAND OF A SOLDIER WOUNDED IN THE + GREAT WAR</p> + + <p>Note the pieces of shrapnel which are revealed.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image402c" id="image402c"></a> <a href= + "images/image402c.jpg"><img src="images/image402c_sm.jpg" alt= + "AN X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH OF A GOLF BALL, REVEALING AN IMPERFECT CORE" title= + "AN X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH OF A GOLF BALL, REVEALING AN IMPERFECT CORE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: National Physical Laboratory.</i></p> + + <p>AN X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH OF A GOLF BALL, REVEALING AN IMPERFECT CORE</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image403" id="image403"></a> <a href= + "images/image403.jpg"><img src="images/image403_sm.jpg" alt= + "A WONDERFUL X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH" title="A WONDERFUL X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Reproduced by permission of X-Rays Ltd.</i></p> + + <p>A WONDERFUL X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH</p> + + <p class="wide">Note the fine details revealed, down to the metal tags of + the bootlace and the nails in the heel of the boot.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 4</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Discovery of X-rays</h4> + + <p>So the story went on from year to year. We shall see in a moment to what + it led. Meanwhile the next great step was when, in 1895, Röntgen discovered + the X-rays, which are now known to everybody. He was following up the work of + Lenard, and he one day covered a "Crookes tube" with some black + stuff. To his astonishment a prepared chemical screen which was near the tube + began to glow. <i>The rays had gone through the black stuff; and on further + experiment he found that they would go through stone, living flesh, and all + sorts of "opaque" substances.</i> In a short time the world was + astonished to learn that we could photograph the skeleton in a living + man's body, locate a penny in the interior of a child that had swallowed + one, or take an impression of a coin through a slab of stone.</p> + + <p>And what are these X-rays? They are not a form of matter; they are not + material particles. X-rays were found to be a new variety of <i>light</i> + with a remarkable power of penetration. We have seen what the spectroscope + reveals about the varying nature of light wave-lengths. Light-waves are set + up by vibrations in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg + 256]</a></span> ether,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href= + "#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> and, as we shall see, these ether + disturbances are all of the same kind; they only differ as regards + wave-lengths. The X-rays which Röntgen discovered, then, are light, but a + variety of light previously unknown to us; they are ether waves of very short + length. X-rays have proved of great value in many directions, as all the + world knows, but that we need not discuss at this point. Let us see what + followed Röntgen's discovery.</p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href= + "#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> We refer throughout to + the "ether" because, although modern theories dispense largely + with this conception, the theories of physics are so inextricably interwoven + with it that it is necessary, in an elementary exposition, to assume its + existence. The modern view will be explained later in the article on + Einstein's Theory.</p> + </div> + + <p>While the world wondered at these marvels, the men of science were eagerly + following up the new clue to the mystery of matter which was exercising the + mind of Crookes and other investigators. In 1896 Becquerel brought us to the + threshold of the great discovery.</p> + + <p>Certain substances are phosphorescent—they become luminous after + they have been exposed to sunlight for some time, and Becquerel was trying to + find if any of these substances give rise to X-rays. One day he chose a salt + of the metal uranium. He was going to see if, after exposing it to sunlight, + he could photograph a cross with it through an opaque substance. He wrapped + it up and laid it aside, to wait for the sun, but he found the uranium salt + did not wait for the sun. Some strong radiation from it went through the + opaque covering and made an impression of the cross upon the plate + underneath. Light or darkness was immaterial. The mysterious rays streamed + night and day from the salt. This was something new. Here was a substance + which appeared to be producing X-rays; the rays emitted by uranium would + penetrate the same opaque substances as the X-rays discovered by Röntgen.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Discovery of Radium</h4> + + <p>Now, at the same time as many other investigators, Professor Curie and his + Polish wife took up the search. They decided to<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span> find out whether the emission + came from the uranium itself or <i>from something associated with it</i>, and + for this purpose they made a chemical analysis of great quantities of + minerals. They found a certain kind of pitchblende which was very active, and + they analysed tons of it, concentrating always on the radiant element in it. + After a time, as they successively worked out the non-radiant matter, the + stuff began to glow. In the end they extracted from eight tons of pitchblende + about half a teaspoonful of something <i>that was a million times more + radiant than uranium</i>. There was only one name for it—Radium.</p> + + <p>That was the starting-point of the new development of physics and + chemistry. From every laboratory in the world came a cry for radium salts (as + pure radium was too precious), and hundreds of brilliant workers fastened on + the new element. The inquiry was broadened, and, as year followed year, one + substance after another was found to possess the power of emitting rays, that + is, to be radio-active. We know to-day that nearly every form of matter can + be stimulated to radio-activity; which, as we shall see, means that <i>its + atoms break up into smaller and wonderfully energetic particles which we call + "electrons."</i> This discovery of electrons has brought about a + complete change in our ideas in many directions.</p> + + <p>So, instead of atoms being indivisible, they are actually dividing + themselves, spontaneously, and giving off throughout the universe tiny + fragments of their substance. We shall explain presently what was later + discovered about the electron; meanwhile we can say that every glowing metal + is pouring out a stream of these electrons. Every arc-lamp is discharging + them. Every clap of thunder means a shower of them. Every star is flooding + space with them. We are witnessing the spontaneous breaking up of atoms, + atoms which had been thought to be indivisible. The sun not only pours out + streams of electrons from its own atoms, but the ultra-violet light which it + sends to the earth is one of the most powerful agencies for releasing + electrons from the surface-atoms<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id= + "Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span> of matter on the earth. It is fortunate for us + that our atmosphere absorbs most of this ultra-violet or invisible light of + the sun—a kind of light which will be explained presently. It has been + suggested that, if we received the full flood of it from the sun, our metals + would disintegrate under its influence and this "steel + civilisation" of ours would be impossible!</p> + + <p>But we are here anticipating, we are going beyond radium to the wonderful + discoveries which were made by the chemists and physicists of the world who + concentrated upon it. The work of Professor and Mme. Curie was merely the + final clue to guide the great search. How it was followed up, how we + penetrated into the very heart of the minute atom and discovered new and + portentous mines of energy, and how we were able to understand, not only + matter, but electricity and light, will be told in the next chapter.</p> + + <h3>THE DISCOVERY OF THE ELECTRON AND HOW IT EFFECTED A REVOLUTION IN + IDEAS</h3> + + <p>What the discovery of radium implied was only gradually realised. Radium + captivated the imagination of the world; it was a boon to medicine, but to + the man of science it was at first a most puzzling and most attractive + phenomenon. It was felt that some great secret of nature was dimly unveiled + in its wonderful manifestations, and there now concentrated upon it as gifted + a body of men—conspicuous amongst them Sir J. J. Thomson, Sir Ernest + Rutherford, Sir W. Ramsay, and Professor Soddy—as any age could boast, + with an apparatus of research as far beyond that of any other age as the + <i>Aquitania</i> is beyond a Roman galley. Within five years the secret was + fairly mastered. Not only were all kinds of matter reduced to a common basis, + but the forces of the universe were brought into a unity and understood as + they had never been understood before.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image408a" id="image408a"></a> <a href= + "images/image408a.jpg"><img src="images/image408a_sm.jpg" alt= + "ELECTRIC DISCHARGE IN A VACUUM TUBE" title= + "ELECTRIC DISCHARGE IN A VACUUM TUBE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>ELECTRIC DISCHARGE IN A VACUUM TUBE</p> + + <p class="wide">The two ends, marked + and -, of a tube from which nearly + all air has been exhausted are connected to electric terminals, thus + producing an electric discharge in the vacuum tube. This discharge travels + straight along the tube, as in the upper diagram. When a magnetic field is + applied, however, the rays are deflected, as shown in the lower diagram. + The similarity of the behaviour of the electric discharge with the radium + rays (see diagram of deflection of radium rays, <i>post</i>) shows that the + two phenomena may be identified. It was by this means that the + characteristics of electrons were first discovered.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image408b" id="image408b"></a> <a href= + "images/image408b.jpg"><img src="images/image408b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE RELATIVE SIZES OF ATOMS AND ELECTRONS" title= + "THE RELATIVE SIZES OF ATOMS AND ELECTRONS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE RELATIVE SIZES OF ATOMS AND ELECTRONS</p> + + <p class="wide">An atom is far too small to be seen. In a bubble of + hydrogen gas no larger than the letter "O" there are billions of + atoms, whilst an electron is more than a thousand times smaller than the + smallest atom. How their size is ascertained is described in the text. In + this diagram a bubble of gas is magnified to the size of the world. + Adopting this scale, <i>each atom</i> in the bubble would then be as large + as a tennis ball.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image408c" id="image408c"></a> <a href= + "images/image408c.jpg"><img src="images/image408c_sm.jpg" alt= + "IF AN ATOM WERE MAGNIFIED TO THE SIZE OF ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL" title= + "IF AN ATOM WERE MAGNIFIED TO THE SIZE OF ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>IF AN ATOM WERE MAGNIFIED TO THE SIZE OF ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL, EACH + ELECTRON IN THE ATOM (AS REPRESENTED BY THE CATHEDRAL) WOULD THEN BE ABOUT + THE SIZE OF A SMALL BULLET</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image409" id="image409"></a> <a href= + "images/image409.jpg"><img src="images/image409_sm.jpg" alt= + "ELECTRONS STREAMING FROM THE SUN TO THE EARTH" title= + "ELECTRONS STREAMING FROM THE SUN TO THE EARTH" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>ELECTRONS STREAMING FROM THE SUN TO THE EARTH</p> + + <p class="wide">There are strong reasons for supposing that sun-spots are + huge electronic cyclones. The sun is constantly pouring out vast streams of + electrons into space. Many of these streams encounter the earth, giving + rise to various electrical phenomena.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg + 259]</a></span></p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 5</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Discovery of the Electron</h4> + + <p>Physicists did not take long to discover that the radiation from radium + was very like the radiation in a "Crookes tube." It was quickly + recognised, moreover, that both in the tube and in radium (and other metals) + the atoms of matter were somehow breaking down.</p> + + <p>However, the first step was to recognise that there were three distinct + and different rays that were given off by such metals as radium and uranium. + Sir Ernest Rutherford christened them, after the first three letters of the + Greek alphabet, the Alpha, the Beta, and Gamma rays. We are concerned chiefly + with the second group and purpose here to deal with that group only.<a name= + "FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class= + "fnanchor">[3]</a></p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href= + "#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> The "Alpha + rays" were presently recognised as atoms of helium gas, shot out at the + rate of 12,000 miles a second.</p> + + <p>The "Gamma rays" are <i>waves</i>, like the X-rays, not + material particles. They appear to be a type of X-rays. They possess the + remarkable power of penetrating opaque substances; they will pass through a + foot of solid iron, for example.</p> + </div> + + <p>The "Beta rays," as they were at first called, have proved to be + one of the most interesting discoveries that science ever made. They proved + what Crookes had surmised about the radiations he discovered in his vacuum + tube. But it was <i>not</i> a fourth state of matter that had been found, but + a new <i>property</i> of matter, a property common to all atoms of matter. + The Beta rays were later christened Electrons. They are particles of + disembodied electricity, here spontaneously liberated from the atoms of + matter: only when the electron was isolated from the atom was it recognised + for the first time as a separate entity. Electrons, therefore, are a + constituent of the atoms of matter, and we have discovered that they can be + released from the atom by a variety of agencies. Electrons are to be found + everywhere, forming part of every atom.</p> + + <p>"An electron," Sir William Bragg says, "can only maintain a + separate existence if it is travelling at an immense rate, from one + three-hundredth of the velocity of light upwards, that is to<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span> say, at least + 600 <i>miles a second, or thereabouts</i>. Otherwise the electron sticks to + the first atom it meets." These amazing particles may travel with the + enormous velocity of from 10,000 to more than 100,000 miles a second. It was + first learned that they are of an electrical nature, because they are bent + out of their normal path if a magnet is brought near them. And this fact led + to a further discovery: to one of those sensational estimates which the + general public is apt to believe to be founded on the most abstruse + speculations. The physicist set up a little chemical screen for the + "Beta rays" to hit, and he so arranged his tube that only a narrow + sheaf of the rays poured on to the screen. He then drew this sheaf of rays + out of its course with a magnet, and he accurately measured the shift of the + luminous spot on the screen where the rays impinged on it. But when he knows + the exact intensity of his magnetic field—which he can control as he + likes—and the amount of deviation it causes, and the mass of the moving + particles, he can tell the speed of the moving particles which he thus + diverts. These particles were being hurled out of the atoms of radium, or + from the negative pole in a vacuum tube, at a speed which, in good + conditions, reached nearly the velocity of light, i.e. nearly 186,000 miles a + second.</p> + + <p>Their speed has, of course, been confirmed by numbers of experiments; and + another series of experiments enabled physicists to determine the size of the + particles. Only one of these need be described, to give the reader an idea + how men of science arrived at their more startling results.</p> + + <p>Fog, as most people know, is thick in our great cities because the + water-vapour gathers on the particles of dust and smoke that are in the + atmosphere. This fact was used as the basis of some beautiful experiments. + Artificial fogs were created in little glass tubes, by introducing dust, in + various proportions, for supersaturated vapour to gather on. In the end it + was possible to cause tiny drops of rain, each with a particle of dust at its + core, to fall upon a silver mirror and be counted. It was a method of + counting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg + 261]</a></span> the quite invisible particles of dust in the tube; and the + method was now successfully applied to the new rays. Yet another method was + to direct a slender stream of the particles upon a chemical screen. The + screen glowed under the cannonade of particles, and a powerful lens resolved + the glow into distinct sparks, which could be counted.</p> + + <p>In short, a series of the most remarkable and beautiful experiments, + checked in all the great laboratories of the world, settled the nature of + these so-called rays. They were streams of particles more than a thousand + times smaller than the smallest known atom. The mass of each particle is, + according to the latest and finest measurements 1/1845 of that of an atom of + hydrogen. The physicist has not been able to find any character except + electricity in them, and the name "electrons" has been generally + adopted.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Key to many Mysteries</h4> + + <p>The Electron is an atom, of disembodied electricity; it occupies an + exceedingly small volume, and its "mass" is entirely electrical. + These electrons are the key to half the mysteries of matter. Electrons in + rapid motion, as we shall see, explain what we mean by an "electric + current," not so long ago regarded as one of the most mysterious + manifestations in nature.</p> + + <p>"What a wonder, then, have we here!" says Professor R. K. + Duncan. "An innocent-looking little pinch of salt and yet possessed of + special properties utterly beyond even the fanciful imaginings of men of past + time; for nowhere do we find in the records of thought even the hint of the + possibility of things which we now regard as established fact. This pinch of + salt projects from its surface bodies [i.e. electrons] possessing the + inconceivable velocity of over 100,000 miles a second, a velocity sufficient + to carry them, if unimpeded, five times around the earth in a second, and + possessing with this velocity, masses a thousand times smaller than the + smallest atom known to science. Furthermore,<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span> they are charged with negative + electricity; they pass straight through bodies considered opaque with a + sublime indifference to the properties of the body, with the exception of its + mere density; they cause bodies which they strike to shine out in the dark; + they affect a photographic plate; they render the air a conductor of + electricity; they cause clouds in moist air; they cause chemical action and + have a peculiar physiological action. Who, to-day, shall predict the ultimate + service to humanity of the beta-rays from radium!"</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 6</h3> + + <h3>THE ELECTRON THEORY, OR THE NEW VIEW OF MATTER</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Structure of the Atom</h4> + + <p>There is general agreement amongst all chemists, physicists, and + mathematicians upon the conclusions which we have so far given. We know that + the atoms of matter are constantly—either spontaneously or under + stimulation—giving off electrons, or breaking up into electrons; and + they therefore contain electrons. Thus we have now complete proof of the + independent existence of atoms and also of electrons.</p> + + <p>When, however, the man of science tries to tell us <i>how</i> electrons + compose atoms, he passes from facts to speculation, and very difficult + speculation. Take the letter "o" as it is printed on this page. In + a little bubble of hydrogen gas no larger than that letter there are + <i>trillions</i> of atoms; and they are not packed together, but are + circulating as freely as dancers in a ball-room. We are asking the physicist + to take one of these minute atoms and tell us how the still smaller electrons + are arranged in it. Naturally he can only make mental pictures, guesses or + hypotheses, which he tries to fit to the facts, and discards when they will + <i>not</i> fit.</p> + + <p>At present, after nearly twenty years of critical discussion, there are + two chief theories of the structure of the atom. At first<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span> Sir J. J. + Thomson imagined the electrons circulating in shells (like the layers of an + onion) round the nucleus of the atom. This did not suit, and Sir E. + Rutherford and others worked out a theory that the electrons circulated round + a nucleus rather like the planets of our solar system revolving round the + central sun. Is there a nucleus, then, round which the electrons revolve? The + electron, as we saw, is a disembodied atom of electricity; we should say, of + "negative" electricity. Let us picture these electrons all moving + round in orbits with great velocity. Now it is suggested that there is a + nucleus of "positive" electricity attracting or pulling the + revolving electrons to it, and so forming an equilibrium, otherwise the + electrons would fly off in all directions. This nucleus has been recently + named the proton. We have thus two electricities in the atom: the positive = + the nucleus; the negative = the electron. Of recent years Dr. Langmuir has + put out a theory that the electrons do not <i>revolve round</i> the nucleus, + but remain in a state of violent agitation of some sort at fixed distances + from the nucleus.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image414a" id="image414a"></a> <a href= + "images/image414a.jpg"><img src="images/image414a_sm.jpg" alt= + "PROFESSOR SIR J. J. THOMSON" title="PROFESSOR SIR J. J. THOMSON" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>PROFESSOR SIR J. J. THOMSON</p> + + <p class="wide">Experimental discoverer of the electronic constitution of + matter, in the Cavendish Physical Laboratory, Cambridge. A great + investigator, noted for the imaginative range of his hypotheses and his + fertility in experimental devices.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image414b" id="image414b"></a> <a href= + "images/image414b.jpg"><img src="images/image414b_sm.jpg" alt= + "ELECTRONS PRODUCED BY PASSAGE OF X-RAYS THROUGH AIR" title= + "ELECTRONS PRODUCED BY PASSAGE OF X-RAYS THROUGH AIR" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>From the Smithsonian Report</i>, 1915.</p> + + <p>ELECTRONS PRODUCED BY PASSAGE OF X-RAYS THROUGH AIR</p> + + <p class="wide">A photograph clearly showing that electrons are definite + entities. As electrons leave atoms they may traverse matter or pass through + the air in a straight path The illustration shows the tortuous path of + electrons resulting from collision with atoms.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image415a" id="image415a"></a> <a href= + "images/image415a.jpg"><img src="images/image415a_sm.jpg" alt= + "MAGNETIC DEFLECTION OF RADIUM RAYS" title= + "MAGNETIC DEFLECTION OF RADIUM RAYS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>MAGNETIC DEFLECTION OF RADIUM RAYS</p> + + <p class="wide">The radium rays are made to strike a screen, producing + visible spots of light. When a magnetic field is applied the rays are seen + to be deflected, as in the diagram. This can only happen if the rays carry + an electric charge, and it was by experiments of this kind that we obtained + our knowledge respecting the electric charges carried by radium rays.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image415b" id="image415b"></a> <a href= + "images/image415b.jpg"><img src="images/image415b_sm.jpg" alt= + "PROFESSOR R. A. MILLIKAN'S APPARATUS FOR COUNTING ELECTRONS" title= + "PROFESSOR R. A. MILLIKAN'S APPARATUS FOR COUNTING ELECTRONS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Reproduced by permission of "Scientific American."</i></p> + + <p>PROFESSOR R. A. MILLIKAN'S APPARATUS FOR COUNTING ELECTRONS</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>But we will confine ourselves here to the facts, and leave the contending + theories to scientific men. It is now pretty generally accepted that an atom + of matter consists of a number of electrons, or charges of negative + electricity, held together by a charge of positive electricity. It is not + disputed that these electrons are in a state of violent motion or strain, and + that therefore a vast energy is locked up in the atoms of matter. To that we + will return later. Here, rather, we will notice another remarkable discovery + which helps us to understand the nature of matter.</p> + + <p>A brilliant young man of science who was killed in the war, Mr. Moseley, + some years ago showed that, when the atoms of different substances are + arranged in order of their weight, <i>they are also arranged in the order of + increasing complexity of structure</i>. That is to say, the heavier the atom, + the more electrons it contains. There is a gradual building up of atoms + containing more and more electrons from the lightest atom to the + heaviest.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg + 264]</a></span> Here it is enough to say that as he took element after + element, from the lightest (hydrogen) to the heaviest (uranium) he found a + strangely regular relation between them. If hydrogen were represented by the + figure one, helium by two, lithium three, and so on up to uranium, then + uranium should have the figure ninety-two. This makes it probable that there + are in nature ninety-two elements—we have found eighty-seven—and + that the number Mr. Moseley found is the number of electrons in the atom of + each element; that is to say, the number is arranged in order of the atomic + numbers of the various elements.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 7</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The New View of Matter</h4> + + <p>Up to the point we have reached, then, we see what the new view of Matter + is. Every atom of matter, of whatever kind throughout the whole universe, is + built up of electrons in conjunction with a nucleus. From the smallest atom + of all—the atom of hydrogen—which consists of one electron, + rotating round a positively charged nucleus, to a heavy complicated atom, + such as the atom of gold, constituted of many electrons and a complex + nucleus, <i>we have only to do with positive and negative units of + electricity</i>. The electron and its nucleus are particles of electricity. + All Matter, therefore, is nothing but a manifestation of electricity. The + atoms of matter, as we saw, combine and form molecules. Atoms and molecules + are the bricks out of which nature has built up everything; ourselves, the + earth, the stars, the whole universe.</p> + + <p>But more than bricks are required to build a house. There are other + fundamental existences, such as the various forms of energy, which give rise + to several complex problems. And we have also to remember, that there are + more than eighty distinct elements, each with its own definite type of atom. + We shall deal with energy later. Meanwhile it remains to be said that, + although we have discovered a great deal about the electron and the + constitution<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg + 265]</a></span> of matter, and that while the physicists of our own day seem + to see a possibility of explaining positive and negative electricity, the + nature of them both is unknown. There exists the theory that the particles of + positive and negative electricity, which make up the atoms of matter, are + points or centres of disturbances of some kind in a universal ether, and that + all the various forms of energy are, in some fundamental way, aspects of the + same primary entity which constitutes matter itself.</p> + + <p>But the discovery of the property of radio-activity has raised many other + interesting questions, besides that which we have just dealt with. In + radio-active elements, such as uranium for example, the element is breaking + down; in what we call radio-activity we have a manifestation of the + spontaneous change of elements. What is really taking place is a + transmutation of one element into another, from a heavier to a lighter. The + element uranium spontaneously becomes radium, and radium passes through a + number of other stages until it, in turn, becomes lead. Each descending + element is of lighter atomic weight than its predecessor. The changing + process, of course, is a very slow one. It may be that all matter is + radio-active, or can be made so. This raises the question whether all the + matter in the universe may not undergo disintegration.</p> + + <p>There is, however, another side of the question, which the discovery of + radio-activity has brought to light, and which has effected a revolution in + our views. We have seen that in radio-active substances the elements are + breaking down. Is there a process of building up at work? If the more + complicated atoms are breaking down into simpler forms, may there not be a + converse process—a building up from simpler elements to more + complicated elements? It is probably the case that both processes are at + work.</p> + + <p>There are some eighty-odd chemical elements on the earth to-day: are they + all the outcome of an inorganic evolution, element giving rise to element, + going back and back to some primeval<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" + id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span> stuff from which they were all originally + derived infinitely long ago? Is there an evolution in the inorganic world + which may be going on, parallel to that of the evolution of living things; or + is organic evolution a continuation of inorganic evolution? We have seen what + evidence there is of this inorganic evolution in the case of the stars. We + cannot go deeply into the matter here, nor has the time come for any direct + statement that can be based on the findings of modern investigation. Taking + it altogether the evidence is steadily accumulating, and there are + authorities who maintain that already the evidence of inorganic evolution is + convincing enough. The heavier atoms would appear to behave as though they + were evolved from the lighter. The more complex forms, it is supposed, have + <i>evolved</i> from the simpler forms. Moseley's discovery, to which + reference has been made, points to the conclusion that the elements are built + up one from another.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 8</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Other New Views</h4> + + <p>We may here refer to another new conception to which the discovery of + radio-activity has given rise. Lord Kelvin, who estimated the age of the + earth at twenty million years, reached this estimate by considering the earth + as a body which is gradually cooling down, "losing its primitive heat, + like a loaf taken from the oven, at a rate which could be calculated, and + that the heat radiated by the sun was due to contraction." Uranium and + radio-activity were not known to Kelvin, and their discovery has upset both + his arguments. Radio-active substances, which are perpetually giving out + heat, introduce an entirely new factor. We cannot now assume that the earth + is necessarily cooling down; it may even, for all we know, be getting hotter. + At the 1921 meeting of the British Association, Professor Rayleigh stated + that further knowledge had extended the probable period during which there + had been life on this globe to about one thousand<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span> million years, + and the total age of the earth to some small multiple of that. The earth, he + considers, is not cooling, but "contains an internal source of heat from + the disintegration of uranium in the outer crust." On the whole the + estimate obtained would seem to be in agreement with the geological + estimates. The question, of course, cannot, in the present state of our + knowledge, be settled within fixed limits that meet with general + agreement.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image420" id="image420"></a> <a href= + "images/image420.jpg"><img src="images/image420_sm.jpg" alt= + "MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE" title="MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE</p> + + <p class="wide">Radium, as explained in the text, emits rays—the + "Alpha," the "Beta" (electrons), and "Gamma" + rays. The above illustration indicates the method by which these invisible + rays are made visible, and enables the nature of the rays to be + investigated. To the right of the diagram is the instrument used, the + Spinthariscope, making the impact of radium rays visible on a screen.</p> + + <p class="wide">The radium rays shoot out in all directions; those that + fall on the screen make it glow with points of light. These points of light + are observed by the magnifying lens.</p> + + <p class="wide">A. Magnifying lens. B. A zinc sulphite screen. C. A needle + on whose point is placed a speck of radium.</p> + + <p class="wide">The lower picture shows the screen and needle + magnified..</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image421a" id="image421a"></a> <a href= + "images/image421a.jpg"><img src="images/image421a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE THEORY OF ELECTRONS" title="THE THEORY OF ELECTRONS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE THEORY OF ELECTRONS</p> + + <p class="wide">An atom of matter is composed of electrons. We picture an + atom as a sort of miniature solar system, the electrons (particles of + negative electricity) rotating round a central nucleus of positive + electricity, as described in the text. In the above pictorial + representation of an atom the whirling electrons are indicated in the outer + ring. Electrons move with incredible speed as they pass from one atom to + another.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image421b" id="image421b"></a> <a href= + "images/image421b.jpg"><img src="images/image421b_sm.jpg" alt= + "ARRANGEMENTS OF ATOMS IN A DIAMOND" title= + "ARRANGEMENTS OF ATOMS IN A DIAMOND" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>ARRANGEMENTS OF ATOMS IN A DIAMOND</p> + + <p class="wide">The above is a model (seen from two points of view) of the + arrangement of the atoms in a diamond. The arrangement is found by studying + the X-ray spectra of the diamond.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>As we have said, there are other fundamental existences which give rise to + more complex problems. The three great fundamental entities in the physical + universe are matter, ether, and energy; so far as we know, outside these + there is nothing. We have dealt with matter, there remain ether and energy. + We shall see that just as no particle of matter, however small, may be + created or destroyed, and just as there is no such thing as empty + space—ether pervades everything—so there is no such thing as + <i>rest</i>. Every particle that goes to make up our solid earth is in a + state of perpetual unremitting vibration; energy "is the universal + commodity on which all life depends." Separate and distinct as these + three fundamental entities—matter, ether, and energy—may appear, + it may be that, after all, they are only different and mysterious phases of + an essential "oneness" of the universe.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 9</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Future</h4> + + <p>Let us, in concluding this chapter, give just one illustration of the way + in which all this new knowledge may prove to be as valuable practically as it + is wonderful intellectually. We saw that electrons are shot out of atoms at a + speed that may approach 160,000 miles a second. Sir Oliver Lodge has written + recently that a seventieth of a grain of radium discharges, at a speed a + thousand times that of a rifle bullet, thirty million electrons a second. + Professor Le Bon has calculated that it would take 1,340,000 barrels of + powder to give a bullet the speed of one of these electrons. He shows that + the smallest French copper coin—smaller<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span> than a farthing—contains + an energy equal to eighty million horsepower. A few pounds of matter contain + more energy than we could extract from millions of tons of coal. Even in the + atoms of hydrogen at a temperature which we could produce in an electric + furnace the electrons spin round at a rate of nearly a hundred trillion + revolutions a second!</p> + + <p>Every man asks at once: "Will science ever tap this energy?" If + it does, no more smoke, no mining, no transit, no bulky fuel. The energy of + an atom is of course only liberated when an atom passes from one state to + another. The stored up energy is fortunately fast bound by the electrons + being held together as has been described. If it were not so "the earth + would explode and become a gaseous nebula"! It is believed that some day + we shall be able to release, harness, and utilise atomic energy. "I am + of opinion," says Sir William Bragg, "that atom energy will supply + our future need. A thousand years may pass before we can harness the atom, or + to-morrow might see us with the reins in our hands. That is the peculiarity + of Physics—research and 'accidental' discovery go hand in + hand." Half a brick contains as much energy as a small coal-field. The + difficulties are tremendous, but, as Sir Oliver Lodge reminds us, there was + just as much scepticism at one time about the utilisation of steam or + electricity. "Is it to be supposed," he asks, "that there can + be no fresh invention, that all the discoveries have been made?" More + than one man of science encourages us to hope. Here are some remarkable words + written by Professor Soddy, one of the highest authorities on radio-active + matter, in our chief scientific weekly (<i>Nature</i>, November 6, 1919):</p> + + <div class="blockquot"> + <p>The prospects of the successful accomplishment of artificial + transmutation brighten almost daily. The ancients seem to have had something + more than an inkling that the accomplishment of transmutation would confer + upon men powers hitherto the prerogative of the gods. But now we know + definitely that the material aspect of transmutation<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span> would be of + small importance in comparison with the control over the inexhaustible + stores of internal atomic energy to which its successful accomplishment + would inevitably lead. It has become a problem, no longer redolent of the + evil associations of the age of alchemy, but one big with the promise of a + veritable physical renaissance of the whole world.</p> + </div> + + <p>If that "promise" is ever realised, the economic and social face + of the world will be transformed.</p> + + <p>Before passing on to the consideration of ether, light, and energy, let us + see what new light the discovery of the electron has thrown on the nature and + manipulation of electricity.</p> + + <h3>WHAT IS ELECTRICITY?</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">The Nature of Electricity</h4> + + <p>There is at least one manifestation in nature, and so late as twenty years + ago it seemed to be one of the most mysterious manifestations of all, which + has been in great measure explained by the new discoveries. Already, at the + beginning of this century, we spoke of our "age of electricity," + yet there were few things in nature about which we knew less. The + "electric current" rang our bells, drove our trains, lit our rooms, + but none knew what the current was. There was a vague idea that it was a sort + of fluid that flowed along copper wires as water flows in a pipe. We now + suppose that it is <i>a rapid movement of electrons from atom to atom</i> in + the wire or wherever the current is.</p> + + <p>Let us try to grasp the principle of the new view of electricity and see + how it applies to all the varied electrical phenomena in the world about us. + As we saw, the nucleus of an atom of matter consists of positive electricity + which holds together a number of electrons, or charges of negative + electricity.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href= + "#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> This<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span> certainly tells us to some + extent what electricity is, and how it is related to matter, but it leaves us + with the usual difficulty about fundamental realities. But we now know that + electricity, like matter, is atomic in structure; a charge of electricity is + made up of a number of small units or charges of a definite, constant amount. + It has been suggested that the two kinds of electricity, i.e. positive and + negative, are right-handed and left-handed vortices or whirlpools in ether, + or rings in ether, but there are very serious difficulties, and we leave this + to the future.</p> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href= + "#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> The words + "positive" and "negative" electricity belong to the days + when it was regarded as a fluid. A body overcharged with the fluid was + called positive; an undercharged body was called negative. A + positively-electrified body is now one whose atoms have lost some of their + outlying electrons, so that the positive charge of electricity predominates. + The negatively-electrified body is one with more than the normal number of + electrons.</p> + </div> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 10</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">What an Electric Current is</h4> + + <p>The discovery of these two kinds of electricity has, however, enabled us + to understand very fairly what goes on in electrical phenomena. The outlying + electrons, as we saw, may pass from atom to atom, and this, on a large scale, + is the meaning of the electric current. In other words, we believe an + electric current to be a flow of electrons. Let us take, to begin with, a + simple electrical "cell," in which a feeble current is generated: + such a cell as there is in every house to serve its electric bells.</p> + + <p>In the original form this simple sort of "battery" consisted of + a plate of zinc and a plate of copper immersed in a chemical. Long before + anything was known about electrons it was known that, if you put zinc and + copper together, you produce a mild current of electricity. We know now what + this means. Zinc is a metal the atoms of which are particularly disposed to + part with some of their outlying electrons. Why, we do not know; but the fact + is the basis of these small batteries. Electrons from the atoms of zinc pass + to the atoms of copper, and their passage is a "current." Each atom + gives up an electron to its neighbour. It was further found long ago that if + the zinc and copper were immersed in certain chemicals, which slowly dissolve + the zinc, and the two metals were connected by a copper wire, the current was + stronger. In modern language, there is a brisker flow of<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span> electrons. The + reason is that the atoms of zinc which are stolen by the chemical leave their + detachable electrons behind them, and the zinc has therefore more electrons + to pass on to the copper.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image426a" id="image426a"></a> <a href= + "images/image426a.jpg"><img src="images/image426a_sm.jpg" alt= + "DISINTEGRATION OF ATOMS" title="DISINTEGRATION OF ATOMS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>DISINTEGRATION OF ATOMS</p> + + <p class="wide">An atom of Uranium, by ejecting an Alpha particle, becomes + Uranium X. This substance, by ejecting Beta and Gamma rays, becomes Radium. + Radium passes through a number of further changes, as shown in the diagram, + and finally becomes lead. Some radio-active substances disintegrate much + faster than others. Thus Uranium changes very slowly, taking 5,000,000,000 + years to reach the same stage of disintegration that Radium A reaches in 3 + minutes. As the disintegration proceeds, the substances become of lighter + and lighter atomic weights. Thus Uranium has an atomic weight of 238, + whereas lead has an atomic weight of only 206. The breaking down of atoms + is fully explained in the text.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image426b" id="image426b"></a> <a href= + "images/image426b.jpg"><img src="images/image426b_sm.jpg" alt= + "SILK TASSEL ELECTRIFIED" title="SILK TASSEL ELECTRIFIED" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Reproduced by permission from "The Interpretation of + Radium" (John Murray).</i></p> + + <p>SILK TASSEL ELECTRIFIED</p> + + <p class="wide">The separate threads of the tassel, being each electrified + with the same kind of electricity, repel one another, and thus the tassel + branches out as in the photograph.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image426c" id="image426c"></a> <a href= + "images/image426c.jpg"><img src="images/image426c_sm.jpg" alt= + "SILK TASSEL DISCHARGED BY THE RAYS FROM RADIUM" title= + "SILK TASSEL DISCHARGED BY THE RAYS FROM RADIUM" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>SILK TASSEL DISCHARGED BY THE RAYS FROM RADIUM</p> + + <p class="wide">When the radium rays, carrying an opposite electric charge + to that on the tassel, strikes the threads, the threads are neutralised, + and hence fall together again.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image427a" id="image427a"></a> <a href= + "images/image427a.jpg"><img src="images/image427a_sm.jpg" alt= + "A HUGE ELECTRIC SPARK" title="A HUGE ELECTRIC SPARK" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>A HUGE ELECTRIC SPARK</p> + + <p class="wide">This is an actual photograph of an electric spark. It is + leaping a distance of about 10 feet, and is the discharge of a million + volts. It is a graphic illustration of the tremendous energy of + electrons.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image427b" id="image427b"></a> <a href= + "images/image427b.jpg"><img src="images/image427b_sm.jpg" alt= + "ELECTRICAL ATTRACTION BETWEEN COMMON OBJECTS" title= + "ELECTRICAL ATTRACTION BETWEEN COMMON OBJECTS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>From "Scientific Ideas of To-day</i>."</p> + + <p>ELECTRICAL ATTRACTION BETWEEN COMMON OBJECTS</p> + + <p class="wide">Take an ordinary flower-vase well dried and energetically + rub it with a silk handkerchief. The vase which thus becomes electrified + will attract any light body, such as a feather, as shown in the above + illustration.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Such cells are now made of zinc and carbon, immersed in sal-ammoniac, but + the principle is the same. The flow of electricity is a flow of electrons; + though we ought to repeat that they do not flow in a body, as molecules of + water do. You may have seen boys place a row of bricks, each standing on one + end, in such order that the first, if it is pushed, will knock over the + second, the second the third, and so on to the last. There is a flow of + <i>movement</i> all along the line, but each brick moves only a short + distance. So an electron merely passes to the next atom, which sends on an + electron to a third atom, and so on. In this case, however, the movement from + atom to atom is so rapid that the ripple of movement, if we may call it so, + may pass along at an enormous speed. We have seen how swiftly electrons + travel.</p> + + <p>But how is this turned into power enough even to ring a bell? The actual + mechanical apparatus by which the energy of the electron current is turned + into sound, or heat, or light will be described in a technical section later + in this work. We are concerned here only with the principle, which is clear. + While zinc is very apt to part with electrons, copper is just as obliging in + facilitating their passage onward. Electrons will travel in this way in most + metals, but copper is one of the best "conductors." So we lengthen + the copper wire between the zinc and the carbon until it goes as far as the + front door and the bell, which are included in the circuit. When you press + the button at the door, two wires are brought together, and the current of + electrons rushes round the circuit; and at the bell its energy is diverted + into the mechanical apparatus which rings the bell.</p> + + <p>Copper is a good conductor—six times as good as iron—and is + therefore so common in electrical industries. Some other substances are just + as stubborn as copper is yielding, and we call them "insulators," + because they resist the current instead of letting<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span> it flow. Their + atoms do not easily part with electrons. Glass, vulcanite, and porcelain are + very good insulators for this reason.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">What the Dynamo does</h4> + + <p>But even several cells together do not produce the currents needed in + modern industry, and the flow is produced in a different manner. As the + invisible electrons pass along a wire they produce what we call a magnetic + field around the wire, they produce a disturbance in the surrounding ether. + To be exact, it is through the ether surrounding the wire that the energy + originated by the electrons is transmitted. To set electrons moving on a + large scale we use a "dynamo." By means of the dynamo it is + possible to transform mechanical energy into electrical energy. The modern + dynamo, as Professor Soddy puts it, may be looked upon as an electron pump. + We cannot go into the subject deeply here, we would only say that a large + coil of copper wire is caused to turn round rapidly between the poles of a + powerful magnet. That is the essential construction of the + "dynamo," which is used for generating strong currents. We shall + see in a moment how magnetism differs from electricity, and will say here + only that round the poles of a large magnet there is a field of intense + disturbance which will start a flow of electrons in any copper that is + introduced into it. On account of the speed given to the coil of wire its + atoms enter suddenly this magnetic field, and they give off crowds of + electrons in a flash.</p> + + <p>It is found that a similar disturbance is caused, though the flow is in + the <i>opposite</i> direction, when the coil of wire leaves the magnetic + field. And as the coil is revolving very rapidly we get a powerful current of + electricity that runs in alternate directions—an + "alternating" current. Electricians have apparatus for converting + it into a continuous current where this is necessary.</p> + + <p>A current, therefore, means a steady flow of the electrons from atom to + atom. Sometimes, however, a number of electrons<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span> rush violently and explosively + from one body to another, as in the electric spark or the occasional flash + from an electric tram or train. The grandest and most spectacular display of + this phenomenon is the thunderstorm. As we saw earlier, a portentous furnace + like the sun is constantly pouring floods of electrons from its atoms into + space. The earth intercepts great numbers of these electrons. In the upper + regions of the air the stream of solar electrons has the effect of separating + positively-electrified atoms from negatively-electrified ones, and the + water-vapour, which is constantly rising from the surface of the sea, gathers + more freely round the positively-electrified atoms, and brings them down, as + rain, to the earth. Thus the upper air loses a proportion of positive + electricity, or becomes "negatively electrified." In the + thunderstorm we get both kinds of clouds—some with large excesses of + electrons, and some deficient in electrons—and the tension grows until + at last it is relieved by a sudden and violent discharge of electrons from + one cloud to another or to the earth—an electric spark on a prodigious + scale.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 11</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Magnetism</h4> + + <p>We have seen that an electric current is really a flow of electrons. Now + an electric current exhibits a magnetic effect. The surrounding space is + endowed with energy which we call electro-magnetic energy. A piece of + magnetised iron attracting other pieces of iron to it is the popular idea of + a magnet. If we arrange a wire to pass vertically through a piece of + cardboard and then sprinkle iron filings on the cardboard we shall find that, + on passing an electric current through the wire, the iron filings arrange + themselves in circles round it. The magnetic force, due to the electric + current, seems to exist in circles round the wire, an ether disturbance being + set up. Even a single electron, when in movement, creates a magnetic + "field," as it is called, round its path. There is no movement of + electrons without this attendant field<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span> of energy, and their motion is + not stopped until that field of energy disappears from the ether. The modern + theory of magnetism supposes that all magnetism is produced in this way. All + magnetism is supposed to arise from the small whirling motions of the + electrons contained in the ultimate atoms of matter. We cannot here go into + the details of the theory nor explain why, for instance, iron behaves so + differently from other substances, but it is sufficient to say that here, + also, the electron theory provides the key. This theory is not yet definitely + <i>proved</i>, but it furnishes a sufficient theoretical basis for future + research. The earth itself is a gigantic magnet, a fact which makes the + compass possible, and it is well known that the earth's magnetism is + affected by those great outbreaks on the sun called sun-spots. Now it has + been recently shown that a sun-spot is a vast whirlpool of electrons and that + it exerts a strong magnetic action. There is doubtless a connection between + these outbreaks of electronic activity and the consequent changes in the + earth's magnetism. The precise mechanism of the connection, however, is + still a matter that is being investigated.</p> + + <h3>ETHER AND WAVES</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Ether and Waves</h4> + + <p>The whole material universe is supposed to be embedded in a vast medium + called the ether. It is true that the notion of the ether has been abandoned + by some modern physicists, but, whether or not it is ultimately dispensed + with, the conception of the ether has entered so deeply into the scientific + mind that the science of physics cannot be understood unless we know + something about the properties attributed to the ether. The ether was + invented to explain the phenomena of light, and to account for the flow of + energy across empty space. Light takes time to travel. We see the sun at any + moment by the light that left it 8 minutes before. It has taken that 8 + minutes for the light from the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id= + "Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span> sun to travel that 93,000,000 miles odd which + separates it from our earth. Besides the fact that light takes time to + travel, it can be shown that light travels in the form of waves. We know that + sound travels in waves; sound consists of waves in the air, or water or wood + or whatever medium we hear it through. If an electric bell be put in a glass + jar and the air be pumped out of the jar, the sound of the bell becomes + feebler and feebler until, when enough air has been taken out, we do not hear + the bell at all. Sound cannot travel in a vacuum. We continue to <i>see</i> + the bell, however, so that evidently light can travel in a vacuum. The + invisible medium through which the waves of light travel is the ether, and + this ether permeates all space <i>and all matter</i>. Between us and the + stars stretch vast regions empty of all matter. But we see the stars; their + light reaches us, even though it may take centuries to do so. We conceive, + then, that it is the universal ether which conveys that light. All the energy + which has reached the earth from the sun and which, stored for ages in our + coal-fields, is now used to propel our trains and steamships, to heat and + light our cities, to perform all the multifarious tasks of modern life, was + conveyed by the ether. Without that universal carrier of energy we should + have nothing but a stagnant, lifeless world.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image432" id="image432"></a> <a href= + "images/image432.jpg"><img src="images/image432_sm.jpg" alt= + "AN ELECTRIC SPARK" title="AN ELECTRIC SPARK" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Leadbeater.</i></p> + + <p>AN ELECTRIC SPARK</p> + + <p class="wide">An electric spark consists of a rush of electrons across + the space between the two terminals. A state of tension is established in + the ether by the electric charges, and when this tension passes a certain + limit the discharge takes place.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image433" id="image433"></a> <a href= + "images/image433.jpg"><img src="images/image433_sm.jpg" alt= + "AN ETHER DISTURBANCE AROUND AN ELECTRON CURRENT" title= + "AN ETHER DISTURBANCE AROUND AN ELECTRON CURRENT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>From "Scientific Ideas of To-day."</i></p> + + <p>AN ETHER DISTURBANCE AROUND AN ELECTRON CURRENT</p> + + <p class="wide">In the left-hand photograph an electric current is passing + through the coil, thus producing a magnetic field and transforming the + poker into a magnet. The poker is then able to support a pair of scissors. + As soon as the electric current is broken off, as in the second photograph, + the ether disturbance ceases. The poker loses its magnetism, and the + scissors fall.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>We have said that light consists of waves. The ether may be considered as + resembling, in some respects, a jelly. It can transmit vibrations. The waves + of light are really excessively small ripples, measuring from crest to crest. + The distance from crest to crest of the ripples in a pond is sometimes no + more than an inch or two. This distance is enormously great compared to the + longest of the wave-lengths that constitute light. We say the longest, for + the waves of light differ in length; the colour depends upon the length of + the light. Red light has the longest waves and violet the shortest. The + longest waves, the waves of deep-red light, are seven two hundred and fifty + thousandths of an inch in length (7/250,000 inch). This is nearly twice the + length<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg + 276]</a></span> of deep-violet light-waves, which are 1/67,000 inch. But + light-waves, the waves that affect the eye, are not the only waves carried by + the ether. Waves too short to affect the eye can affect the photographic + plate, and we can discover in this way the existence of waves only half the + length of the deep-violet waves. Still shorter waves can be discovered, until + we come to those excessively minute rays, the X-rays.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Below the Limits of Visibility</h4> + + <p>But we can extend our investigations in the other direction; we find that + the ether carries many waves longer than light-waves. Special photographic + emulsions can reveal the existence of waves five times longer than + violet-light waves. Extending below the limits of visibility are waves we + detect as heat-waves. Radiant heat, like the heat from a fire, is also a form + of wave-motion in the ether, but the waves our senses recognise as heat are + longer than light-waves. There are longer waves still, but our senses do not + recognise them. But we can detect them by our instruments. These are the + waves used in wireless telegraphy, and their length may be, in some cases, + measured in miles. These waves are the so-called electro-magnetic waves. + Light, radiant heat, and electro-magnetic waves are all of the same nature; + they differ only as regards their wave-lengths.</p> + + <h3>LIGHT—VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE</h3> + + <p>If Light, then, consists of waves transmitted through the ether, what + gives rise to the waves? Whatever sets up such wonderfully rapid series of + waves must be something with an enormous vibration. We come back to the + electron: all atoms of matter, as we have seen, are made up of electrons + revolving in a regular orbit round a nucleus. These electrons may be affected + by out-side influences, they may be agitated and their speed or vibration + increased.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg + 277]</a></span></p> + + <h4 class="sect">Electrons and Light</h4> + + <p>The particles even of a piece of cold iron are in a state of vibration. No + nerves of ours are able to feel and register the waves they emit, but your + cold poker is really radiating, or sending out a series of wave-movements, on + every side. After what we saw about the nature of matter, this will surprise + none. Put your poker in the fire for a time. The particles of the glowing + coal, which are violently agitated, communicate some of their energy to the + particles of iron in the poker. They move to and fro more rapidly, and the + waves which they create are now able to affect your nerves and cause a + sensation of heat. Put the poker again in the fire, until its temperature + rises to 500° C. It begins to glow with a dull red. Its particles are now + moving very violently, and the waves they send out are so short and rapid + that they can be picked up by the eye—we have <i>visible</i> light. + They would still not affect a photographic plate. Heat the iron further, and + the crowds of electrons now send out waves of various lengths which blend + into white light. What is happening is the agitated electrons flying round in + their orbits at a speed of trillions of times a second. Make the iron + "blue hot," and it pours out, in addition to light, the + <i>invisible</i> waves which alter the film on the photographic plate. And + beyond these there is a long range of still shorter waves, culminating in the + X-rays, which will pass between the atoms of flesh or stone.</p> + + <p>Nearly two hundred and fifty years ago it was proved that light travelled + at least 600,000 times faster than sound. Jupiter, as we saw, has moons, + which circle round it. They pass behind the body of the planet, and reappear + at the other side. But it was noticed that, when Jupiter is at its greatest + distance from us, the reappearance of the moon from behind it is 16 minutes + and 36 seconds later than when the planet is nearest to us. Plainly this was + because light took so long to cover the additional distance. The distance was + then imperfectly known, and the speed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" + id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span> of light was underrated. We now know the + distance, and we easily get the velocity of light.</p> + + <p>No doubt it seems far more wonderful to discover this within the walls of + a laboratory, but it was done as long ago as 1850. A cogged wheel is so + mounted that a ray of light passes between two of the teeth and is reflected + back from a mirror. Now, slight as is the fraction of a second which light + takes to travel that distance, it is possible to give such speed to the wheel + that the next tooth catches the ray of light on its return and cuts it off. + The speed is increased still further until the ray of light returns to the + eye of the observer through the notch <i>next</i> to the one by which it had + passed to the mirror! The speed of the wheel was known, and it was thus + possible again to gather the velocity of light. If the shortest waves are + 1/67,000 of an inch in length, and light travels at 186,000 miles a second, + any person can work out that about 800 trillion waves enter the eye in a + second when we see "violet."</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Sorting out Light-waves</h4> + + <p>The waves sent out on every side by the energetic electrons become faintly + visible to us when they reach about 1/35,000 of an inch. As they become + shorter and more rapid, as the electrons increase their speed, we get, in + succession, the colours red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. + Each distinct sensation of colour means a wave of different length. When they + are all mingled together, as in the light of the sun, we get white light. + When this white light passes through glass, the speed of the waves is + lessened; and, if the ray of light falls obliquely on a triangular piece of + glass, the waves of different lengths part company as they travel through it, + and the light is spread out in a band of rainbow-colour. The waves are sorted + out according to their lengths in the "obstacle race" through the + glass. Anyone may see this for himself by holding up a wedge-shaped piece of + crystal between the sunlight and the eye; the prism separates the<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span> sunlight into + its constituent colours, and these various colours will be seen quite + readily. Or the thing may be realised in another way. If the seven colours + are painted on a wheel as shown opposite page 280 (in the proportion shown), + and the wheel rapidly revolved on a pivot, the wheel will appear a dull + white, the several colours will not be seen. But <i>omit</i> one of the + colours, then the wheel, when revolved, will not appear white, but will give + the impression of one colour, corresponding to what the union of six colours + gives. Another experiment will show that some bodies held up between the eye + and a white light will not permit all the rays to pass through, but will + intercept some; a body that intercepts all the seven rays except red will + give the impression of red, or if all the rays except violet, then violet + will be the colour seen.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image438" id="image438"></a> <a href= + "images/image438.jpg"><img src="images/image438_sm.jpg" alt="LIGHTNING" + title="LIGHTNING" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: H. J. Shepstone.</i></p> + + <h3>LIGHTNING</h3> + + <p class="wide">In a thunderstorm we have the most spectacular display in + lightning of a violent and explosive rush of electrons (electricity) from + one body to another, from cloud to cloud, or to the earth. In this + wonderful photograph of an electrical storm note the long branched and + undulating flashes of lightning. Each flash lasts no longer than the one + hundred-thousandth part of a second of time.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image439a" id="image439a"></a> <a href= + "images/image439a.jpg"><img src="images/image439a_sm.jpg" alt="LIGHT WAVES" + title="LIGHT WAVES" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>LIGHT WAVES</p> + + <p class="wide">Light consists of waves transmitted through the ether. + Waves of light differ in length. The colour of the light depends on the + wave-length. Deep-red waves (the longest) are 7/250000 inch and deep-violet + waves 1/67000 inch. The diagram shows two wave-motions of different + wave-lengths. From crest to crest, or from trough to trough, is the length + of the wave.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image439b" id="image439b"></a> <a href= + "images/image439b.jpg"><img src="images/image439b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE MAGNETIC CIRCUIT OF AN ELECTRIC CURRENT" title= + "THE MAGNETIC CIRCUIT OF AN ELECTRIC CURRENT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE MAGNETIC CIRCUIT OF AN ELECTRIC CURRENT</p> + + <p class="wide">The electric current passing in the direction of the arrow + round the electric circuit generates in the surrounding space circular + magnetic circuits as shown in the diagram. It is this property which lies + at the base of the electro-magnet and of the electric dynamo.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image439c" id="image439c"></a> <a href= + "images/image439c.jpg"><img src="images/image439c_sm.jpg" alt="THE MAGNET" + title="THE MAGNET" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE MAGNET</p> + + <p class="wide">The illustration shows the lines of force between two + magnets. The lines of force proceed from the north pole of one magnet to + the south pole of the other. They also proceed from the north to the south + poles of the same magnet. These facts are shown clearly in the diagram. The + north pole of a magnet is that end of it which turns to the north when the + magnet is freely suspended.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <h4 class="sect">The Fate of the World</h4> + + <p>Professor Soddy has given an interesting picture of what might happen when + the sun's light and heat is no longer what it is. The human eye "has + adapted itself through the ages to the peculiarities of the sun's light, + so as to make the most of that wave-length of which there is most.... Let us + indulge for a moment in these gloomy prognostications, as to the consequences + to this earth of the cooling of the sun with the lapse of ages, which used to + be in vogue, but which radio-activity has so rudely shaken. Picture the fate + of the world when the sun has become a dull red-hot ball, or even when it has + cooled so far that it would no longer emit light to us. That does not all + mean that the world would be in inky darkness, and that the sun would not + emit light to the people then inhabiting this world, if any had survived and + could keep themselves from freezing. To such, if the eye continued to adapt + itself to the changing conditions, our blues and violets would be + ultra-violet and invisible, but our dark heat would be light and hot bodies + would be luminous to them which would be dark to us."<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span></p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 12</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">What the Blue "Sky" means</h4> + + <p>We saw in a previous chapter how the spectroscope splits up light-waves + into their colours. But nature is constantly splitting the light into its + different-lengthed waves, its colours. The rainbow, where dense moisture in + the air acts as a spectroscope, is the most familiar example. A piece of + mother-of-pearl, or even a film of oil on the street or on water, has the + same effect, owing to the fine inequalities in its surface. The atmosphere + all day long is sorting out the waves. The blue "sky" overhead + means that the fine particles in the upper atmosphere catch the shorter + waves, the blue waves, and scatter them. We can make a tubeful of blue sky in + the laboratory at any time. The beautiful pink-flush on the Alps at sunrise, + the red glory that lingers in the west at sunset, mean that, as the sun's + rays must struggle through denser masses of air when it is low on the + horizon, the long red waves are sifted out from the other shafts.</p> + + <p>Then there is the varied face of nature which, by absorbing some waves and + reflecting others, weaves its own beautiful robe of colour. Here and there is + a black patch, which <i>absorbs</i> all the light. White surfaces + <i>reflect</i> the whole of it. What is reflected depends on the period of + vibration of the electrons in the particular kind of matter. Generally, as + the electrons receive the flood of trillions of waves, they absorb either the + long or the medium or the short, and they give us the wonderful colour-scheme + of nature. In some cases the electrons continue to radiate long after the + sunlight has ceased to fall upon them. We get from them "black" or + invisible light, and we can take photographs by it. Other bodies, like glass, + vibrate in unison with the period of the light-waves and let them stream + through.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Light without Heat</h4> + + <p>There are substances—"phosphorescent" things we call + them—which give out a mysterious cold light of their own. It is + one<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span> + of the problems of science, and one of profound practical interest. If we + could produce light without heat our "gas bill" would shrink + amazingly. So much energy is wasted in the production of heat-waves and + ultra-violet waves which we do not want, that 90 per cent. or more of the + power used in illumination is wasted. Would that the glow-worm, or even the + dead herring, would yield us its secret! Phosphorus is the one thing we know + as yet that suits the purpose, and—it smells! Indeed, our artificial + light is not only extravagant in cost, but often poor in colour. The unwary + person often buys a garment by artificial light, and is disgusted next + morning to find in it a colour which is not wanted. The colour disclosed by + the sun was not in the waves of the artificial light.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image442" id="image442"></a> <a href= + "images/image442.jpg"><img src="images/image442_sm.jpg" alt= + "ROTATING DISC OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON FOR MIXING COLOURS" title= + "ROTATING DISC OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON FOR MIXING COLOURS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>ROTATING DISC OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON FOR MIXING COLOURS</p> + + <p class="wide">The Spectroscope sorts out the above seven colours from + sunlight (which is compounded of these seven colours). If painted in proper + proportions on a wheel, as shown in the coloured illustration, and the + wheel be turned rapidly on a pivot through its centre, only a dull white + will be perceived. If one colour be omitted, the result will be one + colour—the result of the union of the remaining six.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>Beyond the waves of violet light are the still shorter and more rapid + waves—the "ultra-violet" waves—which are precious to + the photographer. As every amateur knows, his plate may safely be exposed to + light that comes through a red or an orange screen. Such a screen means + "no thoroughfare" for the blue and "beyond-blue" waves, + and it is these which arrange the little grains of silver on the plate. It is + the same waves which supply the energy to the little green grains of matter + (chlorophyll) in the plant, preparing our food and timber for us, as will be + seen later. The tree struggles upward and spreads out its leaves fanwise to + the blue sky to receive them. In our coal-measures, the mighty dead forests + of long ago, are vast stores of sunlight which we are prodigally using + up.</p> + + <p>The X-rays are the extreme end, the highest octave, of the series of + waves. Their power of penetration implies that they are excessively minute, + but even these have not held their secret from the modern physicist. From a + series of beautiful experiments, in which they were made to pass amongst the + atoms of a crystal, we learned their length. It is about the ten-millionth of + a millimetre, and a millimetre is about the 1/25 of an inch!</p> + + <p>One of the most recent discoveries, made during a recent<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span> eclipse of the + sun, is that light is subject to gravitation. A ray of light from a star is + bent out of its straight path when it passes near the mass of the sun. + Professor Eddington tells us that we have as much right to speak of a pound + of light as of a pound of sugar. Professor Eddington even calculates that the + earth receives 160 tons of light from the sun every year!</p> + + <h3>ENERGY: HOW ALL LIFE DEPENDS ON IT</h3> + + <p>As we have seen in an earlier chapter, one of the fundamental entities of + the universe is matter. A second, not less important, is called energy. + Energy is indispensable if the world is to continue to exist, since all + phenomena, including life, depend on it. Just as it is humanly impossible to + create or to destroy a particle of matter, so is it impossible to create or + to destroy energy. This statement will be more readily understood when we + have considered what energy is.</p> + + <p>Energy, like matter, is indestructible, and just as matter exists in + various forms so does energy. And we may add, just as we are ignorant of what + the negative and positive particles of electricity which constitute matter + really are, so we are ignorant of the true nature of energy. At the same + time, energy is not so completely mysterious as it once was. It is another of + nature's mysteries which the advance of modern science has in some + measure unveiled. It was only during the nineteenth century that energy came + to be known as something as distinct and permanent as matter itself.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">Forms of Energy</h4> + + <p>The existence of various forms of energy had been known, of course, for + ages; there was the energy of a falling stone, the energy produced by burning + wood or coal or any other substance, but the essential <i>identity</i> of all + these forms of energy had not been suspected. The conception of energy as + something which, like<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id= + "Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span> matter, was constant in amount, which could + not be created nor destroyed, was one of the great scientific acquisitions of + the past century.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image446a" id="image446a"></a> <a href= + "images/image446a.jpg"><img src="images/image446a_sm.jpg" alt="WAVE SHAPES" + title="WAVE SHAPES" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>WAVE SHAPES</p> + + <p class="wide">Wave-motions are often complex. The above illustration + shows some fairly complicated wave shapes. All such wave-motions can be + produced by superposing a number of simple wave forms.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image446b" id="image446b"></a> <a href= + "images/image446b.jpg"><img src="images/image446b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE POWER OF A MAGNET" title="THE POWER OF A MAGNET" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE POWER OF A MAGNET</p> + + <p class="wide">The illustration is that of a "Phœnix" + electric magnet lifting scrap from railway trucks. The magnet is 52 inches + in diameter and lifts a weight of 26 tons. The same type of magnet, 62 + inches in diameter, lifts a weight of 40 tons.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image447a" id="image447a"></a> <a href= + "images/image447a.jpg"><img src="images/image447a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE SPEED OF LIGHT" title="THE SPEED OF LIGHT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: The Locomotive Publishing Co., Ltd.</i></p> + + <p>THE SPEED OF LIGHT</p> + + <p class="wide">A train travelling at the rate of sixty miles per hour + would take rather more than seventeen and a quarter days to go round the + earth at the equator, i.e. a distance of 25,000 miles. Light, which travels + at the rate of 186,000 miles per second, would take between one-seventh and + one-eighth of a second to go the same distance.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image447b" id="image447b"></a> <a href= + "images/image447b.jpg"><img src="images/image447b_sm.jpg" alt= + "ROTATING DISC OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON FOR MIXING COLOURS" title= + "ROTATING DISC OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON FOR MIXING COLOURS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>ROTATING DISC OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON FOR MIXING COLOURS</p> + + <p class="wide">The Spectroscope sorts out the above seven colours from + sunlight (which is compounded of these seven colours). If painted in proper + proportions on a wheel, as shown in the coloured illustration, and the + wheel turned rapidly on a pivot through its centre, only a dull white will + be perceived. If one colour be omitted, the result will be one + colour—the result of the union of the remaining six.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>It is not possible to enter deeply into this subject here. It is + sufficient if we briefly outline its salient aspects. Energy is recognised in + two forms, kinetic and potential. The form of energy which is most apparent + to us is the <i>energy of motion</i>; for example, a rolling stone, running + water, a falling body, and so on. We call the energy of motion <i>kinetic + energy</i>. Potential energy is the energy a body has in virtue of its + position—it is its capacity, in other words, to acquire kinetic energy, + as in the case of a stone resting on the edge of a cliff.</p> + + <p>Energy may assume different forms; one kind of energy may be converted + directly or indirectly into some other form. The energy of burning coal, for + example, is converted into heat, and from heat energy we have mechanical + energy, such as that manifested by the steam-engine. In this way we can + transfer energy from one body to another. There is the energy of the great + waterfalls of Niagara, for instance, which are used to supply the energy of + huge electric power stations.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">What Heat is</h4> + + <p>An important fact about energy is, that all energy <i>tends to take the + form of heat energy</i>. The impact of a falling stone generates heat; a + waterfall is hotter at the bottom than at the top—the falling particles + of water, on striking the ground, generate heat; and most chemical changes + are attended by heat changes. Energy may remain latent indefinitely in a lump + of wood, but in combustion it is liberated, and we have heat as a result. The + atom of radium or of any other radio-active substance, as it disintegrates, + generates heat. "Every hour radium generates sufficient heat to raise + the temperature of its own weight of water, from the freezing point to the + boiling point." And what is heat? <i>Heat is molecular motion.</i> The + molecules of every substance, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id= + "Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span> we have seen on a previous page, are in a + state of continual motion, and the more vigorous the motion the hotter the + body. As wood or coal burns, the invisible molecules of these substances are + violently agitated, and give rise to ether waves which our senses interpret + as light and heat. In this constant movement of the molecules, then, we have + a manifestation of the energy of motion and of heat.</p> + + <p>That energy which disappears in one form reappears in another has been + found to be universally true. It was Joule who, by churning water, first + showed that a measurable quantity of mechanical energy could be transformed + into a measurable quantity of heat energy. By causing an apparatus to stir + water vigorously, that apparatus being driven by falling weights or a + rotating flywheel or by any other mechanical means, the water became heated. + A certain amount of mechanical energy had been used up and a certain amount + of heat had appeared. The relation between these two things was found to be + invariable. Every physical change in nature involves a transformation of + energy, but the total quantity of energy in the universe remains unaltered. + This is the great doctrine of the Conservation of Energy.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 13</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Substitutes for Coal</h4> + + <p>Consider the source of nearly all the energy which is used in modern + civilisation—coal. The great forests of the Carboniferous epoch now + exists as beds of coal. By the burning of coal—a chemical + transformation—the heat energy is produced on which at present our + whole civilisation depends. Whence is the energy locked up in the coal + derived? From the sun. For millions of years the energy of the sun's rays + had gone to form the vast vegetation of the Carboniferous era and had been + transformed, by various subtle processes, into the potential energy that + slumbers in those immense fossilized forests.<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span></p> + + <p>The exhaustion of our coal deposits would mean, so far as our knowledge + extends at present, the end of the world's civilisation. There are other + known sources of energy, it is true. There is the energy of falling water; + the great falls of Niagara are used to supply the energy of huge electric + power stations. Perhaps, also, something could be done to utilise the energy + of the tides—another instance of the energy of moving water. And + attempts have been made to utilise directly the energy of the sun's rays. + But all these sources of energy are small compared with the energy of coal. A + suggestion was made at a recent British Association meeting that deep borings + might be sunk in order to utilise the internal heat of the earth, but this is + not, perhaps, a very practical proposal. By far the most effective + substitutes for coal would be found in the interior energy of the atom, a + source of energy which, as we have seen, is practically illimitable. If the + immense electrical energy in the interior of the atom can ever be liberated + and controlled, then our steadily decreasing coal supply will no longer be + the bugbear it now is to all thoughtful men.</p> + + <p>The stored-up energy of the great coal-fields can be used up, but we + cannot replace it or create fresh supplies. As we have seen, energy cannot be + destroyed, but it can become <i>unavailable</i>. Let us consider what this + important fact means.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 14</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Dissipation of Energy</h4> + + <p>Energy may become dissipated. Where does it go? since if it is + indestructible it must still exist. It is easier to ask the question than to + give a final answer, and it is not possible in this <span class= + "smcap">Outline</span>, where an advanced knowledge of physics is not assumed + on the part of the reader, to go fully into the somewhat difficult theories + put forward by physicists and chemists. We may raise the temperature, say, of + iron, until it is white-hot. If we stop the process the temperature of the + iron will gradually<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg + 286]</a></span> settle down to the temperature of surrounding bodies. As it + does so, where does its previous energy go? In some measure it may pass to + other bodies in contact with the piece of iron, but ultimately the heat + becomes radiated away in space where we cannot follow it. It has been added + to the vast reservoir of <i>unavailable</i> heat energy of uniform + temperature. It is sufficient here to say that if all bodies had a uniform + temperature we should experience no such thing as heat, because heat only + travels from one body to another, having the effect of cooling the one and + warming the other. In time the two bodies acquire the same temperature. The + sum-total of the heat in any body is measured in terms of the kinetic energy + of its moving molecules.</p> + + <p>There must come a time, so far as we can see at present, when, even if all + the heat energy of the universe is not radiated away into empty infinite + space, yet a uniform temperature will prevail. If one body is hotter than + another it radiates heat to that body until both are at the same temperature. + Each body may still possess a considerable quantity of heat energy, which it + has absorbed, but that energy, so far as reactions between those two bodies + are concerned, <i>is now unavailable</i>. The same principle applies whatever + number of bodies we consider. Before heat energy can be utilised we must have + bodies with different temperature. If the whole universe were at some uniform + temperature, then, although it might possess an enormous amount of heat + energy, this energy would be unavailable.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">What a Uniform Temperature would mean</h4> + + <p>And what does this imply? It implies a great deal: for if all the energy + in the world became unavailable, the universe, as it now is, would cease to + be. It is possible that, by the constant interchange of heat radiations, the + whole universe is tending to some uniform temperature, in which case, + although all molecular motion would not have ceased, it would have become + unavailable. In this sense it may be said that the universe is running + down.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image452" id="image452"></a> <a href= + "images/image452.jpg"><img src="images/image452_sm.jpg" alt="NIAGARA FALLS" + title="NIAGARA FALLS" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>NIAGARA FALLS</p> + + <p class="wide">The energy of this falling water is prodigious. It is used + to generate thousands of horse-power in great electrical installations. The + power is used to drive electric trams in cities 150 to 250 miles away.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image453a" id="image453a"></a> <a href= + "images/image453a.jpg"><img src="images/image453a_sm.jpg" alt= + "TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY" title="TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Stephen Cribb.</i></p> + + <p>TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY</p> + + <p class="wide">An illustration of Energy. The chemical energy brought into + existence by firing the explosive manifesting itself as mechanical energy, + sufficient to impart violent motion to tons of water.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image453b" id="image453b"></a> <a href= + "images/image453b.jpg"><img src="images/image453b_sm.jpg" alt= + "'BOILING' A KETTLE ON ICE" title= + "'BOILING' A KETTLE ON ICE" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: Underwood & Underwood.</i></p> + + <p>"BOILING" A KETTLE ON ICE</p> + + <p class="wide">When a kettle containing liquid air is placed on ice it + "boils" because the ice is intensely hot <i>when compared with + the very low temperature of the liquid air</i>.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg + 287]</a></span></p> + + <p>If all the molecules of a substance were brought to a standstill, that + substance would be at the absolute zero of temperature. There could be + nothing colder. The temperature at which all molecular motions would cease is + known: it is -273° C. No body could possibly attain a lower temperature than + this: a lower temperature could not exist. Unless there exists in nature some + process, of which we know nothing at present, whereby energy is renewed, our + solar system must one day sink to this absolute zero of temperature. The sun, + the earth, and every other body in the universe is steadily radiating heat, + and this radiation cannot go on for ever, because heat continually tends to + diffuse and to equalise temperatures.</p> + + <p>But we can see, theoretically, that there is a way of evading this law. If + the chaotic molecular motions which constitute heat could be + <i>regulated</i>, then the heat energy of a body could be utilised directly. + Some authorities think that some of the processes which go on in the living + body do not involve any waste energy, that the chemical energy of food is + transformed directly into work without any of it being dissipated as useless + heat energy. It may be, therefore, that man will finally discover some way of + escape from the natural law that, while energy cannot be destroyed, it has a + tendency to become unavailable.</p> + + <p>The primary reservoir of energy is the atom; it is the energy of the atom, + the atom of elements in the sun, the stars, the earth, from which nature + draws for all her supply of energy. Shall we ever discover how we can + replenish the dwindling resources of energy, or find out how we can call into + being the at present unavailable energy which is stored up in uniform + temperature?</p> + + <div class="blockquot"> + <p>It looks as if our successors would witness an interesting race, between + the progress of science on the one hand and the depletion of natural + resources upon the other. The natural rate of flow of energy from its + primary atomic reservoirs to the sea of waste heat energy of uniform + temperature, allows life to proceed at a complete pace sternly<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span> regulated by + the inexorable laws of supply and demand, which the biologists have + recognised in their field as the struggle for existence.<a name= + "FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class= + "fnanchor">[5]</a></p> + </div> + + <div class="footnote"> + <p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href= + "#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Matter and Energy</i>, + by Professor Soddy.</p> + </div> + + <p>It is certain that energy is an actual entity just as much as matter, and + that it cannot be created or destroyed. Matter and ether are receptacles or + vehicles of energy. As we have said, what these entities really are in + themselves we do not know. It may be that all forms of energy are in some + fundamental way aspects of the same primary entity which constitutes matter: + how all matter is constituted of particles of electricity we have already + seen. The question to which we await an answer is: What is electricity?</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 15</h3> + + <h3>MATTER, ETHER, AND EINSTEIN</h3> + + <p>The supreme synthesis, the crown of all this progressive conquest of + nature, would be to discover that the particles of positive and negative + electricity, which make up the atoms of matter, are points or centres of + disturbances of some kind in a universal ether, and that all our + "energies" (light, magnetism, gravitation, etc.) are waves or + strains of some kind set up in the ether by these clusters of electrons.</p> + + <p>It is a fascinating, tantalising dream. Larmor suggested in 1900 that the + electron is a tiny whirlpool, or "vortex," in ether; and, as such a + vortex may turn in either of two opposite ways, we seem to see a possibility + of explaining positive and negative electricity. But the difficulties have + proved very serious, and the nature of the electron is unknown. A recent view + is that it is "a ring of negative electricity rotating about its axis at + a high speed," though that does not carry us very far. The unit of + positive electricity is even less known. We must be content to + know<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg + 289]</a></span> the general lines on which thought is moving toward the final + unification.</p> + + <p>We say "unification," but it would be a grave error to think + that ether is the only possible basis for such unity, or to make it an + essential part of one's philosophy of the universe. Ether was never more + than an imagined entity to which we ascribed the most extraordinary + properties, and which seemed then to promise considerable aid. It was + conceived as an elastic solid of very great density, stretching from end to + end of the universe, transmitting waves from star to star at the rate of + 186,000 miles a second; yet it was believed that the most solid matter passed + through it as if it did not exist.</p> + + <p>Some years ago a delicate experiment was tried for the purpose of + detecting the ether. Since the earth, in travelling round the sun, must move + through the ether if the ether exists, there ought to be a stream of ether + flowing through every laboratory; just as the motion of a ship through a + still atmosphere will make "a wind." In 1887 Michelson and Morley + tried to detect this. Theoretically, a ray of light in the direction of the + stream ought to travel at a different rate from a ray of light against the + stream or across it. They found no difference, and scores of other + experiments have failed. This does not prove that there is no ether, as there + is reason to suppose that our instruments would appear to shrink in precisely + the same proportion as the alteration of the light; but the fact remains that + we have no proof of the existence of ether. J. H. Jeans says that + "nature acts as if no such thing existed." Even the phenomena of + light and magnetism, he says, do not imply ether; and he thinks that the + hypothesis may be abandoned. The primary reason, of course, for giving up the + notion of the ether is that, as Einstein has shown, there is no way of + detecting its existence. If there is an ether, then, since the earth is + moving through it, there should be some way of detecting this motion. The + experiment has been tried, as we have said, but, although the method used was + very sensitive, no motion was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id= + "Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span> discovered. It is Einstein who, by + revolutionising our conceptions of space and time, showed that no such motion + ever could be discovered, whatever means were employed, and that the usual + notion of the ether must be abandoned. We shall explain this theory more + fully in a later section.</p> + + <h3>INFLUENCE OF THE TIDES: ORIGIN OF THE MOON: THE EARTH SLOWING DOWN</h3> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 16</h3> + + <p>Until comparatively recent times, until, in fact, the full dawn of modern + science, the tides ranked amongst the greatest of nature's mysteries. + And, indeed, what agency could be invoked to explain this mysteriously + regular flux and reflux of the waters of the ocean? It is not surprising that + that steady, rhythmical rise and fall suggested to some imaginative minds the + breathing of a mighty animal. And even when man first became aware of the + fact that this regular movement was somehow associated with the moon, was he + much nearer an explanation? What bond could exist between the movements of + that distant world and the diurnal variation of the waters of the earth? It + is reported that an ancient astronomer, despairing of ever resolving the + mystery, drowned himself in the sea.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Earth Pulled by the Moon</h4> + + <p>But it was part of the merit of Newton's mighty theory of gravitation + that it furnished an explanation even of this age-old mystery. We can see, in + broad outlines at any rate, that the theory of universal attraction can be + applied to this case. For the moon, Newton taught us, pulls every particle of + matter throughout the earth. If we imagine that part of the earth's + surface which comprises the Pacific Ocean, for instance, to be turned towards + the moon, we see that the moon's pull, <i>acting on the loose and mobile + water</i>, would tend to heap it up into a sort<span class='pagenum'><a name= + "Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span> of mound. The whole earth is + pulled by the moon, but the water is more free to obey this pull than is the + solid earth, although small tides are also caused in the earth's solid + crust. It can be shown also that a corresponding hump would tend to be + produced on the other side of the earth, owing, in this case, to the tendency + of the water, being more loosely connected, to lag behind the solid earth. If + the earth's surface were entirely fluid the rotation of the earth would + give the impression that these two humps were continually travelling round + the world, once every day. At any given part of the earth's surface, + therefore, there would be two humps daily, i.e. two periods of high water. + Such is the simplest possible outline of the gravitational theory of the + tides.</p> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image458a" id="image458a"></a> <a href= + "images/image458a.jpg"><img src="images/image458a_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE CAUSE OF TIDES" title="THE CAUSE OF TIDES" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p>THE CAUSE OF TIDES</p> + + <p class="wide">The tides of the sea are due to the pull of the moon, and, + in lesser degree, of the sun. The whole earth is pulled by the moon, but + the loose and mobile water is more free to obey this pull than is the solid + earth, although small tides are also caused in the earth's solid crust. + The effect which the tides have on slowing down the rotation of the earth + is explained in the text.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image458b" id="image458b"></a> <a href= + "images/image458b.jpg"><img src="images/image458b_sm.jpg" alt= + "THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT" title="THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: G. Brocklehurst.</i></p> + + <p>THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT</p> + + <p class="wide">An exceptionally smooth formation due to perfect weather + conditions. The wall-like formation of these tidal waves (see next page + also) will be noticed. The reason for this is that the downward current in + the river heads the sea-water back, and thus helps to exaggerate the + advancing slope of the wave. The exceptional spring tides are caused by the + combined operation of the moon and the sun, as is explained in the + text.</p> + </div> + </div> + + <div class="imag"> + <a name="image459" id="image459"></a> <a href= + "images/image459.jpg"><img src="images/image459_sm.jpg" alt= + "A BIG SPRING TIDE, THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT" title= + "A BIG SPRING TIDE, THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT" /></a> + + <div class="caption"> + <p><i>Photo: G. Brocklehurst.</i></p> + + <p>A BIG SPRING TIDE, THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT</p> + </div> + </div> + + <p>The actually observed phenomena are vastly more complicated, and the + complete theory bears very little resemblance to the simple form we have just + outlined. Everyone who lives in the neighbourhood of a port knows, for + instance, that high water seldom coincides with the time when the moon + crosses the meridian. It may be several hours early or late. High water at + London Bridge, for instance, occurs about one and a half hours after the moon + has passed the meridian, while at Dublin high water occurs about one and a + half hours before the moon crosses the meridian. The actually observed + phenomena, then, are far from simple; they have, nevertheless, been very + completely worked out, and the times of high water for every port in the + world can now be prophesied for a considerable time ahead.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Action of Sun and Moon</h4> + + <p>It would be beyond our scope to attempt to explain the complete theory, + but we may mention one obvious factor which must be taken into account. Since + the moon, by its gravitational attraction, produces tides, we should expect + that the sun, whose gravitational attraction is so much stronger, should also + produce tides and, we would suppose at first sight, more powerful tides than + the moon. But while it is true that the sun produces tides, it is<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span> not true that + they are more powerful than those produced by the moon. The sun's + tide-producing power is, as a matter of fact, less than half that of the + moon. The reason of this is that <i>distance</i> plays an enormous rôle in + the production of tides. The mass of the sun is 26,000,000 times that of the + moon; on the other hand it is 386 times as far off as the moon. This greater + distance more than counterbalances its greater mass, and the result, as we + have said, is that the moon is more than twice as powerful. Sometimes the sun + and moon act together, and we have what are called spring tides; sometimes + they act against one another, and we have neap tides. These effects are + further complicated by a number of other factors, and the tides, at various + places, vary enormously. Thus at St. Helena the sea rises and falls about + three feet, whereas in the Bay of Fundy it rises and falls more than fifty + feet. But here, again, the reasons are complicated.</p> + + <h3 class="dim">§ 17</h3> + + <h4 class="sect">Origin of the Moon</h4> + + <p>But there is another aspect of the tides which is of vastly greater + interest and importance than the theory we have just been discussing. In the + hands of Sir George H. Darwin, the son of Charles Darwin, the tides had been + made to throw light on the evolution of our solar system. In particular, they + have illustrated the origin and development of the system formed by our earth + and moon. It is quite certain that, long ages ago, the earth was rotating + immensely faster than it is now, and that the moon was so near as to be + actually in contact with the earth. In that remote age the moon was just on + the point of separating from the earth, of being thrown off by the earth. + Earth and moon were once one body, but the high rate of rotation caused this + body to split up into two pieces; one piece became the earth we now know, and + the other became the moon. Such is the conclusion to which we are led by an + examination of the tides. In the first place let us consider the energy + produced by the tides. We see<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id= + "Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span> evidences of this energy all round the + word's coastlines. Estuaries are scooped out, great rocks are gradually + reduced to rubble, innumerable tons of matter are continually being set in + movement. Whence is this energy derived? Energy, like matter, cannot be + created from nothing; what, then, is the source which makes this colossal + expenditure possible.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Earth Slowing down</h4> + + <p>The answer is simple, but startling. <i>The source of tidal energy is the + rotation of the earth.</i> The massive bulk of the earth, turning every + twenty-four hours on its axis, is like a gigantic flywheel. In virtue of its + rotation it possesses an enormous store of energy. But even the heaviest and + swiftest flywheel, if it is doing work, or even if it is only working against + the friction of its bearings, cannot dispense energy for ever. It must, + gradually, slow down. There is no escape from this reasoning. It is the + rotation of the earth which supplies the energy of the tides, and, as a + consequence, the tides must be slowing down the earth. The tides act as a + kind of brake on the earth's rotation. These masses of water, <i>held + back by the moon</i>, exert a kind of dragging effect on the rotating earth. + Doubtless this effect, measured by our ordinary standards, is very small; it + is, however, continuous, and in the course of the millions of years dealt + with in astronomy, this small but constant effect may produce very + considerable results.</p> + + <p>But there is another effect which can be shown to be a necessary + mathematical consequence of tidal action. It is the moon's action on the + earth which produces the tides, but they also react on the moon. The tides + are slowing down the earth, and they are also driving the moon farther and + farther away. This result, strange as it may seem, does not permit of doubt, + for it is the result of an indubitable dynamical principle, which cannot be + made clear without a mathematical discussion. Some interesting consequences + follow.</p> + + <p>Since the earth is slowing down, it follows that it was once<span class= + 'pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span> rotating + faster. There was a period, a long time ago, when the day comprised only + twenty hours. Going farther back still we come to a day of ten hours, until, + inconceivable ages ago, the earth must have been rotating on its axis in a + period of from three to four hours.</p> + + <p>At this point let us stop and inquire what was happening to the moon. We + have seen that at present the moon is getting farther and farther away. It + follows, therefore, that when the day was shorter the moon was nearer. As we + go farther back in time we find the moon nearer and nearer to an earth + rotating faster and faster. When we reach the period we have already + mentioned, the period when the earth completed a revolution in three or four + hours, we find that the moon was so near as to be almost grazing the earth. + This fact is very remarkable. Everybody knows that there is a <i>critical + velocity</i> for a rotating flywheel, a velocity beyond which the flywheel + would fly into pieces because the centrifugal force developed is so great as + to overcome the cohesion of the molecules of the flywheel. We have already + likened our earth to a flywheel, and we have traced its history back to the + point where it was rotating with immense velocity. We have also seen that, at + that moment, the moon was barely separated from the earth. The conclusion is + irresistible. In an age more remote the earth <i>did</i> fly in pieces, and + one of those pieces is the moon. Such, in brief outline, is the tidal theory + of the origin of the earth-moon system.</p> + + <h4 class="sect">The Day Becoming Longer</h4> + + <p>At the beginning, when the moon split off from the earth, it obviously + must have shared the earth's rotation. It flew round the earth in the + same time that the earth rotated, that is to say, the month and the day were + of equal length. As the moon began to get farther from the earth, the month, + because the moon took longer to rotate round the earth, began to get + correspondingly longer. The day also became longer, because the earth was + slowing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg + 295]</a></span> down, taking longer to rotate on its axis, but the month + increased at a greater rate than the day. Presently the month became equal to + two days, then to three, and so on. It has been calculated that this process + went on until there were twenty-nine days in the month. After that the number + of days in the month began to decrease until it reached its present value or + magnitude, and will continue to decrease until once more the month and the + day are equal. In that age the earth will be rotating very slowly. The + braking action of the tides will cause the earth always to keep the same face + to the moon; it will rotate on its axis in the same time that the moon turns + round the earth. If nothing but the earth and moon were involved this state + of affairs would be final. But there is also the effect of the solar tides to + be considered. The moon makes the day equal to the month, but the sun has a + tendency, by still further slowing down the earth's rotation on its axis, + to make the day equal to the year. It would do this, of course, by making the + earth take as long to turn on its axis as to go round the sun. It cannot + succeed in this, owing to the action of the moon, but it can succeed in + making the day rather longer than the month.</p> + + <p>Surprising as it may seem, we already have an illustration of this + possibility in the satellites of Mars. The Martian day is about one half-hour + longer than ours, but when the two minute satellites of Mars were discovered + it was noticed that the inner one of the two revolved round Mars in about + seven hours forty minutes. In one Martian day, therefore, one of the moons of + Mars makes more than three complete revolutions round that planet, so that, + to an inhabitant of Mars, there would be more than three months in a day.</p> + <hr /> + + <h3>BIBLIOGRAPHY</h3> + + <p><span class="smcap">Arrhenius, Svante</span>, <i>Worlds in the Making</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Clerk-Maxwell, James</span>, <i>Matter and Motion</i>. + <br /> + <span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg + 296]</a></span><span class="smcap">Daniell, Alfred</span>, <i>A Text-Book of + the Principles of Physics</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Darwin, Sir G. H.</span>, <i>The Tides</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Holman</span>, <i>Matter, Energy, Force and Work</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Kapp, Gisbert</span>, <i>Electricity</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Kelvin, Lord</span>, <i>Popular Lectures and + Addresses</i>. Vol. i. <i>Constitution of Matter.</i> + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Lockyer, Sir Norman</span>, <i>Inorganic Evolution</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Lodge, Sir Oliver</span>, <i>Electrons</i> and <i>The + Ether of Space</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Perrin, Jean</span>, <i>Brownian Movement and Molecular + Reality</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Soddy, Frederick</span>, <i>Matter and Energy</i> and + <i>The Interpretation of Radium</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Thompson, Silvanus P.</span>, <i>Light, Visible and + Invisible</i>. + <br /> + <span class="smcap">Thomson, Sir J. J.</span>, <i>The Corpuscular Theory of + Matter</i>. + <br /></p> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4), by +J. 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diff --git a/20417-h/images/image459.jpg b/20417-h/images/image459.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f4b9cfd --- /dev/null +++ b/20417-h/images/image459.jpg diff --git a/20417-h/images/image459_sm.jpg b/20417-h/images/image459_sm.jpg Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..4a51bc8 --- /dev/null +++ b/20417-h/images/image459_sm.jpg diff --git a/20417.txt b/20417.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3ef4a40 --- /dev/null +++ b/20417.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12761 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4), by +J. Arthur Thomson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) + A Plain Story Simply Told + +Author: J. Arthur Thomson + +Release Date: January 22, 2007 [EBook #20417] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OUTLINE OF SCIENCE *** + + + + +Produced by Brian Janes, Leonard Johnson and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + +[Illustration: THE GREAT SCARLET SOLAR PROMINENCES, WHICH ARE SUCH A +NOTABLE FEATURE OF THE SOLAR PHENOMENA, ARE IMMENSE OUTBURSTS OF FLAMING +HYDROGEN RISING SOMETIMES TO A HEIGHT OF 500,000 MILES] + + + + +THE +OUTLINE OF SCIENCE + +A PLAIN STORY SIMPLY TOLD + + + +EDITED BY +J. ARTHUR THOMSON +REGIUS PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN THE +UNIVERSITY OF ABERDEEN + + + +WITH OVER 800 ILLUSTRATIONS +OF WHICH ABOUT 40 ARE IN COLOUR + + +IN FOUR VOLUMES + + + +G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS +NEW YORK AND LONDON +The Knickerbocker press + + + + +Copyright, 1922 +by +G. P. Putnam's Sons + + + +_First Printing April, 1922 +Second Printing April, 1922 +Third Printing April, 1922 +Fourth Printing April, 1922 +Fifth Printing June, 1922 +Sixth Printing June, 1922 +Seventh Printing June, 1922 +Eighth Printing June, 1922 +Ninth Printing August, 1922 +Tenth Printing September, 1922 +Eleventh Printing Sept., 1922 +Twelfth Printing, May, 1924_ + + +Made in the United States of America + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE + +By Professor J. Arthur Thomson + + +Was it not the great philosopher and mathematician Leibnitz who said +that the more knowledge advances the more it becomes possible to +condense it into little books? Now this "Outline of Science" is +certainly not a little book, and yet it illustrates part of the meaning +of Leibnitz's wise saying. For here within reasonable compass there is a +library of little books--an outline of many sciences. + +It will be profitable to the student in proportion to the discrimination +with which it is used. For it is not in the least meant to be of the +nature of an Encyclopaedia, giving condensed and comprehensive articles +with a big full stop at the end of each. Nor is it a collection of +"primers," beginning at the very beginning of each subject and working +methodically onwards. That is not the idea. + +What then is the aim of this book? It is to give the intelligent +student-citizen, otherwise called "the man in the street," a bunch of +intellectual keys by which to open doors which have been hitherto shut +to him, partly because he got no glimpse of the treasures behind the +doors, and partly because the portals were made forbidding by an +unnecessary display of technicalities. Laying aside conventional modes +of treatment and seeking rather to open up the subject as one might on a +walk with a friend, the work offers the student what might be called +informal introductions to the various departments of knowledge. To put +it in another way, the articles are meant to be clues which the reader +may follow till he has left his starting point very far behind. Perhaps +when he has gone far on his own he will not be ungrateful to the simple +book of "instructions to travellers" which this "Outline of Science" is +intended to be. The simple "bibliographies" appended to the various +articles will be enough to indicate "first books." Each article is meant +to be an invitation to an intellectual adventure, and the short lists of +books are merely finger-posts for the beginning of the journey. + +We confess to being greatly encouraged by the reception that has been +given to the English serial issue of "The Outline of Science." It has +been very hearty--we might almost say enthusiastic. For we agree with +Professor John Dewey, that "the future of our civilisation depends upon +the widening spread and deepening hold of the scientific habit of mind." +And we hope that this is what "The Outline of Science" makes for. +Information is all to the good; interesting information is better still; +but best of all is the education of the scientific habit of mind. +Another modern philosopher, Professor L. T. Hobhouse, has declared that +the evolutionist's mundane goal is "the mastery by the human mind of the +conditions, internal as well as external, of its life and growth." Under +the influence of this conviction "The Outline of Science" has been +written. For life is not for science, but science for life. And even +more than science, to our way of thinking, is the individual development +of the scientific way of looking at things. Science is our legacy; we +must use it if it is to be our very own. + + + + +CONTENTS + + +INTRODUCTION 3 + +I. THE ROMANCE OF THE HEAVENS 7 + + The scale of the universe--The solar system--Regions of + the sun--The surface of the sun--Measuring the speed of + light--Is the sun dying?--The planets--Venus--Is there + life on Mars?--Jupiter and Saturn--The moon--The + mountains of the moon--Meteors and comets--Millions of + meteorites--A great comet--The stellar universe--The + evolution of stars--The age of stars--The nebular + theory--Spiral nebulae--The birth and death of + stars--The shape of our universe--Astronomical + instruments. + +II. THE STORY OF EVOLUTION 53 + + The beginning of the earth--Making a home for life--The + first living creatures--The first plants--The first + animals--Beginnings of bodies--Evolution of + sex--Beginning of natural death--Procession of life + through the ages--Evolution of land animals--The flying + dragons--The first known bird--Evidences of + evolution--Factors in evolution. + +III. ADAPTATIONS TO ENVIRONMENT 113 + + The shore of the sea--The open sea--The deep sea--The + fresh waters--The dry land--The air. + +IV. THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 135 + + Animal and bird mimicry and disguise--Other kinds of + elusiveness. + +V. THE ASCENT OF MAN 153 + + Anatomical proof of man's relationship with a Simian + stock--Physiological proof--Embryological proof--Man's + pedigree--Man's arboreal apprenticeship--Tentative + men--Primitive men--Races of mankind--Steps in human + evolution--Factors in human progress. + +VI. EVOLUTION GOING ON 183 + + Evolutionary prospect for man--The fountain of change; + variability--Evolution of plants--Romance of + wheat--Changes in animal life--Story of the + salmon--Forming new habits--Experiments in locomotion; + new devices. + +VII. THE DAWN OF MIND 205 + + A caution in regard to instinct--A useful law--Senses of + fishes--The mind of a minnow--The mind and senses of + amphibians--The reptilian mind--Mind in + birds--Intelligence co-operating with instinct--The + mind of the mammal--Instinctive aptitudes--Power of + association--Why is there not more intelligence?--The + mind of monkeys--Activity for activity's + sake--Imitation--The mind of man--Body and mind. + +VIII. FOUNDATIONS OF THE UNIVERSE 243 + + The world of atoms--The energy of atoms--The discovery of + X-rays--The discovery of radium--The discovery of the + electron--The electron theory--The structure of the + atom--The new view of matter--Other new views--The + nature of electricity--Electric current--The + dynamo--Magnetism--Ether and waves--Light--What the + blue "sky" means--Light without heat--Forms of + energy--What heat is--Substitutes for coal--Dissipation + of energy--What a uniform temperature would + mean--Matter, ether, and Einstein--The tides--Origin of + the moon--The earth slowing down--The day becoming + longer. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + FACING + PAGE + +THE GREAT SCARLET SOLAR PROMINENCES, WHICH ARE SUCH A + NOTABLE FEATURE OF THE SOLAR PHENOMENA, ARE IMMENSE + OUTBURSTS OF FLAMING HYDROGEN RISING SOMETIMES TO A + HEIGHT OF 500,000 MILES + _Coloured Frontispiece_ + +LAPLACE 10 + +PROFESSOR J. C. ADAMS 10 + Photo: Royal Astronomical Society. + +PROFESSOR EDDINGTON OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY 10 + Photo: Elliot & Fry, Ltd. + +THE PLANETS, SHOWING THEIR RELATIVE DISTANCES AND + DIMENSIONS 11 + +THE MILKY WAY 14 + Photo: Harvard College Observatory. + +THE MOON ENTERING THE SHADOW CAST BY THE EARTH 14 + +THE GREAT NEBULA IN ANDROMEDA, MESSIER 31 15 + From a photograph taken at the Yerkes Observatory. + +DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MAIN LAYERS OF THE SUN 18 + +SOLAR PROMINENCES SEEN AT TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE, MAY 29, + 1919. TAKEN AT SOBRAL, BRAZIL 18 + Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich. + +THE VISIBLE SURFACE OF THE SUN 19 + Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory. + +THE SUN PHOTOGRAPHED IN THE LIGHT OF GLOWING HYDROGEN 19 + Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory. + +THE AURORA BOREALIS (_Coloured Illustration_) 20 + Reproduced from _The Forces of Nature_ (Messrs. Macmillan) + +THE GREAT SUN-SPOT OF JULY 17, 1905 22 + Yerkes Observatory. + +SOLAR PROMINENCES 22 + From photographs taken at the Yerkes Observatory. + +MARS, OCTOBER 5, 1909 23 + Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory. + +JUPITER 23 + +SATURN, NOVEMBER 19, 1911 23 + Photo: Professor E. E. Barnard, Yerkes Observatory. + +THE SPECTROSCOPE, AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT; IT + PROVIDES MEANS FOR IDENTIFYING SUBSTANCES (_Coloured + Illustration_) 24 + +THE MOON 28 + +MARS 29 + Drawings by Professor Percival Lowell. + +THE MOON, AT NINE AND THREE QUARTER DAYS 29 + +A MAP OF THE CHIEF PLAINS AND CRATERS OF THE MOON 32 + +A DIAGRAM OF A STREAM OF METEORS SHOWING THE EARTH PASSING + THROUGH THEM 32 + +COMET, SEPTEMBER 29, 1908 33 + Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich. + +COMET, OCTOBER 3, 1908 33 + Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich. + +TYPICAL SPECTRA 36 + Photo: Harvard College Observatory. + +A NEBULAR REGION SOUTH OF ZETA ORIONIS 37 + Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory. + +STAR CLUSTER IN HERCULES 37 + Photo: Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria, British Columbia. + +THE GREAT NEBULA IN ORION 40 + Photo: Yerkes Observatory. + +GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA, MARCH 23, 1914 41 + Photo: Lick Observatory. + +A SPIRAL NEBULA SEEN EDGE-ON 44 + Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory. + +100-INCH TELESCOPE, MOUNT WILSON 45 + Photo: H. J. Shepstone. + +THE YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTOR 48 + +THE DOUBLE-SLIDE PLATE-HOLDER ON YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTING + TELESCOPE 49 + Photo: H. J. Shepstone. + +MODERN DIRECT-READING SPECTROSCOPE 49 + By A. Hilger, Ltd. + +CHARLES DARWIN 56 + Photo: Rischgitz Collection. + +LORD KELVIN 56 + Photo: Rischgitz Collection. + +A GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA 57 + Photo: Lick Observatory. + +METEORITE WHICH FELL NEAR SCARBOROUGH AND IS NOW TO BE SEEN + IN THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM 57 + Photo: Natural History Museum. + +A LIMESTONE CANYON 60 + Reproduced from the Smithsonian Report, 1915. + +GEOLOGICAL TREE OF ANIMALS 61 + +DIAGRAM OF AMOEBA 61 + +A PIECE OF A REEF-BUILDING CORAL, BUILT UP BY A LARGE + COLONY OF SMALL SEA-ANEMONE-LIKE POLYPS, EACH OF WHICH + FORMS FROM THE SALTS OF THE SEA A SKELETON OR SHELL OF + LIME 64 + From the Smithsonian Report, 1917. + +A GROUP OF CHALK-FORMING ANIMALS, OR FORAMINIFERA, EACH + ABOUT THE SIZE OF A VERY SMALL PIN'S HEAD 65 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +A COMMON FORAMINIFER (POLYSTOMELLA) SHOWING THE SHELL IN + THE CENTRE AND THE OUTFLOWING NETWORK OF LIVING MATTER, + ALONG WHICH GRANULES ARE CONTINUALLY TRAVELLING, AND BY + WHICH FOOD PARTICLES ARE ENTANGLED AND DRAWN IN 65 + Reproduced by permission of the Natural History Museum + (after Max Schultze). + +A PLANT-LIKE ANIMAL, OR ZOOPHYTE, CALLED OBELIA 68 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +TRYPANOSOMA GAMBIENSE 69 + Reproduced by permission of _The Quart. Journ. Mic. Sci._ + +VOLVOX 69 + +PROTEROSPONGIA 69 + +GREEN HYDRA 72 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE BEGINNING OF INDIVIDUAL LIFE 72 + +EARTHWORM 72 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +GLASS MODEL OF A SEA-ANEMONE 72 + Reproduced from the Smithsonian Report, 1917. + +THIS DRAWING SHOWS THE EVOLUTION OF THE BRAIN FROM FISH TO + MAN 73 + +OKAPI AND GIRAFFE (_Coloured Illustration_) 74 + +DIAGRAM OF A SIMPLE REFLEX ARC IN A BACKBONELESS ANIMAL + LIKE AN EARTHWORM 76 + +THE YUCCA MOTH 76 + Photo: British Museum (Natural History). + +INCLINED PLANE OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR 76 + +VENUS' FLY-TRAP 77 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +A SPIDER SUNNING HER EGGS 77 + Reproduced by permission from _The Wonders of Instinct_ by + J. H. Fabre. + +THE HOATZIN INHABITS BRITISH GUIANA 82 + +PERIPATUS 83 + Photograph, from the British Museum (Natural History), of a + drawing by Mr. E. Wilson. + +ROCK KANGAROO CARRYING ITS YOUNG IN A POUCH 83 + Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S. + +PROFESSOR THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY (1825-95) 86 + Photo: Rischgitz. + +BARON CUVIER, 1769-1832 86 + +AN ILLUSTRATION SHOWING VARIOUS METHODS OF FLYING AND + SWOOPING 87 + +ANIMALS OF THE CAMBRIAN PERIOD 90 + From Knipe's _Nebula to Man_. + +A TRILOBITE 90 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +THE GAMBIAN MUD-FISH, PROTOPTERUS 91 + Photo: British Museum (Natural History). + +THE ARCHAEOPTERYX 91 + After William Leche of Stockholm. + +WING OF A BIRD, SHOWING THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE FEATHERS 91 + +PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION OF STRATA OF THE EARTH'S CRUST, + WITH SUGGESTIONS OF CHARACTERISTIC FOSSILS (_Coloured + Illustration_) 92 + +FOSSIL OF A PTERODACTYL OR EXTINCT FLYING DRAGON 94 + Photo: British Museum (Natural History). + +PARIASAURUS: AN EXTINCT VEGETARIAN TRIASSIC REPTILE 94 + From Knipe's _Nebula to Man_. + +TRICERATOPS: A HUGE EXTINCT REPTILE 95 + From Knipe's _Nebula to Man_. + +THE DUCKMOLE OR DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS OF AUSTRALIA 95 + Photo: _Daily Mail_. + +SKELETON OF AN EXTINCT FLIGHTLESS TOOTHED BIRD, HESPERORNIS 100 + After Marsh. + +SIX STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE HORSE, SHOWING GRADUAL +INCREASE IN SIZE 101 + After Lull and Matthew. + +DIAGRAM SHOWING SEVEN STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE + FORE-LIMBS AND HIND-LIMBS OF THE ANCESTORS OF THE MODERN + HORSE, BEGINNING WITH THE EARLIEST KNOWN PREDECESSORS OF + THE HORSE AND CULMINATING WITH THE HORSE OF TO-DAY 104 + After Marsh and Lull. + +WHAT IS MEANT BY HOMOLOGY? ESSENTIAL SIMILARITY OF + ARCHITECTURE, THOUGH THE APPEARANCES MAY BE VERY + DIFFERENT 105 + +AN EIGHT-ARMED CUTTLEFISH OR OCTOPUS ATTACKING A SMALL CRAB 116 + +A COMMON STARFISH, WHICH HAS LOST THREE ARMS AND IS + REGROWING THEM 116 + After Professor W. C. McIntosh. + +THE PAPER NAUTILUS (ARGONAUTA), AN ANIMAL OF THE OPEN SEA 117 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +A PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING A STARFISH (_Asterias Forreri_) WHICH + HAS CAPTURED A LARGE FISH 117 + +TEN-ARMED CUTTLEFISH OR SQUID IN THE ACT OF CAPTURING A FISH 118 + +GREENLAND WHALE 118 + +MINUTE TRANSPARENT EARLY STAGE OF A SEA-CUCUMBER 119 + +AN INTRICATE COLONY OF OPEN-SEA ANIMALS (_Physophora + Hydrostatica_) RELATED TO THE PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR 119 + Photo: British Museum (Natural History). + +A SCENE IN THE GREAT DEPTHS 119 + +SEA-HORSE IN SARGASSO WEED 120 + +LARGE MARINE LAMPREYS (_Petromyzon Marinus_) 120 + +THE DEEP-SEA FISH _Chiasmodon Niger_ 120 + +DEEP-SEA FISHES 120 + +FLINTY SKELETON OF VENUS' FLOWER BASKET (_Euplectella_), A + JAPANESE DEEP-SEA SPONGE 121 + +EGG DEPOSITORY OF _Semotilus Atromaculatus_ 121 + +THE BITTERLING (_Rhodeus Amarus_) 124 + +WOOLLY OPOSSUM CARRYING HER FAMILY 124 + Photo: W. S. Berridge. + +SURINAM TOAD (_Pipa Americana_) WITH YOUNG ONES HATCHING + OUT OF LITTLE POCKETS ON HER BACK 125 + +STORM PETREL OR MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKEN (_Procellaria + Pelagica_) 125 + +ALBATROSS: A CHARACTERISTIC PELAGIC BIRD OF THE SOUTHERN + SEA 128 + +THE PRAYING MANTIS (_Mantis Religiosa_) 138 + +PROTECTIVE COLORATION: A WINTER SCENE IN NORTH SCANDINAVIA 138 + +THE VARIABLE MONITOR (_Varanus_) 139 + Photo: A. A. White. + +BANDED KRAIT: A VERY POISONOUS SNAKE WITH ALTERNATING + YELLOW AND DARK BANDS 140 + Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S. + +THE WARTY CHAMELEON 140 + Photos: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S. + +SEASONAL COLOUR-CHANGE: SUMMER SCENE IN NORTH SCANDINAVIA 141 + +PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE 142 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +WHEN ONLY A FEW DAYS OLD, YOUNG BITTERN BEGIN TO STRIKE THE + SAME ATTITUDE AS THEIR PARENTS, THRUSTING THEIR BILLS + UPWARDS AND DRAWING THEIR BODIES UP SO THAT THEY RESEMBLE + A BUNCH OF REEDS 143 + +PROTECTIVE COLORATION OR CAMOUFLAGING, GIVING ANIMALS A + GARMENT OF INVISIBILITY (_Coloured Illustration_) 144 + +ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF PROTECTIVE COLORATION (_Coloured + Illustration_) 144 + +DEAD-LEAF BUTTERFLY (_Kallima Inachis_) FROM INDIA 146 + +PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN A SMALL SPIDER (_to the + left_) AND AN ANT (_to the right_) 146 + +THE WASP BEETLE, WHICH, WHEN MOVING AMONGST THE BRANCHES, + GIVES A WASP-LIKE IMPRESSION 147 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +HERMIT-CRAB WITH PARTNER SEA-ANEMONES 147 + +CUCKOO-SPIT 147 + Photo: G. P. Duffus. + +CHIMPANZEE, SITTING 156 + Photo: New York Zoological Park. + +CHIMPANZEE, ILLUSTRATING WALKING POWERS 156 + Photo: New York Zoological Park. + +SURFACE VIEW OF THE BRAINS OF MAN AND CHIMPANZEE 157 + +SIDE-VIEW OF CHIMPANZEE'S HEAD 157 + Photo: New York Zoological Park. + +PROFILE VIEW OF HEAD OF PITHECANTHROPUS, THE JAVA APE-MAN, + RECONSTRUCTED FROM THE SKULL-CAP 157 + After a model by J. H. McGregor. + +THE FLIPPER OF A WHALE AND THE HAND OF A MAN 157 + +THE GORILLA, INHABITING THE FOREST TRACT OF THE GABOON IN + AFRICA (_Coloured Illustration_) 158 + +"DARWIN'S POINT" ON HUMAN EAR 160 + +PROFESSOR SIR ARTHUR KEITH, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S. 161 + Photo: J. Russell & Sons. + +SKELETONS OF THE GIBBON, ORANG, CHIMPANZEE, GORILLA, MAN 161 + After T. H. Huxley (by permission of Messrs. Macmillan). + +SIDE-VIEW OF SKULL OF MAN AND GORILLA 164 + +THE SKULL AND BRAIN-CASE OF PITHECANTHROPUS, THE JAVA + APE-MAN, AS RESTORED BY J. H. MCGREGOR FROM THE SCANTY + REMAINS 164 + +SUGGESTED GENEALOGICAL TREE OF MAN AND ANTHROPOID APES 165 + +THE GIBBON IS LOWER THAN THE OTHER APES AS REGARDS ITS + SKULL AND DENTITION, BUT IT IS HIGHLY SPECIALIZED IN THE + ADAPTATION OF ITS LIMBS TO ARBOREAL LIFE 166 + Photo: New York Zoological Park. + +THE ORANG HAS A HIGH ROUNDED SKULL AND A LONG FACE 166 + Photo: New York Zoological Park. + +COMPARISONS OF THE SKELETONS OF HORSE AND MAN 167 + Photo: British Museum (Natural History). + +A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE JAVA MAN (_Coloured Illustration_) 168 + +PROFILE VIEW OF THE HEAD OF PITHECANTHROPUS, THE JAVA + APE-MAN--AN EARLY OFFSHOOT FROM THE MAIN LINE OF MAN'S + ASCENT 170 + After a model by J. H. McGregor. + +PILTDOWN SKULL 170 + From the reconstruction by J. H. McGregor. + +SAND-PIT AT MAUER, NEAR HEIDELBERG: DISCOVERY SITE OF THE + JAW OF HEIDELBERG MAN 171 + Reproduced by permission from Osborn's + _Men of the Old Stone Age_. + +PAINTINGS ON THE ROOF OF THE ALTAMIRA CAVE IN NORTHERN + SPAIN, SHOWING A BISON AND A GALLOPING BOAR (_Coloured + Illustration_) 172 + +PILTDOWN MAN, PRECEDING NEANDERTHAL MAN, PERHAPS 100,000 TO + 150,000 YEARS AGO 174 + After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor. + +THE NEANDERTHAL MAN OF LA CHAPELLE-AUX-SAINTS 175 + After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor. + +RESTORATION BY A. FORESTIER OF THE RHODESIAN MAN WHOSE + SKULL WAS DISCOVERED IN 1921 176-177 + +SIDE VIEW OF A PREHISTORIC HUMAN SKULL DISCOVERED IN 1921 + IN BROKEN HILL CAVE, NORTHERN RHODESIA 178 + Photo: British Museum (Natural History). + +A CROMAGNON MAN OR CROMAGNARD, REPRESENTATIVE OF A STRONG + ARTISTIC RACE LIVING IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE IN THE UPPER + PLEISTOCENE, PERHAPS 25,000 YEARS AGO 178 + After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor. + +PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING A NARROW PASSAGE IN THE CAVERN OF + FONT-DE-GAUME ON THE BEUNE 179 + Reproduced by permission from Osborn's + _Men of the Old Stone Age_. + +A MAMMOTH DRAWN ON THE WALL OF THE FONT-DE-GAUME CAVERN 179 + +A GRAZING BISON, DELICATELY AND CAREFULLY DRAWN, ENGRAVED + ON A WALL OF THE ALTAMIRA CAVE, NORTHERN SPAIN 179 + +PHOTOGRAPH OF A MEDIAN SECTION THROUGH THE SHELL OF THE + PEARLY NAUTILUS 186 + +PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ENTIRE SHELL OF THE PEARLY NAUTILUS 186 + +NAUTILUS 186 + +SHOEBILL 187 + Photo: W. S. Berridge. + +THE WALKING-FISH OR MUD-SKIPPER (_Periophthalmus_), COMMON + AT THE MOUTHS OF RIVERS IN TROPICAL AFRICA, ASIA, AND + NORTH-WEST AUSTRALIA 190 + +THE AUSTRALIAN MORE-PORK OR PODARGUS 190 + Photo: _The Times_. + +PELICAN'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR CATCHING AND STORING FISHES 191 + +SPOONBILL'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR SIFTING THE MUD AND CATCHING + THE SMALL ANIMALS, E.G. FISHES, CRUSTACEANS, INSECT + LARVAE, WHICH LIVE THERE 191 + +AVOCET'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR A CURIOUS SIDEWAYS SCOOPING IN + THE SHORE-POOLS AND CATCHING SMALL ANIMALS 191 + +HORNBILL'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR EXCAVATING A NEST IN A TREE, + AND ALSO FOR SEIZING AND BREAKING DIVERSE FORMS OF FOOD, + FROM MAMMALS TO TORTOISES, FROM ROOTS TO FRUITS 191 + +FALCON'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR SEIZING, KILLING, AND TEARING + SMALL MAMMALS AND BIRDS 191 + +PUFFIN'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR CATCHING SMALL FISHES NEAR THE + SURFACE OF THE SEA, AND FOR HOLDING THEM WHEN CAUGHT AND + CARRYING THEM TO THE NEST 191 + +LIFE-HISTORY OF A FROG 192 + +HIND-LEG OF WHIRLIGIG BEETLE WHICH HAS BECOME BEAUTIFULLY + MODIFIED FOR AQUATIC LOCOMOTION 192 + Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S. + +THE BIG ROBBER-CRAB (_Birgus Latro_), THAT CLIMBS THE + COCONUT PALM AND BREAKS OFF THE NUTS 193 + +EARLY LIFE-HISTORY OF THE SALMON 196 + +THE SALMON LEAPING AT THE FALL IS A MOST FASCINATING SPECTACLE 197 + +DIAGRAM OF THE LIFE-HISTORY OF THE COMMON EEL (_Anguilla + Vulgaris_) 200 + +CASSOWARY 201 + Photo: Gambier Bolton. + +THE KIWI, ANOTHER FLIGHTLESS BIRD, OF REMARKABLE + APPEARANCE, HABITS, AND STRUCTURE 201 + Photo: Gambier Bolton. + +THE AUSTRALIAN FRILLED LIZARD, WHICH IS AT PRESENT TRYING + TO BECOME A BIPED 202 + +A CARPET OF GOSSAMER 202 + +THE WATER SPIDER 203 + +JACKDAW BALANCING ON A GATEPOST 208 + Photo: O. J. Wilkinson. + +TWO OPOSSUMS FEIGNING DEATH 208 + From Ingersoll's _The Wit of the Wild_. + +MALE OF THREE-SPINED STICKLEBACK, MAKING A NEST OF + WATER-WEED, GLUED TOGETHER BY VISCID THREADS SECRETED + FROM THE KIDNEYS AT THE BREEDING SEASON 209 + +A FEMALE STICKLEBACK ENTERS THE NEST WHICH THE MALE HAS + MADE, LAYS THE EGGS INSIDE, AND THEN DEPARTS 209 + +HOMING PIGEON 212 + Photo: Imperial War Museum. + +CARRIER PIGEON 212 + Photo: Imperial War Museum. + +YELLOW-CROWNED PENGUIN 213 + Photo: James's Press Agency. + +PENGUINS ARE "A PECULIAR PEOPLE" 213 + Photo: Cagcombe & Co. + +HARPY-EAGLE 216 + Photo: W. S. Berridge. + +THE DINGO OR WILD DOG OF AUSTRALIA, PERHAPS AN INDIGENOUS + WILD SPECIES, PERHAPS A DOMESTICATED DOG THAT HAS GONE + WILD OR FERAL 216 + Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S. + +WOODPECKER HAMMERING AT A COTTON-REEL, ATTACHED TO A TREE 217 + +THE BEAVER 220 + +THE THRUSH AT ITS ANVIL 221 + Photo: F. R. Hinkins & Son. + +ALSATIAN WOLF-DOG 226 + Photo: Lafayette. + +THE POLAR BEAR OF THE FAR NORTH 227 + Photo: W. S. Berridge. + +AN ALLIGATOR "YAWNING" IN EXPECTATION OF FOOD 227 + From the Smithsonian Report, 1914. + +BABY ORANG 232 + Photo: W. P. Dando. + +ORANG-UTAN 232 + Photo: Gambier Bolton. + +CHIMPANZEE 233 + Photo: James's Press Agency. + +BABY ORANG-UTAN 233 + Photo: James's Press Agency. + +ORANG-UTAN 233 + Photo: James's Press Agency. + +BABY CHIMPANZEES 233 + Photo: James's Press Agency. + +CHIMPANZEE 238 + Photo: W. P. Dando. + +YOUNG CHEETAHS, OR HUNTING LEOPARDS 238 + Photo: W. S. Berridge. + +COMMON OTTER 239 + Photo: C. Reid. + +SIR ERNEST RUTHERFORD 246 + Photo: Elliott & Fry. + +J. CLERK-MAXWELL 246 + Photo: Rischgitz Collection. + +SIR WILLIAM CROOKES 247 + Photo: Ernest H. Mills. + +PROFESSOR SIR W. H. BRAGG 247 + Photo: Photo Press. + +COMPARATIVE SIZES OF MOLECULES 250 + +INCONCEIVABLE NUMBERS AND INCONCEIVABLY SMALL PARTICLES 250 + +WHAT IS A MILLION? 250 + +THE BROWNIAN MOVEMENT 251 + +A SOAP BUBBLE (_Coloured Illustration_) 252 + Reproduced from _The Forces of Nature_ (Messrs. Macmillan). + +DETECTING A SMALL QUANTITY OF MATTER 254 + From _Scientific Ideas of To-day_. + +THIS X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH IS THAT OF A HAND OF A SOLDIER + WOUNDED IN THE GREAT WAR 254 + Reproduced by permission of X-Rays Ltd. + +AN X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH OF A GOLF BALL, REVEALING AN IMPERFECT + CORE 254 + Photo: National Physical Laboratory. + +A WONDERFUL X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH 255 + Reproduced by permission of X-Rays Ltd. + +ELECTRIC DISCHARGE IN A VACUUM TUBE 258 + +THE RELATIVE SIZES OF ATOMS AND ELECTRONS 258 + +ELECTRONS STREAMING FROM THE SUN TO THE EARTH 259 + +PROFESSOR SIR J. J. THOMSON 262 + +ELECTRONS PRODUCED BY PASSAGE OF X-RAYS THROUGH AIR 262 + From the Smithsonian Report, 1915. + +MAGNETIC DEFLECTION OF RADIUM RAYS 263 + +PROFESSOR R. A. MILLIKAN'S APPARATUS FOR COUNTING ELECTRONS 263 + Reproduced by permission of _Scientific American_. + +MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE 266 + +THE THEORY OF ELECTRONS 267 + +ARRANGEMENTS OF ATOMS IN A DIAMOND 267 + +DISINTEGRATION OF ATOMS 270 + +SILK TASSEL ELECTRIFIED 270 + Reproduced by permission from _The Interpretation of Radium_ + (John Murray). + +SILK TASSEL DISCHARGED BY THE RAYS FROM RADIUM 270 + +A HUGE ELECTRIC SPARK 271 + +ELECTRICAL ATTRACTION BETWEEN COMMON OBJECTS 271 + From _Scientific Ideas of To-day_. + +AN ELECTRIC SPARK 274 + Photo: Leadbeater. + +AN ETHER DISTURBANCE AROUND AN ELECTRON CURRENT 275 + From _Scientific Ideas of To-day_. + +LIGHTNING 278 + Photo: H. J. Shepstone. + +LIGHT WAVES 279 + +THE MAGNETIC CIRCUIT OF AN ELECTRIC CURRENT 279 + +THE MAGNET 279 + +ROTATING DISC OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON FOR MIXING COLOURS + (_Coloured Illustration_) 280 + +WAVE SHAPES 282 + +THE POWER OF A MAGNET 282 + +THE SPEED OF LIGHT 283 + Photo: The Locomotive Publishing Co., Ltd. + +ROTATING DISC OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON FOR MIXING COLOURS 283 + +NIAGARA FALLS 286 + +TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY 287 + Photo: Stephen Cribb. + +"BOILING" A KETTLE ON ICE 287 + Photo: Underwood & Underwood. + +THE CAUSE OF TIDES 290 + +THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT 290 + Photo: G. Brocklehurst. + +A BIG SPRING TIDE, THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT 291 + Photo: G. Brocklehurst. + + + + +The Outline of Science + + + + +INTRODUCTION + + +There is abundant evidence of a widened and deepened interest in modern +science. How could it be otherwise when we think of the magnitude and +the eventfulness of recent advances? + +But the interest of the general public would be even greater than it is +if the makers of new knowledge were more willing to expound their +discoveries in ways that could be "understanded of the people." No one +objects very much to technicalities in a game or on board a yacht, and +they are clearly necessary for terse and precise scientific description. +It is certain, however, that they can be reduced to a minimum without +sacrificing accuracy, when the object in view is to explain "the gist of +the matter." So this OUTLINE OF SCIENCE is meant for the general reader, +who lacks both time and opportunity for special study, and yet would +take an intelligent interest in the progress of science which is making +the world always new. + +The story of the triumphs of modern science is one of which Man may well +be proud. Science reads the secret of the distant star and anatomises +the atom; foretells the date of the comet's return and predicts the +kinds of chickens that will hatch from a dozen eggs; discovers the laws +of the wind that bloweth where it listeth and reduces to order the +disorder of disease. Science is always setting forth on Columbus +voyages, discovering new worlds and conquering them by understanding. +For Knowledge means Foresight and Foresight means Power. + +The idea of Evolution has influenced all the sciences, forcing us to +think of _everything_ as with a history behind it, for we have travelled +far since Darwin's day. The solar system, the earth, the mountain +ranges, and the great deeps, the rocks and crystals, the plants and +animals, man himself and his social institutions--all must be seen as +the outcome of a long process of Becoming. There are some eighty-odd +chemical elements on the earth to-day, and it is now much more than a +suggestion that these are the outcome of an inorganic evolution, element +giving rise to element, going back and back to some primeval stuff, from +which they were all originally derived, infinitely long ago. No idea has +been so powerful a tool in the fashioning of New Knowledge as this +simple but profound idea of Evolution, that the present is the child of +the past and the parent of the future. And with the picture of a +continuity of evolution from nebula to social systems comes a promise of +an increasing control--a promise that Man will become not only a more +accurate student, but a more complete master of his world. + +It is characteristic of modern science that the whole world is seen to +be more vital than before. Everywhere there has been a passage from the +static to the dynamic. Thus the new revelations of the constitution of +matter, which we owe to the discoveries of men like Professor Sir J. J. +Thomson, Professor Sir Ernest Rutherford, and Professor Frederick Soddy, +have shown the very dust to have a complexity and an activity heretofore +unimagined. Such phrases as "dead" matter and "inert" matter have gone +by the board. + +The new theory of the atom amounts almost to a new conception of the +universe. It bids fair to reveal to us many of nature's hidden secrets. +The atom is no longer the indivisible particle of matter it was once +understood to be. We know now that there is an atom within the +atom--that what we thought was elementary can be dissociated and broken +up. The present-day theories of the atom and the constitution of matter +are the outcome of the comparatively recent discovery of such things as +radium, the X-rays, and the wonderful revelations of such instruments as +the spectroscope and other highly perfected scientific instruments. + +The advent of the electron theory has thrown a flood of light on what +before was hidden or only dimly guessed at. It has given us a new +conception of the framework of the universe. We are beginning to know +and realise of what matter is made and what electric phenomena mean. We +can glimpse the vast stores of energy locked up in matter. The new +knowledge has much to tell us about the origin and phenomena, not only +of our own planet, but other planets, of the stars, and the sun. New +light is thrown on the source of the sun's heat; we can make more than +guesses as to its probable age. The great question to-day is: is there +_one_ primordial substance from which all the varying forms of matter +have been evolved? + +But the discovery of electrons is only one of the revolutionary changes +which give modern science an entrancing interest. + +As in chemistry and physics, so in the science of living creatures there +have been recent advances that have changed the whole prospect. A good +instance is afforded by the discovery of the "hormones," or chemical +messengers, which are produced by ductless glands, such as the thyroid, +the supra-renal, and the pituitary, and are distributed throughout the +body by the blood. The work of physiologists like Professor Starling and +Professor Bayliss has shown that these chemical messengers regulate what +may be called the "pace" of the body, and bring about that regulated +harmony and smoothness of working which we know as health. It is not too +much to say that the discovery of hormones has changed the whole of +physiology. Our knowledge of the human body far surpasses that of the +past generation. + +The persistent patience of microscopists and technical improvements like +the "ultramicroscope" have greatly increased our knowledge of the +invisible world of life. To the bacteria of a past generation have been +added a multitude of microscopic _animal_ microbes, such as that which +causes Sleeping Sickness. The life-histories and the weird ways of many +important parasites have been unravelled; and here again knowledge means +mastery. To a degree which has almost surpassed expectations there has +been a revelation of the intricacy of the stones and mortar of the house +of life, and the microscopic study of germ-cells has wonderfully +supplemented the epoch-making experimental study of heredity which began +with Mendel. It goes without saying that no one can call himself +educated who does not understand the central and simple ideas of +Mendelism and other new departures in biology. + +The procession of life through the ages and the factors in the sublime +movement; the peopling of the earth by plants and animals and the +linking of life to life in subtle inter-relations, such as those between +flowers and their insect-visitors; the life-histories of individual +types and the extraordinary results of the new inquiry called +"experimental embryology"--these also are among the subjects with which +this OUTLINE will deal. + +The behaviour of animals is another fascinating study, leading to a +provisional picture of the dawn of mind. Indeed, no branch of science +surpasses in interest that which deals with the ways and habits--the +truly wonderful devices, adaptations, and instincts--of insects, birds, +and mammals. We no longer deny a degree of intelligence to some members +of the animal world--even the line between intelligence and reason is +sometimes difficult to find. + +Fresh contacts between physiology and the study of man's mental life; +precise studies of the ways of children and wild peoples; and new +methods like those of the psycho-analyst must also receive the attention +they deserve, for they are giving us a "New Psychology" and the claims +of psychical research must also be recognised by the open-minded. + +The general aim of the OUTLINE is to give the reader a clear and concise +view of the essentials of present-day science, so that he may follow +with intelligence the modern advance and share appreciatively in man's +continued conquest of his kingdom. + +J. ARTHUR THOMSON. + + + + +I + +THE ROMANCE OF THE HEAVENS + + + + +THE SCALE OF THE UNIVERSE--THE SOLAR SYSTEM + + +Sec. 1 + +The story of the triumphs of modern science naturally opens with +Astronomy. The picture of the Universe which the astronomer offers to us +is imperfect; the lines he traces are often faint and uncertain. There +are many problems which have been solved, there are just as many about +which there is doubt, and notwithstanding our great increase in +knowledge, there remain just as many which are entirely unsolved. + + The problem of the structure and duration of the universe [said the + great astronomer Simon Newcomb] is the most far-reaching with which + the mind has to deal. Its solution may be regarded as the ultimate + object of stellar astronomy, the possibility of reaching which has + occupied the minds of thinkers since the beginning of civilisation. + Before our time the problem could be considered only from the + imaginative or the speculative point of view. Although we can to-day + attack it to a limited extent by scientific methods, it must be + admitted that we have scarcely taken more than the first step toward + the actual solution.... What is the duration of the universe in + time? Is it fitted to last for ever in its present form, or does it + contain within itself the seeds of dissolution? Must it, in the + course of time, in we know not how many millions of ages, be + transformed into something very different from what it now is? This + question is intimately associated with the question whether the + stars form a system. If they do, we may suppose that system to be + permanent in its general features; if not, we must look further for + our conclusions. + + +The Heavenly Bodies + +The heavenly bodies fall into two very distinct classes so far as their +relation to our Earth is concerned; the one class, a very small one, +comprises a sort of colony of which the Earth is a member. These bodies +are called _planets_, or wanderers. There are eight of them, including +the Earth, and they all circle round the sun. Their names, in the order +of their distance from the sun, are Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, +Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and of these Mercury, the nearest to +the sun, is rarely seen by the naked eye. Uranus is practically +invisible, and Neptune quite so. These eight planets, together with the +sun, constitute, as we have said, a sort of little colony; this colony +is called the Solar System. + +The second class of heavenly bodies are those which lie _outside_ the +solar system. Every one of those glittering points we see on a starlit +night is at an immensely greater distance from us than is any member of +the Solar System. Yet the members of this little colony of ours, judged +by terrestrial standards, are at enormous distances from one another. If +a shell were shot in a straight line from one side of Neptune's orbit to +the other it would take five hundred years to complete its journey. Yet +this distance, the greatest in the Solar System as now known (excepting +the far swing of some of the comets), is insignificant compared to the +distances of the stars. One of the nearest stars to the earth that we +know of is Alpha Centauri, estimated to be some twenty-five million +millions of miles away. Sirius, the brightest star in the firmament, is +double this distance from the earth. + +We must imagine the colony of planets to which we belong as a compact +little family swimming in an immense void. At distances which would take +our shell, not hundreds, but millions of years to traverse, we reach +the stars--or rather, a star, for the distances between stars are as +great as the distance between the nearest of them and our Sun. The +Earth, the planet on which we live, is a mighty globe bounded by a crust +of rock many miles in thickness; the great volumes of water which we +call our oceans lie in the deeper hollows of the crust. Above the +surface an ocean of invisible gas, the atmosphere, rises to a height of +about three hundred miles, getting thinner and thinner as it ascends. + +[Illustration: LAPLACE + +One of the greatest mathematical astronomers of all time and the +originator of the nebular theory.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Royal Astronomical Society._ + +PROFESSOR J. C. ADAMS + +who, anticipating the great French mathematician, Le Verrier, discovered +the planet Neptune by calculations based on the irregularities of the +orbit of Uranus. One of the most dramatic discoveries in the history of +Science.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Elliott & Fry, Ltd._ + +PROFESSOR EDDINGTON + +Professor of Astronomy at Cambridge. The most famous of the English +disciples of Einstein.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 1.--DIAGRAMS OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM + +THE COMPARATIVE DISTANCES OF THE PLANETS + +(Drawn approximately to scale) + +The isolation of the Solar System is very great. On the above scale the +_nearest_ star (at a distance of 25 trillions of miles) would be over +_one half mile_ away. The hours, days, and years are the measures of +time as we use them; that is: Jupiter's "Day" (one rotation of the +planet) is made in ten of _our hours_; Mercury's "Year" (one revolution +of the planet around the Sun) is eighty-eight of _our days_. Mercury's +"Day" and "Year" are the same. This planet turns always the same side to +the Sun.] + +[Illustration: THE COMPARATIVE SIZES OF THE SUN AND THE PLANETS (Drawn +approximately to scale) + +On this scale the Sun would be 17-1/2 inches in diameter; it is far +greater than all the planets put together. Jupiter, in turn, is greater +than all the other planets put together.] + +Except when the winds rise to a high speed, we seem to live in a very +tranquil world. At night, when the glare of the sun passes out of our +atmosphere, the stars and planets seem to move across the heavens with a +stately and solemn slowness. It was one of the first discoveries of +modern astronomy that this movement is only apparent. The apparent +creeping of the stars across the heavens at night is accounted for by +the fact that the earth turns upon its axis once in every twenty-four +hours. When we remember the size of the earth we see that this implies a +prodigious speed. + +In addition to this the earth revolves round the sun at a speed of more +than a thousand miles a minute. Its path round the sun, year in year +out, measures about 580,000,000 miles. The earth is held closely to this +path by the gravitational pull of the sun, which has a mass 333,432 +times that of the earth. If at any moment the sun ceased to exert this +pull the earth would instantly fly off into space straight in the +direction in which it was moving at the time, that is to say, at a +tangent. This tendency to fly off at a tangent is continuous. It is the +balance between it and the sun's pull which keeps the earth to her +almost circular orbit. In the same way the seven other planets are held +to their orbits. + +Circling round the earth, in the same way as the earth circles round the +sun, is our moon. Sometimes the moon passes directly between us and the +sun, and cuts off the light from us. We then have a total or partial +eclipse of the sun. At other times the earth passes directly between the +sun and the moon, and causes an eclipse of the moon. The great ball of +the earth naturally trails a mighty shadow across space, and the moon is +"eclipsed" when it passes into this. + +The other seven planets, five of which have moons of their own, circle +round the sun as the earth does. The sun's mass is immensely larger than +that of all the planets put together, and all of them would be drawn +into it and perish if they did not travel rapidly round it in gigantic +orbits. So the eight planets, spinning round on their axes, follow their +fixed paths round the sun. The planets are secondary bodies, but they +are most important, because they are the only globes in which there can +be life, as we know life. + +If we could be transported in some magical way to an immense distance in +space above the sun, we should see our Solar System as it is drawn in +the accompanying diagram (Fig. 1), except that the planets would be mere +specks, faintly visible in the light which they receive from the sun. +(This diagram is drawn approximately to scale.) If we moved still +farther away, trillions of miles away, the planets would fade entirely +out of view, and the sun would shrink into a point of fire, a star. And +here you begin to realize the nature of the universe. _The sun is a +star. The stars are suns._ Our sun looks big simply because of its +comparative nearness to us. The universe is a stupendous collection of +millions of stars or suns, many of which may have planetary families +like ours. + + +Sec. 2 + +The Scale of the Universe + +How many stars are there? A glance at a photograph of star-clouds will +tell at once that it is quite impossible to count them. The fine +photograph reproduced in Figure 2 represents a very small patch of that +pale-white belt, the Milky Way, which spans the sky at night. It is true +that this is a particularly rich area of the Milky Way, but the entire +belt of light has been resolved in this way into masses or clouds of +stars. Astronomers have counted the stars in typical districts here and +there, and from these partial counts we get some idea of the total +number of stars. There are estimated to be between two and three +thousand million stars. + +Yet these stars are separated by inconceivable distances from each +other, and it is one of the greatest triumphs of modern astronomy to +have mastered, so far, the scale of the universe. For several centuries +astronomers have known the relative distances from each other of the sun +and the planets. If they could discover the actual distance of any one +planet from any other, they could at once tell all the distances within +the Solar System. + +The sun is, on the latest measurements, at an average distance of +92,830,000 miles from the earth, for as the orbit of the earth is not a +true circle, this distance varies. This means that in six months from +now the earth will be right at the opposite side of its path round the +sun, or 185,000,000 miles away from where it is now. Viewed or +photographed from two positions so wide apart, the nearest stars show a +tiny "shift" against the background of the most distant stars, and that +is enough for the mathematician. He can calculate the distance of any +star near enough to show this "shift." We have found that the nearest +star to the earth, a recently discovered star, is twenty-five trillion +miles away. Only thirty stars are known to be within a hundred trillion +miles of us. + +This way of measuring does not, however, take us very far away in the +heavens. There are only a few hundred stars within five hundred trillion +miles of the earth, and at that distance the "shift" of a star against +the background (parallax, the astronomer calls it) is so minute that +figures are very uncertain. At this point the astronomer takes up a new +method. He learns the different types of stars, and then he is able to +deduce more or less accurately the distance of a star of a known type +from its faintness. He, of course, has instruments for gauging their +light. As a result of twenty years work in this field, it is now known +that the more distant stars of the Milky Way are at least a hundred +thousand trillion (100,000,000,000,000,000) miles away from the sun. + +Our sun is in a more or less central region of the universe, or a few +hundred trillion miles from the actual centre. The remainder of the +stars, which are all outside our Solar System, are spread out, +apparently, in an enormous disc-like collection, so vast that even a ray +of light, which travels at the rate of 186,000 miles a second, would +take 50,000 years to travel from one end of it to the other. This, then +is what we call our universe. + + +Are there other Universes? + +Why do we say "our universe"? Why not _the_ universe? It is now believed +by many of our most distinguished astronomers that our colossal family +of stars is only one of many universes. By a universe an astronomer +means any collection of stars which are close enough to control each +other's movements by gravitation; and it is clear that there might be +many universes, in this sense, separated from each other by profound +abysses of space. Probably there are. + +For a long time we have been familiar with certain strange objects in +the heavens which are called "spiral nebulae" (Fig 4). We shall see at a +later stage what a nebula is, and we shall see that some astronomers +regard these spiral nebulae as worlds "in the making." But some of the +most eminent astronomers believe that they are separate +universes--"island-universes" they call them--or great collections of +millions of stars like our universe. There are certain peculiarities in +the structure of the Milky Way which lead these astronomers to think +that our universe may be a spiral nebula, and that the other spiral +nebulae are "other universes." + +[Illustration: _Photo: Harvard College Observatory._ + +FIG. 2.--THE MILKY WAY + +Note the cloud-like effect.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 3--THE MOON ENTERING THE SHADOW CAST BY THE EARTH + +The diagram shows the Moon partially eclipsed.] + +[Illustration: _From a photograph taken at the Yerkes Observatory_ + +FIG. 4.--THE GREAT NEBULA IN ANDROMEDA, MESSIER 31] + +Vast as is the Solar System, then, it is excessively minute in +comparison with the Stellar System, the universe of the Stars, which is +on a scale far transcending anything the human mind can apprehend. + + +THE SOLAR SYSTEM + +THE SUN + + +Sec. 1 + +But now let us turn to the Solar System, and consider the members of our +own little colony. + +Within the Solar System there are a large number of problems that +interest us. What is the size, mass, and distance of each of the +planets? What satellites, like our Moon, do they possess? What are their +temperatures? And those other, sporadic members of our system, comets +and meteors, what are they? What are their movements? How do they +originate? And the Sun itself, what is its composition, what is the +source of its heat, how did it originate? Is it running down? + +These last questions introduce us to a branch of astronomy which is +concerned with the physical constitution of the stars, a study which, +not so very many years ago, may well have appeared inconceivable. But +the spectroscope enables us to answer even these questions, and the +answer opens up questions of yet greater interest. We find that the +stars can be arranged in an order of development--that there are stars +at all stages of their life-history. The main lines of the evolution of +the stellar universe can be worked out. In the sun and stars we have +furnaces with temperatures enormously high; it is in such conditions +that substances are resolved into their simplest forms, and it is thus +we are enabled to obtain a knowledge of the most primitive forms of +matter. It is in this direction that the spectroscope (which we shall +refer to immediately) has helped us so much. It is to this wonderful +instrument that we owe our knowledge of the composition of the sun and +stars, as we shall see. + + "That the spectroscope will detect the millionth of a milligram of + matter, and on that account has discovered new elements, commands + our admiration; but when we find in addition that it will detect the + nature of forms of matter trillions of miles away, and moreover, + that it will measure the velocities with which these forms of matter + are moving with an absurdly small per cent. of possible error, we + can easily acquiesce in the statement that it is the greatest + instrument ever devised by the brain and hand of man." + +Such are some of the questions with which modern astronomy deals. To +answer them requires the employment of instruments of almost incredible +refinement and exactitude and also the full resources of mathematical +genius. Whether astronomy be judged from the point of view of the +phenomena studied, the vast masses, the immense distances, the aeons of +time, or whether it be judged as a monument of human ingenuity, +patience, and the rarest type of genius, it is certainly one of the +grandest, as it is also one of the oldest, of the sciences. + + +The Solar System + +In the Solar System we include all those bodies dependent on the sun +which circulate round it at various distances, deriving their light and +heat from the sun--the planets and their moons, certain comets and a +multitude of meteors: in other words, all bodies whose movements in +space are determined by the gravitational pull of the sun. + + +The Sun + +Thanks to our wonderful modern instruments and the ingenious methods +used by astronomers, we have to-day a remarkable knowledge of the sun. + +Look at the figure of the sun in the frontispiece. The picture +represents an eclipse of the sun; the dark body of the moon has screened +the sun's shining disc and taken the glare out of our eyes; we see a +silvery halo surrounding the great orb on every side. It is the sun's +atmosphere, or "crown" (corona), stretching for millions of miles into +space in the form of a soft silvery-looking light; probably much of its +light is sunlight reflected from particles of dust, although the +spectroscope shows an element in the corona that has not so far been +detected anywhere else in the universe and which in consequence has been +named Coronium. + +We next notice in the illustration that at the base of the halo there +are red flames peeping out from the edges of the hidden disc. When one +remembers that the sun is 866,000 miles in diameter, one hardly needs to +be told that these flames are really gigantic. We shall see what they +are presently. + + +Regions of the Sun + +The astronomer has divided the sun into definite concentric regions or +layers. These layers envelop the nucleus or central body of the sun +somewhat as the atmosphere envelops our earth. It is through these +vapour layers that the bright white body of the sun is seen. Of the +innermost region, the heart or nucleus of the sun, we know almost +nothing. The central body or nucleus is surrounded by a brilliantly +luminous envelope or layer of vaporous matter which is what we see when +we look at the sun and which the astronomer calls the photosphere. + +Above--that is, overlying--the photosphere there is a second layer of +glowing gases, which is known as the reversing layer. This layer is +cooler than the underlying photosphere; it forms a veil of smoke-like +haze and is of from 500 to 1,000 miles in thickness. + +A third layer or envelope immediately lying over the last one is the +region known as the chromosphere. The chromosphere extends from 5,000 +to 10,000 miles in thickness--a "sea" of red tumultuous surging fire. +Chief among the glowing gases is the vapour of hydrogen. The intense +white heat of the photosphere beneath shines through this layer, +overpowering its brilliant redness. From the uppermost portion of the +chromosphere great fiery tongues of glowing hydrogen and calcium vapour +shoot out for many thousands of miles, driven outward by some prodigious +expulsive force. It is these red "prominences" which are such a notable +feature in the picture of the eclipse of the sun already referred to. + +During the solar eclipse of 1919 one of these red flames rose in less +than seven hours from a height of 130,000 miles to more than 500,000 +miles above the sun's surface. This immense column of red-hot gas, four +or five times the thickness of the earth, was soaring upward at the rate +of 60,000 miles an hour. + +These flaming jets or prominences shooting out from the chromosphere are +not to be seen every day by the naked eye; the dazzling light of the sun +obscures them, gigantic as they are. They can be observed, however, by +the spectroscope any day, and they are visible to us for a very short +time during an eclipse of the sun. Some extraordinary outbursts have +been witnessed. Thus the late Professor Young described one on September +7, 1871, when he had been examining a prominence by the spectroscope: + + It had remained unchanged since noon of the previous day--a long, + low, quiet-looking cloud, not very dense, or brilliant, or in any + way remarkable except for its size. At 12:30 p.m. the Professor left + the spectroscope for a short time, and on returning half an hour + later to his observations, he was astonished to find the gigantic + Sun flame shattered to pieces. The solar atmosphere was filled with + flying debris, and some of these portions reached a height of + 100,000 miles above the solar surface. Moving with a velocity which, + even at the distance of 93,000,000 miles, was almost perceptible to + the eye, these fragments doubled their height in ten minutes. On + January 30, 1885, another distinguished solar observer, the late + Professor Tacchini of Rome, observed one of the greatest prominences + ever seen by man. Its height was no less than 142,000 + miles--eighteen times the diameter of the earth. Another mighty + flame was so vast that supposing the eight large planets of the + solar system ranged one on top of the other, the prominence would + still tower above them.[1] + + [1] _The Romance of Astronomy_, by H. Macpherson. + +[Illustration: FIG. 5.--DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MAIN LAYERS OF THE SUN + +Compare with frontispiece.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich._ + +FIG. 6.--SOLAR PROMINENCES SEEN AT TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE, May 29, 1919. +TAKEN AT SOBRAL, BRAZIL. + +The small Corona is also visible.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 7.--THE VISIBLE SURFACE OF THE SUN + +A photograph taken at the Mount Wilson Observatory of the Carnegie +Institution at Washington.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 8.--THE SUN + +Photographed in the light of glowing hydrogen, at the Mount Wilson +Observatory of the Carnegie Institution of Washington: vortex phenomena +near the spots are especially prominent.] + +The fourth and uppermost layer or region is that of the corona, of +immense extent and fading away into the surrounding sky--this we have +already referred to. The diagram (Fig. 5) shows the dispositions of +these various layers of the sun. It is through these several transparent +layers that we see the white light body of the sun. + + +Sec. 2 + +The Surface of the Sun + +Here let us return to and see what more we know about the +photosphere--the sun's surface. It is from the photosphere that we have +gained most of our knowledge of the composition of the sun, which is +believed not to be a solid body. Examination of the photosphere shows +that the outer surface is never at rest. Small bright cloudlets come and +go in rapid succession, giving the surface, through contrasts in +luminosity, a granular appearance. Of course, to be visible at all at +92,830,000 miles the cloudlets cannot be small. They imply enormous +activity in the photosphere. If we might speak picturesquely the sun's +surface resembles a boiling ocean of white-hot metal vapours. We have +to-day a wonderful instrument, which will be described later, which +dilutes, as it were, the general glare of the sun, and enables us to +observe these fiery eruptions at any hour. The "oceans" of red-hot gas +and white-hot metal vapour at the sun's surface are constantly driven by +great storms. Some unimaginable energy streams out from the body or +muscles of the sun and blows its outer layers into gigantic shreds, as +it were. + +The actual temperature at the sun's surface, or what appears to us to be +the surface--the photosphere--is, of course, unknown, but careful +calculation suggests that it is from 5,000 deg. C. to 7,000 deg. C. The interior +is vastly hotter. We can form no conception of such temperatures as must +exist there. Not even the most obdurate solid could resist such +temperatures, but would be converted almost instantaneously into gas. +But it would not be gas as we know gases on the earth. The enormous +pressures that exist on the sun must convert even gases into thick +treacly fluids. We can only infer this state of matter. It is beyond our +power to reproduce it. + + +Sun-spots + +It is in the brilliant photosphere that the dark areas known as +sun-spots appear. Some of these dark spots--they are dark only by +contrast with the photosphere surrounding them--are of enormous size, +covering many thousands of square miles of surface. What they are we +cannot positively say. They look like great cavities in the sun's +surface. Some think they are giant whirlpools. Certainly they seem to be +great whirling streams of glowing gases with vapours above them and +immense upward and downward currents within them. Round the edges of the +sun-spots rise great tongues of flame. + +Perhaps the most popularly known fact about sun-spots is that they are +somehow connected with what we call magnetic storms on earth. These +magnetic storms manifest themselves in interruptions of our telegraphic +and telephonic communications, in violent disturbances of the mariner's +compass, and in exceptional auroral displays. The connection between the +two sets of phenomena cannot be doubted, even although at times there +may be a great spot on the sun without any corresponding "magnetic +storm" effects on the earth. + +A surprising fact about sun-spots is that they show definite periodic +variations in number. The best-defined period is one of about eleven +years. During this period the spots increase to a maximum in number and +then diminish to a minimum, the variation being more or less regular. +Now this can only mean one thing. To be periodic the spots must have +some deep-seated connection with the fundamental facts of the sun's +structure and activities. Looked at from this point of view their +importance becomes great. + +[Illustration: _Reproduction from "The Forces of Nature"_ (_Messrs. +Macmillan_) + +THE AURORA BOREALIS + +The aurora borealis is one of the most beautiful spectacles in the sky. +The colours and shape change every instant; sometimes a fan-like cluster +of rays, at other times long golden draperies gliding one over the +other. Blue, green, yellow, red, and white combine to give a glorious +display of colour. The theory of its origin is still, in part, obscure, +but there can be no doubt that the aurora is related to the magnetic +phenomena of the earth and therefore is connected with the electrical +influence of the sun.] + +It is from the study of sun-spots that we have learned that the sun's +surface does not appear to rotate all at the same speed. The +"equatorial" regions are rotating quicker than regions farther north or +south. A point forty-five degrees from the equator seems to take about +two and a half days longer to complete one rotation than a point on the +equator. This, of course, confirms our belief that the sun cannot be a +solid body. + +What is its composition? We know that there are present, in a gaseous +state, such well-known elements as sodium, iron, copper, zinc, and +magnesium; indeed, we know that there is practically every element in +the sun that we know to be in the earth. How do we know? + +It is from the photosphere, as has been said, that we have won most of +our knowledge of the sun. The instrument used for this purpose is the +spectroscope; and before proceeding to deal further with the sun and the +source of its energy it will be better to describe this instrument. + + +A WONDERFUL INSTRUMENT AND WHAT IT REVEALS + +The spectroscope is an instrument for analysing light. So important is +it in the revelations it has given us that it will be best to describe +it fully. Every substance to be examined must first be made to glow, +made luminous; and as nearly everything in the heavens _is_ luminous the +instrument has a great range in Astronomy. And when we speak of +analysing light, we mean that the light may be broken up into waves of +different lengths. What we call light is a series of minute waves in +ether, and these waves are--measuring them from crest to crest, so to +say--of various lengths. Each wave-length corresponds to a colour of the +rainbow. The shortest waves give us a sensation of violet colour, and +the largest waves cause a sensation of red. The rainbow, in fact, is a +sort of natural spectrum. (The meaning of the rainbow is that the +moisture-laden air has sorted out these waves, in the sun's light, +according to their length.) Now the simplest form of spectroscope is a +glass prism--a triangular-shaped piece of glass. If white light +(sunlight, for example) passes through a glass prism, we see a series of +rainbow-tinted colours. Anyone can notice this effect when sunlight is +shining through any kind of cut glass--the stopper of a wine decanter, +for instance. If, instead of catching with the eye the coloured lights +as they emerge from the glass prism, we allow them to fall on a screen, +we shall find that they pass, by continuous gradations, from red at the +one end of the screen, through orange, yellow, green, blue, and indigo, +to violet at the other end. _In other words, what we call white light is +composed of rays of these several colours. They go to make up the effect +which we call white._ And now just as water can be split up into its two +elements, oxygen and hydrogen, so sunlight can be broken up into its +primary colours, which are those we have just mentioned. + +This range of colours, produced by the spectroscope, we call the solar +spectrum, and these are, from the spectroscopic point of view, primary +colours. Each shade of colour has its definite position in the spectrum. +That is to say, the light of each shade of colour (corresponding to its +wave-length) is reflected through a certain fixed angle on passing +through the glass prism. Every possible kind of light has its definite +position, and is denoted by a number which gives the wave-length of the +vibrations constituting that particular kind of light. + +Now, other kinds of light besides sunlight can be analysed. Light +from any substance which has been made incandescent may be observed with +the spectroscope in the same way, and each element can be thus +separated. It is found that each substance (in the same conditions of +pressure, etc.) gives a constant spectrum of its own. _Each metal +displays its own distinctive colour. It is obvious, therefore, that the +spectrum provides the means for identifying a particular substance._ It +was by this method that we discovered in the sun the presence of such +well-known elements as sodium, iron, copper, zinc, and magnesium. + +[Illustration: _Yerkes Observatory._ + +FIG. 9.--THE GREAT SUN-SPOT OF JULY 17, 1905] + +[Illustration: _From photographs taken at the Yerkes Observatory._ + +FIG. 10.--SOLAR PROMINENCES + +These are about 60,000 miles in height. The two photographs show the +vast changes occurring in ten minutes. October 10, 1910.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory._ + +FIG. 11.--MARS, October 5, 1909 + +Showing the dark markings and the Polar Cap.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 12.--JUPITER + +Showing the belts which are probably cloud formations.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Professor E. E. Barnard, Yerkes Observatory._ + +FIG. 13.--SATURN, November 19, 1911 + +Showing the rings, mighty swarms of meteorites.] + +Every chemical element known, then, has a distinctive spectrum of its +own when it is raised to incandescence, and this distinctive spectrum is +as reliable a means of identification for the element as a human face is +for its owner. Whether it is a substance glowing in the laboratory or in +a remote star makes no difference to the spectroscope; if the light of +any substance reaches it, that substance will be recognised and +identified by the characteristic set of waves. + +The spectrum of a glowing mass of gas will consist in a number of bright +lines of various colours, and at various intervals; corresponding to +each kind of gas, there will be a peculiar and distinctive arrangement +of bright lines. But if the light from such a mass of glowing gas be +made to pass through a cool mass of the _same_ gas it will be found that +dark lines replace the bright lines in the spectrum, the reason for this +being that the cool gas absorbs the rays of light emitted by the hot +gas. Experiments of this kind enable us to reach the important general +statement that every gas, when cold, absorbs the same rays of light +which it emits when hot. + +Crossing the solar spectrum are hundreds and hundreds of dark lines. +These could not at first be explained, because this fact of +discriminative absorption was not known. We understand now. The sun's +white light comes from the photosphere, but between us and the +photosphere there is, as we have seen, another solar envelope of +relatively cooler vapours--the reversing layer. Each constituent +element in this outer envelope stops its own kind of light, that is, the +kind of light made by incandescent atoms of the same element in the +photosphere. The "stoppages" register themselves in the solar spectrum +as dark lines placed exactly where the corresponding bright lines would +have been. The explanation once attained, dark lines became as +significant as bright lines. The secret of the sun's composition was +out. We have found practically every element in the sun that we know to +be in the earth. We have identified an element in the sun before we were +able to isolate it on the earth. We have been able even to point to the +coolest places on the sun, the centres of sun-spots, where alone the +temperature seems to have fallen sufficiently low to allow chemical +compounds to form. + +It is thus we have been able to determine what the stars, comets, or +nebulae are made of. + + +A Unique Discovery + +In 1868 Sir Norman Lockyer detected a light coming from the prominences +of the sun which was not given by any substance known on earth, and +attributed this to an unknown gas which he called helium, from the Greek +_helios_, the sun. _In 1895 Sir William Ramsay discovered in certain +minerals the same gas identified by the spectroscope._ We can say, +therefore, that this gas was discovered in the sun nearly thirty years +before it was found on earth; this discovery of the long-lost heir is as +thrilling a chapter in the detective story of science as any in the +sensational stories of the day, and makes us feel quite certain that our +methods really tell us of what elements sun and stars are built up. The +light from the corona of the sun, as we have mentioned indicates a gas +still unknown on earth, which has been christened Coronium. + + +Measuring the Speed of Light + +But this is not all; soon a new use was found for the spectroscope. We +found that we could measure with it the most difficult of all speeds +to measure, speed in the line of sight. Movement at right angles to the +direction in which one is looking is, if there is sufficient of it, easy +to detect, and, if the distance of the moving body is known, easy to +measure. But movement in the line of vision is both difficult to detect +and difficult to measure. Yet, even at the enormous distances with which +astronomers have to deal, the spectroscope can detect such movement and +furnish data for its measurement. If a luminous body containing, say, +sodium is moving rapidly towards the spectroscope, it will be found that +the sodium lines in the spectrum have moved slightly from their usual +definite positions towards the violet end of the spectrum, the amount of +the change of position increasing with the speed of the luminous body. +If the body is moving away from the spectroscope the shifting of the +spectral lines will be in the opposite direction, towards the red end of +the spectrum. In this way we have discovered and measured movements that +otherwise would probably not have revealed themselves unmistakably to us +for thousands of years. In the same way we have watched, and measured +the speed of, tremendous movements on the sun, and so gained proof that +the vast disturbances we should expect there actually do occur. + +[Illustration: THE SPECTROSCOPE IS AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT; IT +PROVIDES THE MEANS FOR IDENTIFYING DIFFERENT SUBSTANCES + +This pictorial diagram illustrates the principal of Spectrum Analysis, +showing how sunlight is decomposed into its primary colours. What we +call white light is composed of seven different colours. The diagram is +relieved of all detail which would unduly obscure the simple process by +which a ray of light is broken up by a prism into different +wave-lengths. The spectrum rays have been greatly magnified.] + + +IS THE SUN DYING? + +Sec. 3 + +Now let us return to our consideration of the sun. + +To us on the earth the most patent and most astonishing fact about the +sun is its tremendous energy. Heat and light in amazing quantities pour +from it without ceasing. + +Where does this energy come from? Enormous jets of red glowing gases can +be seen shooting outwards from the sun, like flames from a fire, for +thousands of miles. Does this argue fire, as we know fire on the earth? +On this point the scientist is sure. The sun is not burning, and +combustion is not the source of its heat. Combustion is a chemical +reaction between atoms. The conditions that make it possible are known +and the results are predictable and measurable. But no chemical reaction +of the nature of combustion as we know it will explain the sun's energy, +nor indeed will any ordinary chemical reaction of any kind. If the sun +were composed of combustible material throughout and the conditions of +combustion as we understand them were always present, the sun would burn +itself out in some thousands of years, with marked changes in its heat +and light production as the process advanced. There is no evidence of +such changes. There is, instead, strong evidence that the sun has been +emitting light and heat in prodigious quantities, not for thousands, but +for millions of years. Every addition to our knowledge that throws light +on the sun's age seems to make for increase rather than decrease of its +years. This makes the wonder of its energy greater. + +And we cannot avoid the issue of the source of the energy by saying +merely that the sun is gradually radiating away an energy that +originated in some unknown manner, away back at the beginning of things. +Reliable calculations show that the years required for the mere cooling +of a globe like the sun could not possibly run to millions. In other +words, the sun's energy must be subject to continuous and more or less +steady renewal. However it may have acquired its enormous energy in the +past, it must have some source of energy in the present. + +The best explanation that we have to-day of this continuous accretion of +energy is that it is due to shrinkage of the sun's bulk under the force +of gravity. Gravity is one of the most mysterious forces of nature, but +it is an obvious fact that bodies behave as if they attracted one +another, and Newton worked out the law of this attraction. We may say, +without trying to go too deeply into things, that every particle of +matter attracts every other throughout the universe. If the diameter of +the sun were to shrink by one mile all round, this would mean that all +the millions of tons in the outer one-mile thickness would have a +straight drop of one mile towards the centre. And that is not all, +because obviously the layers below this outer mile would also drop +inwards, each to a less degree than the one above it. What a tremendous +movement of matter, however slowly it might take place! And what a +tremendous energy would be involved! Astronomers calculate that the +above shrinkage of one mile all round would require fifty years for its +completion, assuming, reasonably, that there is close and continuous +relationship between loss of heat by radiation and shrinkage. Even if +this were true we need not feel over-anxious on this theory; before the +sun became too cold to support life many millions of years would be +required. + +It was suggested at one time that falls of meteoric matter into the sun +would account for the sun's heat. This position is hardly tenable now. +The mere bulk of the meteoric matter required by the hypothesis, apart +from other reasons, is against it. There is undoubtedly an enormous +amount of meteoric matter moving about within the bounds of the solar +system, but most of it seems to be following definite routes round the +sun like the planets. The stray erratic quantities destined to meet +their doom by collision with the sun can hardly be sufficient to account +for the sun's heat. + +Recent study of radio-active bodies has suggested another factor that +may be working powerfully along with the force of gravitation to +maintain the sun's store of heat. In radio-active bodies certain atoms +seem to be undergoing disintegration. These atoms appear to be splitting +up into very minute and primitive constituents. But since matter may be +split up into such constituents, may it not be built up from them? + +The question is whether these "radio-active" elements are undergoing +disintegration, or formation, in the sun. If they are undergoing +disintegration--and the sun itself is undoubtedly radio-active--then we +have another source of heat for the sun that will last indefinitely. + + + + +THE PLANETS + +LIFE IN OTHER WORLDS? + +Sec. 1 + +It is quite clear that there cannot be life on the stars. Nothing solid +or even liquid can exist in such furnaces as they are. Life exists only +on planets, and even on these its possibilities are limited. Whether all +the stars, or how many of them, have planetary families like our sun, we +cannot positively say. If they have, such planets would be too faint and +small to be visible tens of trillions of miles away. Some astronomers +think that our sun may be exceptional in having planets, but their +reasons are speculative and unconvincing. Probably a large proportion at +least of the stars have planets, and we may therefore survey the globes +of our own solar system and in a general way extend the results to the +rest of the universe. + +In considering the possibility of life as we know it we may at once rule +out the most distant planets from the sun, Uranus and Neptune. They are +probably intrinsically too hot. We may also pass over the nearest planet +to the sun, Mercury. We have reason to believe that it turns on its axis +in the same period as it revolves round the sun, and it must therefore +always present the same side to the sun. This means that the heat on the +sunlit side of Mercury is above boiling-point, while the cold on the +other side must be between two and three hundred degrees below +freezing-point. + + +The Planet Venus + +The planet Venus, the bright globe which is known to all as the morning +and evening "star," seems at first sight more promising as regards the +possibility of life. It is of nearly the same size as the earth, and it +has a good atmosphere, but there are many astronomers who believe that, +like Mercury, it always presents the same face to the sun, and it would +therefore have the same disadvantage--a broiling heat on the sunny side +and the cold of space on the opposite side. We are not sure. The +surface of Venus is so bright--the light of the sun is reflected to us +by such dense masses of cloud and dust--that it is difficult to trace +any permanent markings on it, and thus ascertain how long it takes to +rotate on its axis. Many astronomers believe that they have succeeded, +and that the planet always turns the same face to the sun. If it does, +we can hardly conceive of life on its surface, in spite of the +cloud-screen. + +[Illustration: FIG. 14.--THE MOON + +Showing a great plain and some typical craters. There are thousands of +these craters, and some theories of their origin are explained on page +34.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 15.--MARS + + 1} Drawings by Prof. Lowell to accompany actual photographs of Mars + showing many of the + 2} canals. Taken in 1907 by Mr. E. C. Slipher of the Lowell Observatory. + 3 Drawing by Prof. Lowell made January 6, 1914. + 4 Drawing by Prof. Lowell made January 21, 1914. + +Nos. 1 and 2 show the effect of the planet's rotation. Nos. 3 and 4 +depict quite different sections. Note the change in the polar snow-caps +in the last two.] + +[Illustration: FIG. 16.--THE MOON, AT NINE AND THREE-QUARTER DAYS + +Note the mysterious "rays" diverging from the almost perfectly circular +craters indicated by the arrows (Tycho, upper; Copernicus, lower), and +also the mountains to the right with the lunar dawn breaking on them.] + +We turn to Mars; and we must first make it clear why there is so much +speculation about life on Mars, and why it is supposed that, if there +_is_ life on Mars, it must be more advanced than life on the earth. + + +Is there Life on Mars? + +The basis of this belief is that if, as we saw, all the globes in our +solar system are masses of metal that are cooling down, the smaller will +have cooled down before the larger, and will be further ahead in their +development. Now Mars is very much smaller than the earth, and must have +cooled at its surface millions of years before the earth did. Hence, if +a story of life began on Mars at all, it began long before the story of +life on the earth. We cannot guess what sort of life-forms would be +evolved in a different world, but we can confidently say that they would +tend toward increasing intelligence; and thus we are disposed to look +for highly intelligent beings on Mars. + +But this argument supposes that the conditions of life, namely air and +water, are found on Mars, and it is disputed whether they are found +there in sufficient quantity. The late Professor Percival Lowell, who +made a lifelong study of Mars, maintained that there are hundreds of +straight lines drawn across the surface of the planet, and he claimed +that they are beds of vegetation marking the sites of great channels or +pipes by means of which the "Martians" draw water from their polar +ocean. Professor W. H. Pickering, another high authority, thinks that +the lines are long, narrow marshes fed by moist winds from the poles. +There are certainly white polar caps on Mars. They seem to melt in the +spring, and the dark fringe round them grows broader. + +Other astronomers, however, say that they find no trace of water-vapour +in the atmosphere of Mars, and they think that the polar caps may be +simply thin sheets of hoar-frost or frozen gas. They point out that, as +the atmosphere of Mars is certainly scanty, and the distance from the +sun is so great, it may be too cold for the fluid water to exist on the +planet. + +If one asks why our wonderful instruments cannot settle these points, +one must be reminded that Mars is never nearer than 34,000,000 miles +from the earth, and only approaches to this distance once in fifteen or +seventeen years. The image of Mars on the photographic negative taken in +a big telescope is very small. Astronomers rely to a great extent on the +eye, which is more sensitive than the photographic plate. But it is easy +to have differences of opinion as to what the eye sees, and so there is +a good deal of controversy. + +In August, 1924, the planet will again be well placed for observation, +and we may learn more about it. Already a few of the much-disputed +lines, which people wrongly call "canals," have been traced on +photographs. Astronomers who are sceptical about life on Mars are often +not fully aware of the extraordinary adaptability of life. There was a +time when the climate of the whole earth, from pole to pole, was +semi-tropical for millions of years. No animal could then endure the +least cold, yet now we have plenty of Arctic plants and animals. If the +cold came slowly on Mars, as we have reason to suppose, the population +could be gradually adapted to it. On the whole, it is possible that +there is advanced life on Mars, and it is not impossible, in spite of +the very great difficulties of a code of communication, that our "elder +brothers" may yet flash across space the solution of many of our +problems. + + +Sec. 2 + +Jupiter and Saturn + +Next to Mars, going outward from the sun, is Jupiter. Between Mars and +Jupiter, however, there are more than three hundred million miles of +space, and the older astronomers wondered why this was not occupied by a +planet. We now know that it contains about nine hundred "planetoids," or +small globes of from five to five hundred miles in diameter. It was at +one time thought that a planet might have burst into these fragments (a +theory which is not mathematically satisfactory), or it may be that the +material which is scattered in them was prevented by the nearness of the +great bulk of Jupiter from uniting into one globe. + +For Jupiter is a giant planet, and its gravitational influence must +extend far over space. It is 1,300 times as large as the earth, and has +nine moons, four of which are large, in attendance on it. It is +interesting to note that the outermost moons of Jupiter and Saturn +revolve round these planets in a direction contrary to the usual +direction taken by moons round planets, and by planets round the sun. +But there is no life on Jupiter. + +The surface which we see in photographs (Fig. 12) is a mass of cloud or +steam which always envelops the body of the planet. It is apparently +red-hot. A red tinge is seen sometimes at the edges of its cloud-belts, +and a large red region (the "red spot"), 23,000 miles in length, has +been visible on it for half a century. There may be a liquid or solid +core to the planet, but as a whole it is a mass of seething vapours +whirling round on its axis once in every ten hours. As in the case of +the sun, however, different latitudes appear to rotate at different +rates. The interior of Jupiter is very hot, but the planet is not +self-luminous. The planets Venus and Jupiter shine very brightly, but +they have no light of their own; they reflect the sunlight. + +Saturn is in the same interesting condition. The surface in the +photograph (Fig. 13) is steam, and Saturn is so far away from the sun +that the vaporisation of its oceans must necessarily be due to its own +internal heat. It is too hot for water to settle on its surface. Like +Jupiter, the great globe turns on its axis once in ten hours--a +prodigious speed--and must be a swirling, seething mass of metallic +vapours and gases. It is instructive to compare Jupiter and Saturn in +this respect with the sun. They are smaller globes and have cooled down +more than the central fire. + +Saturn is a beautiful object in the telescope because it has ten moons +(to include one which is disputed) and a wonderful system of "rings" +round it. The so-called rings are a mighty swarm of meteorites--pieces +of iron and stone of all sorts and sizes, which reflect the light of the +sun to us. This ocean of matter is some miles deep, and stretches from a +few thousand miles from the surface of the planet to 172,000 miles out +in space. Some astronomers think that this is volcanic material which +has been shot out of the planet. Others regard it as stuff which would +have combined to form an eleventh moon but was prevented by the nearness +of Saturn itself. There is no evidence of life on Saturn. + + +THE MOON + +Mars and Venus are therefore the only planets, besides the earth, on +which we may look for life; and in the case of Venus, the possibility is +very faint. But what about the moons which attend the planets? They +range in size from the little ten-miles-wide moons of Mars, to Titan, a +moon of Saturn, and Ganymede, a satellite of Jupiter, which are about +3,000 miles in diameter. May there not be life on some of the larger of +these moons? We will take our own moon as a type of the class. + + +A Dead World + +The moon is so very much nearer to us than any other heavenly body that +we have a remarkable knowledge of it. In Fig. 14 you have a photograph, +taken in one of our largest telescopes, of part of its surface. In a +sense such a telescope brings the moon to within about fifty miles of +us. We should see a city like London as a dark, sprawling blotch on the +globe. We could just detect a Zeppelin or a Diplodocus as a moving speck +against the surface. But we find none of these things. It is true that a +few astronomers believe that they see signs of some sort of feeble life +or movement on the moon. Professor Pickering thinks that he can trace +some volcanic activity. He believes that there are areas of vegetation, +probably of a low order, and that the soil of the moon may retain a +certain amount of water in it. He speaks of a very thin atmosphere, and +of occasional light falls of snow. He has succeeded in persuading some +careful observers that there probably are slight changes of some kind +taking place on the moon. + +[Illustration: FIG. 17.--A MAP OF THE CHIEF PLAINS AND CRATERS OF THE +MOON + +The plains were originally supposed to be seas: hence the name "Mare."] + +[Illustration: FIG. 18.--A DIAGRAM OF A STREAM OF METEORS SHOWING THE +EARTH PASSING THROUGH THEM] [Illustration: _Photo: Royal Observatory, +Greenwich._ + +FIG. 19.--COMET, September 29, 1908 + +Notice the tendency to form a number of tails. (See photograph below.)] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich._ + +FIG. 20.--COMET, October 3, 1908 + +The process has gone further and a number of distinct tails can now be +counted.] + +But there are many things that point to absence of air on the moon. Even +the photographs we reproduce tell the same story. The edges of the +shadows are all hard and black. If there had been an appreciable +atmosphere it would have scattered the sun's light on to the edges and +produced a gradual shading off such as we see on the earth. This +relative absence of air must give rise to some surprising effects. There +will be no sounds on the moon, because sounds are merely air waves. Even +a meteor shattering itself to a violent end against the surface of the +moon would make no noise. Nor would it herald its coming by glowing into +a "shooting star," as it would on entering the earth's atmosphere. There +will be no floating dust, no scent, no twilight, no blue sky, no +twinkling of the stars. The sky will be always black and the stars will +be clearly visible by day as by night. The sun's wonderful corona, which +no man on earth, even by seizing every opportunity during eclipses, can +hope to see for more than two hours in all in a long lifetime, will be +visible all day. So will the great red flames of the sun. Of course, +there will be no life, and no landscape effects and scenery effects due +to vegetation. + +The moon takes approximately twenty-seven of our days to turn once on +its axis. So for fourteen days there is continuous night, when the +temperature must sink away down towards the absolute cold of space. This +will be followed without an instant of twilight by full daylight. For +another fourteen days the sun's rays will bear straight down, with no +diffusion or absorption of their heat, or light, on the way. It does not +follow, however, that the temperature of the moon's surface must rise +enormously. It may not even rise to the temperature of melting ice. +Seeing there is no air there can be no check on radiation. The heat that +the moon gets will radiate away immediately. We know that amongst the +coldest places on the earth are the tops of very high mountains, the +points that have reared themselves nearest to the sun but farthest out +of the sheltering blanket of the earth's atmosphere. The actual +temperature of the moon's surface by day is a moot point. It may be +below the freezing-point or above the boiling-point of water. + + +The Mountains of the Moon + +The lack of air is considered by many astronomers to furnish the +explanation of the enormous number of "craters" which pit the moon's +surface. There are about a hundred thousand of these strange rings, and +it is now believed by many that they are spots where very large +meteorites, or even planetoids, splashed into the moon when its surface +was still soft. Other astronomers think that they are the remains of +gigantic bubbles which were raised in the moon's "skin," when the globe +was still molten, by volcanic gases from below. A few astronomers think +that they are, as is popularly supposed, the craters of extinct +volcanoes. Our craters, on the earth, are generally deep cups, whereas +these ring-formations on the moon are more like very shallow and broad +saucers. Clavius, the largest of them, is 123 miles across the interior, +yet its encircling rampart is not a mile high. + +The mountains on the moon (Fig. 16) rise to a great height, and are +extraordinarily gaunt and rugged. They are like fountains of lava, +rising in places to 26,000 and 27,000 feet. The lunar Apennines have +three thousand steep and weird peaks. Our terrestrial mountains are +continually worn down by frost acting on moisture and by ice and water, +but there are none of these agencies operating on the moon. Its +mountains are comparatively "everlasting hills." + +The moon is interesting to us precisely because it is a dead world. It +seems to show how the earth, or any cooling metal globe, will evolve in +the remote future. We do not know if there was ever life on the moon, +but in any case it cannot have proceeded far in development. At the most +we can imagine some strange lowly forms of vegetation lingering here and +there in pools of heavy gas, expanding during the blaze of the sun's +long day, and frozen rigid during the long night. + + +METEORS AND COMETS + +We may conclude our survey of the solar system with a word about +"shooting stars," or meteors, and comets. There are few now who do not +know that the streak of fire which suddenly lights the sky overhead at +night means that a piece of stone or iron has entered our atmosphere +from outer space, and has been burned up by friction. It was travelling +at, perhaps, twenty or thirty miles a second. At seventy or eighty miles +above our heads it began to glow, as at that height the air is thick +enough to offer serious friction and raise it to a white heat. By the +time the meteor reached about twenty miles or so from the earth's +surface it was entirely dissipated, as a rule in fiery vapour. + + +Millions of Meteorites + +It is estimated that between ten and a hundred million meteorites enter +our atmosphere and are cremated, every day. Most of them weigh only an +ounce or two, and are invisible. Some of them weigh a ton or more, but +even against these large masses the air acts as a kind of "torpedo-net." +They generally burst into fragments and fall without doing damage. + +It is clear that "empty space" is, at least within the limits of our +solar system, full of these things. They swarm like fishes in the seas. +Like the fishes, moreover, they may be either solitary or gregarious. +The solitary bit of cosmic rubbish is the meteorite, which we have just +examined. A "social" group of meteorites is the essential part of a +comet. The nucleus, or bright central part, of the head of a comet (Fig. +19) consists of a swarm, sometimes thousands of miles wide, of these +pieces of iron or stone. This swarm has come under the sun's +gravitational influence, and is forced to travel round it. From some +dark region of space it has moved slowly into our system. It is not then +a comet, for it has no tail. But as the crowded meteors approach the +sun, the speed increases. They give off fine vapour-like matter and the +fierce flood of light from the sun sweeps this vapour out in an +ever-lengthening tail. Whatever way the comet is travelling, the tail +always points away from the sun. + + +A Great Comet + +The vapoury tail often grows to an enormous length as the comet +approaches the sun. The great comet of 1843 had a tail two hundred +million miles long. It is, however, composed of the thinnest vapours +imaginable. Twice during the nineteenth century the earth passed through +the tail of a comet, and nothing was felt. The vapours of the tail are, +in fact, so attenuated that we can hardly imagine them to be white-hot. +They may be lit by some electrical force. However that may be, the comet +dashes round the sun, often at three or four hundred miles a second, +then may pass gradually out of our system once more. It may be a +thousand years, or it may be fifty years, before the monarch of the +system will summon it again to make its fiery journey round his throne. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Harvard College Observatory._ + +FIG. 21.--TYPICAL SPECTRA + +Six main types of stellar spectra. Notice the lines they have in common, +showing what elements are met with in different types of stars. Each of +these spectra corresponds to a different set of physical and chemical +conditions.] [Illustration: _Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory._ + +FIG. 22.--A NEBULAR REGION SOUTH OF ZETA ORIONIS + +Showing a great projection of "dark matter" cutting off the light from +behind.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria, British +Columbia._ + +FIG. 23.--STAR CLUSTER IN HERCULES + +A wonderful cluster of stars. It has been estimated that the distance of +this cluster is such that it would take light more than 100,000 years to +reach us.] + + +THE STELLAR UNIVERSE + +Sec. 1 + +The immensity of the Stellar Universe, as we have seen, is beyond our +apprehension. The sun is nothing more than a very ordinary star, perhaps +an insignificant one. There are stars enormously greater than the sun. +One such, Betelgeux, has recently been measured, and its diameter is +more than 300 times that of the sun. + + +The Evolution of Stars + +The proof of the similarity between our sun and the stars has come to us +through the spectroscope. The elements that we find by its means in the +sun are also found in the same way in the stars. Matter, says the +spectroscope, is essentially the same everywhere, in the earth and the +sun, in the comet that visits us once in a thousand years, in the star +whose distance is incalculable, and in the great clouds of "fire-mist" +that we call nebulae. + +In considering the evolution of the stars let us keep two points clearly +in mind. The starting-point, the nebula, is no figment of the scientific +imagination. Hundreds of thousands of nebulae, besides even vaster +irregular stretches of nebulous matter, exist in the heavens. But the +stages of the evolution of this stuff into stars are very largely a +matter of speculation. Possibly there is more than one line of +evolution, and the various theories may be reconciled. And this applies +also to the theories of the various stages through which the stars +themselves pass on their way to extinction. + +The light of about a quarter of a million stars has been analysed in the +spectroscope, and it is found that they fall into about a dozen classes +which generally correspond to stages in their evolution (Fig. 21). + + +The Age of Stars + +In its main lines the spectrum of a star corresponds to its colour, and +we may roughly group the stars into red, yellow, and white. This is also +the order of increasing temperature, the red stars being the coolest and +the white stars the hottest. We might therefore imagine that the white +stars are the youngest, and that as they grow older and cooler they +become yellowish, then red, and finally become invisible--just as a +cooling white-hot iron would do. But a very interesting recent research +shows that there are two kinds of red stars; some of them are amongst +the oldest stars and some are amongst the youngest. The facts appear to +be that when a star is first formed it is not very hot. It is an immense +mass of diffuse gas glowing with a dull-red heat. It contracts under the +mutual gravitation of its particles, and as it does so it grows hotter. +It acquires a yellowish tinge. As it continues to contract it grows +hotter and hotter until its temperature reaches a maximum as a white +star. At this point the contraction process does not stop, but the +heating process does. Further contraction is now accompanied by cooling, +and the star goes through its colour changes again, but this time in the +inverse order. It contracts and cools to yellow and finally to red. But +when it again becomes a red star it is enormously denser and smaller +than when it began as a red star. Consequently the red stars are divided +into two classes called, appropriately, Giants and Dwarfs. This theory, +which we owe to an American astronomer, H. N. Russell, has been +successful in explaining a variety of phenomena, and there is +consequently good reason to suppose it to be true. But the question as +to how the red giant stars were formed has received less satisfactory +and precise answers. + +The most commonly accepted theory is the nebular theory. + + +THE NEBULAR THEORY + +Sec. 2 + +Nebulae are dim luminous cloud-like patches in the heavens, more like +wisps of smoke in some cases than anything else. Both photography and +the telescope show that they are very numerous, hundreds of thousands +being already known and the number being continually added to. They are +not small. Most of them are immensely large. Actual dimensions cannot be +given, because to estimate these we must first know definitely the +distance of the nebulae from the earth. The distances of some nebulae are +known approximately, and we can therefore form some idea of size in +these cases. The results are staggering. The mere visible surface of +some nebulae is so large that the whole stretch of the solar system would +be too small to form a convenient unit for measuring it. A ray of light +would require to travel for years to cross from side to side of such a +nebula. Its immensity is inconceivable to the human mind. + +There appear to be two types of nebulae, and there is evidence suggesting +that the one type is only an earlier form of the other; but this again +we do not know. + +The more primitive nebulae would seem to be composed of gas in an +extremely rarified form. It is difficult to convey an adequate idea of +the rarity of nebular gases. The residual gases in a vacuum tube are +dense by comparison. A cubic inch of air at ordinary pressure would +contain more matter than is contained in millions of cubic inches of the +gases of nebulae. The light of even the faintest stars does not seem to +be dimmed by passing through a gaseous nebula, although we cannot be +sure on this point. The most remarkable physical fact about these gases +is that they are luminous. Whence they derive their luminosity we do not +know. It hardly seems possible to believe that extremely thin gases +exposed to the terrific cold of space can be so hot as to be luminous +and can retain their heat and their luminosity indefinitely. A cold +luminosity due to electrification, like that of the aurora borealis, +would seem to fit the case better. + +Now the nebular theory is that out of great "fire-mists," such as we +have described, stars are born. We do not know whether gravitation is +the only or even the main force at work in a nebula, but it is supposed +that under the action of gravity the far-flung "fire-mists" would begin +to condense round centres of greatest density, heat being evolved in the +process. Of course the condensation would be enormously slow, although +the sudden irruption of a swarm of meteors or some solid body might +hasten matters greatly by providing large, ready-made centres of +condensation. + + +Spiral Nebulae + +It is then supposed that the contracting mass of gas would begin to +rotate and to throw off gigantic streamers, which would in their turn +form centres of condensation. The whole structure would thus form a +spiral, having a dense region at its centre and knots or lumps of +condensed matter along its spiral arms. Besides the formless gaseous +nebulae there are hundreds of thousands of "spiral" nebulae such as we +have just mentioned in the heavens. They are at all stages of +development, and they are visible to us at all angles--that is to say, +some of them face directly towards us, others are edge on, and some are +in intermediate positions. It appears, therefore, that we have here a +striking confirmation of the nebular hypothesis. But we must not go so +fast. There is much controversy as to the nature of these spiral nebulae. +Some eminent astronomers think they are other stellar universes, +comparable in size with our own. In any case they are vast structures, +and if they represent stars in process of condensation, they must be +giving birth to huge agglomerations of stars--to star clusters at least. +These vast and enigmatic objects do not throw much light on the origin +of our own solar system. The nebular hypothesis, which was invented +by Laplace to explain the origin of our solar system, has not yet met +with universal acceptance. The explanation offers grave difficulties, +and it is best while the subject is still being closely investigated, to +hold all opinions with reserve. It may be taken as probable, however, +that the universe has developed from masses of incandescent gas. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Yerkes Observatory._ + +FIG. 24.--THE GREAT NEBULA IN ORION + +The most impressive nebula in the heavens. It is inconceivably greater +in dimensions than the whole solar system.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Lick Observatory._ + +FIG. 25--GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA, March 23, 1914 + +This spiral nebula is seen full on. Notice the central nucleus and the +two spiral arms emerging from its opposite directions. Is matter flowing +out of the nucleus into the arms or along the arms into the nucleus? In +either case we should get two streams in opposite directions within the +nucleus.] + + +THE BIRTH AND DEATH OF STARS + +Sec. 3 + +Variable, New, and Dark Stars: Dying Suns + +Many astronomers believe that in "variable stars" we have another star, +following that of the dullest red star, in the dying of suns. The light +of these stars varies periodically in so many days, weeks, or years. It +is interesting to speculate that they are slowly dying suns, in which +the molten interior periodically bursts through the shell of thick +vapours that is gathering round them. What we saw about our sun seems to +point to some such stage in the future. That is, however, not the +received opinion about variable stars. It may be that they are stars +which periodically pass through a great swarm of meteors or a region of +space that is rich in cosmic dust of some sort, when, of course, a great +illumination would take place. + +One class of these variable stars, which takes its name from the star +Algol, is of special interest. Every third night Algol has its light +reduced for several hours. Modern astronomy has discovered that in this +case there are really two stars, circulating round a common centre, and +that every third night the fainter of the two comes directly between us +and its companion and causes an "eclipse." This was until recently +regarded as a most interesting case in which a dead star revealed itself +to us by passing before the light of another star. But astronomers have +in recent years invented something, the "selenium-cell," which is even +more sensitive than the photographic plate, and on this the supposed +dead star registers itself as very much alive. Algol is, however, +interesting in another way. The pair of stars which we have discovered +in it are hundreds of trillions of miles away from the earth, yet we +know their masses and their distances from each other. + + +The Death and Birth of Stars + +We have no positive knowledge of dead stars; which is not surprising +when we reflect that a dead star means an invisible star! But when we +see so many individual stars tending toward death, when we behold a vast +population of all conceivable ages, we presume that there are many +already dead. On the other hand, there is no reason to suppose that the +universe as a whole is "running down." Some writers have maintained +this, but their argument implies that we know a great deal more about +the universe than we actually do. The scientific man does not know +whether the universe is finite or infinite, temporal or eternal; and he +declines to speculate where there are no facts to guide him. He knows +only that the great gaseous nebulae promise myriads of worlds in the +future, and he concedes the possibility that new nebulae may be forming +in the ether of space. + +The last, and not the least interesting, subject we have to notice is +the birth of a "new star." This is an event which astronomers now +announce every few years; and it is a far more portentous event than the +reader imagines when it is reported in his daily paper. The story is +much the same in all cases. We say that the star appeared in 1901, but +you begin to realise the magnitude of the event when you learn that the +distant "blaze" had really occurred about the time of the death of +Luther! The light of the conflagration had been speeding toward us +across space at 186,000 miles a second, yet it has taken nearly three +centuries to reach us. To be visible at all to us at that distance the +fiery outbreak must have been stupendous. If a mass of petroleum ten +times the size of the earth were suddenly fired it would not be seen at +such a distance. The new star had increased its light many hundredfold +in a few days. + +There is a considerable fascination about the speculation that in such +cases we see the resurrection of a dead world, a means of renewing the +population of the universe. What happens is that in some region of the +sky where no star, or only a very faint star, had been registered on our +charts, we almost suddenly perceive a bright star. In a few days it may +rise to the highest brilliancy. By the spectroscope we learn that this +distant blaze means a prodigious outpour of white-hot hydrogen at +hundreds of miles a second. But the star sinks again after a few months, +and we then find a nebula round it on every side. It is natural to +suppose that a dead or dying sun has somehow been reconverted in whole +or in part into a nebula. A few astronomers think that it may have +partially collided with another star, or approached too closely to +another, with the result we described on an earlier page. The general +opinion now is that a faint or dead star had rushed into one of those +regions of space in which there are immense stretches of nebulous +matter, and been (at least in part) vaporised by the friction. + +But the difficulties are considerable, and some astronomers prefer to +think that the blazing star may merely have lit up a dark nebula which +already existed. It is one of those problems on which speculation is +most tempting but positive knowledge is still very incomplete. We may be +content, even proud, that already we can take a conflagration that has +occurred more than a thousand trillion miles away and analyse it +positively into an outflame of glowing hydrogen gas at so many miles a +second. + + +THE SHAPE OF OUR UNIVERSE + +Sec. 4 + +Our Universe a Spiral Nebula + +What is the shape of our universe, and what are its dimensions? This is +a tremendous question to ask. It is like asking an intelligent insect, +living on a single leaf in the midst of a great Brazilian forest, to say +what is the shape and size of the forest. Yet man's ingenuity has proved +equal to giving an answer even to this question, and by a method exactly +similar to that which would be adopted by the insect. Suppose, for +instance, that the forest was shaped as an elongated oval, and the +insect lived on a tree near the centre of the oval. If the trees were +approximately equally spaced from one another they would appear much +denser along the length of the oval than across its width. This is the +simple consideration that has guided astronomers in determining the +shape of our stellar universe. There is one direction in the heavens +along which the stars appear denser than in the directions at right +angles to it. That direction is the direction in which we look towards +the Milky Way. If we count the number of stars visible all over the +heavens, we find they become more and more numerous as we approach the +Milky Way. As we go farther and farther from the Milky Way the stars +thin out until they reach a maximum sparseness in directions at right +angles to the plane of the Milky Way. We may consider the Milky Way to +form, as it were, the equator of our system, and the line at right +angles to point to the north and south poles. + +Our system, in fact, is shaped something like a lens, and our sun is +situated near the centre of this lens. In the remoter part of this lens, +near its edge, or possibly outside it altogether, lies the great series +of star clouds which make up the Milky Way. All the stars are in motion +within this system, but the very remarkable discovery has been made that +these motions are not entirely random. The great majority of the stars +whose motions can be measured fall into two groups drifting past one +another in opposite directions. The velocity of one stream relative to +the other is about twenty-five miles per second. The stars forming these +two groups are thoroughly well mixed; it is not a case of an inner +stream going one way and an outer stream the other. But there are not +quite as many stars going one way as the other. For every two stars in +one stream there are three in the other. Now, as we have said, some +eminent astronomers hold that the spiral nebulae are universes like our +own, and if we look at the two photographs (Figs. 25 and 26) we see that +these spirals present features which, in the light of what we have just +said about our system, are very remarkable. The nebula in Coma Berenices +is a spiral edge-on to us, and we see that it has precisely the +lens-shaped middle and the general flattened shape that we have found in +our own system. The nebula in Canes Venatici is a spiral facing towards +us, and its shape irresistibly suggests motions along the spiral arms. +This motion, whether it is towards or away from the central, lens-shaped +portion, would cause a double streaming motion in that central portion +of the kind we have found in our own system. Again, and altogether apart +from these considerations, there are good reasons for supposing our +Milky Way to possess a double-armed spiral structure. And the great +patches of dark absorbing matter which are known to exist in the Milky +Way (see Fig. 22) would give very much the mottled appearance we notice +in the arms (which we see edge-on) of the nebula in Coma Berenices. The +hypothesis, therefore, that our universe is a spiral nebula has much to +be said for it. If it be accepted it greatly increases our estimate of +the size of the material universe. For our central, lens-shaped system +is calculated to extend towards the Milky Way for more than twenty +thousand times a million million miles, and about a third of this +distance towards what we have called the poles. If, as we suppose, each +spiral nebula is an independent stellar universe comparable in size with +our own, then, since there are hundreds of thousands of spiral nebulae, +we see that the size of the whole material universe is indeed beyond our +comprehension. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory._ + +FIG. 26.--A SPIRAL NEBULA SEEN EDGE-ON + +Notice the lens-shaped formation of the nucleus and the arm stretching +as a band across it. See reference in the text to the resemblance +between this and our stellar universe.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: H. J. Shepstone._ + +100-INCH TELESCOPE, MOUNT WILSON + +A reflecting telescope: the largest in the world. The mirror is situated +at the base of the telescope.] + +[Illustration: + + ________________________________________________________________ + | | + | THE SOLAR SYSTEM | + |________________________________________________________________| + | | | | | | + | | MEAN DISTANCE | PERIOD OF | | | + | NAME | FROM SUN (IN | REVOLUTION | DIAMETER | NUMBER OF | + | | MILLIONS OF | AROUND SUN | (IN MILES) | SATELLITES | + | | MILES) | (IN YEARS) | | | + |_________|_______________|____________|____________|____________| + | | | | | | + | MERCURY | 36.0 | 0.24 | 3030 | 0 | + | VENUS | 67.2 | 0.62 | 7700 | 0 | + | EARTH | 92.9 | 1.00 | 7918 | 1 | + | MARS | 141.5 | 1.88 | 4230 | 2 | + | JUPITER | 483.3 | 11.86 | 86500 | 9 | + | SATURN | 886.0 | 29.46 | 73000 | 10 | + | URANUS | 1781.9 | 84.02 | 31900 | 4 | + | NEPTUNE | 2971.6 | 164.78 | 34800 | 1 | + | SUN | ------ | ------ | 866400 | -- | + | MOON | ------ | ------ | 2163 | -- | + |_________|_______________|____________|____________|____________| + +FIG. 27] + +[Illustration: + + ______________________________________ + | | + | STAR DISTANCES | + |______________________________________| + | | + | DISTANCE IN | + | STAR LIGHT-YEARS | + | | + | POLARIS 76 | + | CAPELLA 49.4 | + | RIGEL 466 | + | SIRIUS 8.7 | + | PROCYON 10.5 | + | REGULUS 98.8 | + | ARCTURUS 43.4 | + | [ALPHA] CENTAURI 4.29 | + | VEGA 34.7 | + |______________________________________| + | | + | SMALLER MAGELLANIC CLOUD 32,600[A] | + | GREAT CLUSTER IN HERCULES 108,600[A] | + |______________________________________| + +[A] ESTIMATED + +FIG. 28 + +The above distances are merely approximate and are subject to further +revision. A "light-year" is the distance that light, travelling at the +rate of 186,000 miles per second, would cover in one year.] + +In this simple outline we have not touched on some of the more debatable +questions that engage the attention of modern astronomers. Many of these +questions have not yet passed the controversial stage; out of these will +emerge the astronomy of the future. But we have seen enough to convince +us that, whatever advances the future holds in store, the science of the +heavens constitutes one of the most important stones in the wonderful +fabric of human knowledge. + + +ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS + +Sec. 1 + +The Telescope + +The instruments used in modern astronomy are amongst the finest triumphs +of mechanical skill in the world. In a great modern observatory the +different instruments are to be counted by the score, but there are two +which stand out pre-eminent as the fundamental instruments of modern +astronomy. These instruments are the telescope and the spectroscope, and +without them astronomy, as we know it, could not exist. + +There is still some dispute as to where and when the first telescope was +constructed; as an astronomical instrument, however, it dates from the +time of the great Italian scientist Galileo, who, with a very small and +imperfect telescope of his own invention, first observed the spots on +the sun, the mountains of the moon, and the chief four satellites of +Jupiter. A good pair of modern binoculars is superior to this early +instrument of Galileo's, and the history of telescope construction, from +that primitive instrument to the modern giant recently erected on Mount +Wilson, California, is an exciting chapter in human progress. But the +early instruments have only an historic interest: the era of modern +telescopes begins in the nineteenth century. + +During the last century telescope construction underwent an +unprecedented development. An immense amount of interest was taken in +the construction of large telescopes, and the different countries of the +world entered on an exciting race to produce the most powerful possible +instruments. Besides this rivalry of different countries there was a +rivalry of methods. The telescope developed along two different lines, +and each of these two types has its partisans at the present day. These +types are known as _refractors_ and _reflectors_, and it is necessary to +mention, briefly, the principles employed in each. The _refractor_ is +the ordinary, familiar type of telescope. It consists, essentially, of a +large lens at one end of a tube, and a small lens, called the eye-piece, +at the other. The function of the large lens is to act as a sort of +gigantic eye. It collects a large amount of light, an amount +proportional to its size, and brings this light to a focus within the +tube of the telescope. It thus produces a small but bright image, and +the eye-piece magnifies this image. In the _reflector_, instead of a +large lens at the top of the tube, a large mirror is placed at the +bottom. This mirror is so shaped as to reflect the light that falls on +it to a focus, whence the light is again led to an eye-piece. Thus the +refractor and the reflector differ chiefly in their manner of gathering +light. The powerfulness of the telescope depends on the size of the +light-gatherer. A telescope with a lens four inches in diameter is four +times as powerful as the one with a lens two inches in diameter, for the +amount of light gathered obviously depends on the _area_ of the lens, +and the area varies as the _square_ of the diameter. + +The largest telescopes at present in existence are _reflectors_. It is +much easier to construct a very large mirror than to construct a very +large lens; it is also cheaper. A mirror is more likely to get out of +order than is a lens, however, and any irregularity in the shape of a +mirror produces a greater distorting effect than in a lens. A refractor +is also more convenient to handle than is a reflector. For these reasons +great refractors are still made, but the largest of them, the great +Yerkes' refractor, is much smaller than the greatest reflector, the one +on Mount Wilson, California. The lens of the Yerkes' refractor measures +three feet four inches in diameter, whereas the Mount Wilson reflector +has a diameter of no less than eight feet four inches. + +[Illustration: THE YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTOR + +(The largest _refracting_ telescope in the world. Its big lens weighs +1,000 pounds, and its mammoth tube, which is 62 feet long, weighs about +12,000 pounds. The parts to be moved weigh approximately 22 tons. + +The great _100-inch reflector_ of the Mount Wilson reflecting +telescope--the largest _reflecting_ instrument in the world--weighs +nearly 9,000 pounds and the moving parts of the telescope weigh about +100 tons. + +The new _72-inch reflector_ at the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, +near Victoria, B. C., weighs nearly 4,500 pounds, and the moving parts +about 35 tons.)] + +[Illustration: _Photo: H. J. Shepstone._ + +THE DOUBLE-SLIDE PLATE HOLDER ON YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTING TELESCOPE + +The smaller telescope at the top of the picture acts as a "finder"; the +field of view of the large telescope is so restricted that it is +difficult to recognise, as it were, the part of the heavens being +surveyed. The smaller telescope takes in a larger area and enables the +precise object to be examined to be easily selected.] + +[Illustration: MODERN DIRECT-READING SPECTROSCOPE + +(_By A. Hilger, Ltd._) + +The light is brought through one telescope, is split up by the prism, +and the resulting spectrum is observed through the other telescope.] + +But there is a device whereby the power of these giant instruments, +great as it is, can be still further heightened. That device is the +simple one of allowing the photographic plate to take the place of the +human eye. Nowadays an astronomer seldom spends the night with his eye +glued to the great telescope. He puts a photographic plate there. The +photographic plate has this advantage over the eye, that it builds up +impressions. However long we stare at an object too faint to be seen, we +shall never see it. With the photographic plate, however, faint +impressions go on accumulating. As hour after hour passes, the star +which was too faint to make a perceptible impression on the plate goes +on affecting it until finally it makes an impression which can be made +visible. In this way the photographic plate reveals to us phenomena in +the heavens which cannot be seen even through the most powerful +telescopes. + +Telescopes of the kind we have been discussing, telescopes for exploring +the heavens, are mounted _equatorially_; that is to say, they are +mounted on an inclined pillar parallel to the axis of the earth so that, +by rotating round this pillar, the telescope is enabled to follow the +apparent motion of a star due to the rotation of the earth. This motion +is effected by clock-work, so that, once adjusted on a star, and the +clock-work started, the telescope remains adjusted on that star for any +length of time that is desired. But a great official observatory, such +as Greenwich Observatory or the Observatory at Paris, also has _transit_ +instruments, or telescopes smaller than the equatorials and without the +same facility of movement, but which, by a number of exquisite +refinements, are more adapted to accurate measurements. It is these +instruments which are chiefly used in the compilation of the _Nautical +Almanac_. They do not follow the apparent motions of the stars. Stars +are allowed to drift across the field of vision, and as each star +crosses a small group of parallel wires in the eye-piece its precise +time of passage is recorded. Owing to their relative fixity of position +these instruments can be constructed to record the _positions_ of stars +with much greater accuracy than is possible to the more general and +flexible mounting of equatorials. The recording of transit is +comparatively dry work; the spectacular element is entirely absent; +stars are treated merely as mathematical points. But these observations +furnish the very basis of modern mathematical astronomy, and without +them such publications as the _Nautical Almanac_ and the _Connaissance +du Temps_ would be robbed of the greater part of their importance. + + +Sec. 2 + +The Spectroscope + +We have already learnt something of the principles of the spectroscope, +the instrument which, by making it possible to learn the actual +constitution of the stars, has added a vast new domain to astronomy. In +the simplest form of this instrument the analysing portion consists of a +single prism. Unless the prism is very large, however, only a small +degree of dispersion is obtained. It is obviously desirable, for +accurate analytical work, that the dispersion--that is, the separation +of the different parts of the spectrum--should be as great as possible. +The dispersion can be increased by using a large number of prisms, the +light emerging from the first prism, entering the second, and so on. In +this way each prism produces its own dispersive effect and, when a +number of prisms are employed, the final dispersion is considerable. A +considerable amount of light is absorbed in this way, however, so that +unless our primary source of light is very strong, the final spectrum +will be very feeble and hard to decipher. + +Another way of obtaining considerable dispersion is by using a +_diffraction grating_ instead of a prism. This consists essentially of a +piece of glass on which lines are ruled by a diamond point. When the +lines are sufficiently close together they split up light falling on +them into its constituents and produce a spectrum. The modern +diffraction grating is a truly wonderful piece of work. It contains +several thousands of lines to the inch, and these lines have to be +spaced with the greatest accuracy. But in this instrument, again, there +is a considerable loss of light. + +We have said that every substance has its own distinctive spectrum, and +it might be thought that, when a list of the spectra of different +substances has been prepared, spectrum analysis would become perfectly +straightforward. In practice, however, things are not quite so simple. +The spectrum emitted by a substance is influenced by a variety of +conditions. The pressure, the temperature, the state of motion of the +object we are observing, all make a difference, and one of the most +laborious tasks of the modern spectroscopist is to disentangle these +effects from one another. Simple as it is in its broad outlines, +spectroscopy is, in reality, one of the most intricate branches of +modern science. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +(The following list of books may be useful to readers wishing to pursue +further the study of Astronomy.) + + BALL, _The Story of the Heavens_. + BALL, _The Story of the Sun_. + FORBES, _History of Astronomy_. + HINCKS, _Astronomy_. + KIPPAX, _Call of the Stars_. + LOWELL, _Mars and Its Canals_. + LOWELL, _Evolution of Worlds_. + MCKREADY, _A Beginner's Star-Book_. + NEWCOMB, _Popular Astronomy_. + NEWCOMB, _The Stars: A Study of the Universe_. + OLCOTT, _Field Book of the Stars_. + PRICE, _Essence of Astronomy_. + SERVISS, _Curiosities of the Skies_. + WEBB, _Celestial Objects for Common Telescopes_. + YOUNG, _Text-Book of General Astronomy_. + + + + +II + +THE STORY OF EVOLUTION + + + + +INTRODUCTORY + +THE BEGINNING OF THE EARTH--MAKING A HOME FOR LIFE--THE FIRST LIVING +CREATURES + + +Sec. 1 + +The Evolution-idea is a master-key that opens many doors. It is a +luminous interpretation of the world, throwing the light of the past +upon the present. Everything is seen to be an antiquity, with a history +behind it--a _natural history_, which enables us to understand in some +measure how it has come to be as it is. We cannot say more than +"understand in some measure," for while the _fact_ of evolution is +certain, we are only beginning to discern the _factors_ that have been +at work. + +The evolution-idea is very old, going back to some of the Greek +philosophers, but it is only in modern times that it has become an +essential part of our mental equipment. It is now an everyday +intellectual tool. It was applied to the origin of the solar system and +to the making of the earth before it was applied to plants and animals; +it was extended from these to man himself; it spread to language, to +folk-ways, to institutions. Within recent years the evolution-idea has +been applied to the chemical elements, for it appears that uranium may +change into radium, that radium may produce helium, and that lead is the +final stable result when the changes of uranium are complete. Perhaps +all the elements may be the outcome of an inorganic evolution. Not less +important is the extension of the evolution-idea to the world within as +well as to the world without. For alongside of the evolution of bodies +and brains is the evolution of feelings and emotions, ideas and +imagination. + +Organic evolution means that the present is the child of the past and +the parent of the future. It is not a power or a principle; it is a +process--a process of becoming. It means that the present-day animals +and plants and all the subtle inter-relations between them have arisen +in a natural knowable way from a preceding state of affairs on the whole +somewhat simpler, and that again from forms and inter-relations simpler +still, and so on backwards and backwards for millions of years till we +lose all clues in the thick mist that hangs over life's beginnings. + +Our solar system was once represented by a nebula of some sort, and we +may speak of the evolution of the sun and the planets. But since it has +been _the same material throughout_ that has changed in its distribution +and forms, it might be clearer to use some word like genesis. Similarly, +our human institutions were once very different from what they are now, +and we may speak of the evolution of government or of cities. But Man +works with a purpose, with ideas and ideals in some measure controlling +his actions and guiding his achievements, so that it is probably clearer +to keep the good old word history for all processes of social becoming +in which man has been a conscious agent. Now between the genesis of the +solar system and the history of civilisation there comes the vast +process of organic evolution. The word development should be kept for +the becoming of the individual, the chick out of the egg, for instance. + +Organic evolution is a continuous natural process of racial change, by +successive steps in a definite direction, whereby distinctively new +individualities arise, take root, and flourish, sometimes alongside of, +and sometimes, sooner or later, in place of, the originative stock. Our +domesticated breeds of pigeons and poultry are the results of +evolutionary change whose origins are still with us in the Rock Dove and +the Jungle Fowl; but in most cases in Wild Nature the ancestral stocks +of present-day forms are long since extinct, and in many cases they are +unknown. Evolution is a long process of coming and going, appearing and +disappearing, a long-drawn-out sublime process like a great piece of +music. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Rischgitz Collection._ + +CHARLES DARWIN + +Greatest of naturalists, who made the idea of evolution current +intellectual coin, and in his _Origin of Species_ (1859) made the whole +world new.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Rischgitz Collection._ + +LORD KELVIN + +One of the greatest physicists of the nineteenth century. He estimated +the age of the earth at 20,000,000 years. He had not at his disposal, +however, the knowledge of recent discoveries, which have resulted in +this estimate being very greatly increased.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Lick Observatory._ + +A GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA + +Laplace's famous theory was that the planets and the earth were formed +from great whirling nebulae.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Natural History Museum._ + +METEORITE WHICH FELL NEAR SCARBOROUGH, AND IS NOW TO BE SEEN IN THE +NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM + +It weighs about 56 lb., and is a "stony" meteorite, i.e., an aerolite.] + + +Sec. 2 + +The Beginning of the Earth + +When we speak the language of science we cannot say "In the beginning," +for we do not know of and cannot think of any condition of things that +did not arise from something that went before. But we may qualify the +phrase, and legitimately inquire into the beginning of the earth within +the solar system. If the result of this inquiry is to trace the sun and +the planets back to a nebula we reach only a relative beginning. The +nebula has to be accounted for. And even before matter there may have +been a pre-material world. If we say, as was said long ago, "In the +beginning was Mind," we may be expressing or trying to express a great +truth, but we have gone BEYOND SCIENCE. + + +The Nebular Hypothesis + +One of the grandest pictures that the scientific mind has ever thrown +upon the screen is that of the Nebular Hypothesis. According to +Laplace's famous form of this theory (1796), the solar system was once a +gigantic glowing mass, spinning slowly and uniformly around its centre. +As the incandescent world-cloud of gas cooled and its speed of rotation +increased the shrinking mass gave off a separate whirling ring, which +broke up and gathered together again as the first and most distant +planet. The main mass gave off another ring and another till all the +planets, including the earth, were formed. The central mass persisted as +the sun. + +Laplace spoke of his theory, which Kant had anticipated forty-one years +before, with scientific caution: "conjectures which I present with all +the distrust which everything not the result of observation or of +calculation ought to inspire." Subsequent research justified his +distrust, for it has been shown that the original nebula need not have +been hot and need not have been gaseous. Moreover, there are great +difficulties in Laplace's theory of the separation of successive rings +from the main mass, and of the condensation of a whirling gaseous ring +into a planet. + +So it has come about that the picture of a hot gaseous nebula revolving +as a unit body has given place to other pictures. Thus Sir Norman +Lockyer pointed out (1890) that the earth is gathering to itself +millions of meteorites every day; this has been going on for millions of +years; in distant ages the accretion may have been vastly more rapid and +voluminous; and so the earth has grown! Now the meteoritic contributions +are undoubted, but they require a centre to attract them, and the +difficulty is to account for the beginning of a collecting centre or +planetary nucleus. Moreover, meteorites are sporadic and erratic, +scattered hither and thither rather than collecting into unit-bodies. As +Professor Chamberlin says, "meteorites have rather the characteristics +of the wreckage of some earlier organisation than of the parentage of +our planetary system." Several other theories have been propounded to +account for the origin of the earth, but the one that has found most +favour in the eyes of authorities is that of Chamberlin and Moulton. +According to this theory a great nebular mass condensed to form the sun, +from which under the attraction of passing stars planet after planet, +the earth included, was heaved off in the form of knotted spiral nebulae, +like many of those now observed in the heavens. + +Of great importance were the "knots," for they served as collecting +centres drawing flying matter into their clutches. Whatever part of the +primitive bolt escaped and scattered was drawn out into independent +orbits round the sun, forming the "planetesimals" which behave like +minute planets. These planetesimals formed the food on which the knots +subsequently fed. + + +The Growth of the Earth + +It has been calculated that the newborn earth--the "earth-knot" of +Chamberlin's theory--had a diameter of about 5,500 miles. But it grew +by drawing planetesimals into itself until it had a diameter of over +8,100 miles at the end of its growing period. Since then it has shrunk, +by periodic shrinkages which have meant the buckling up of successive +series of mountains, and it has now a diameter of 7,918 miles. But +during the shrinking the earth became more varied. + +A sort of slow boiling of the internally hot earth often forced molten +matter through the cold outer crust, and there came about a gradual +assortment of lighter materials nearer the surface and heavier materials +deeper down. The continents are built of the lighter materials, such as +granites, while the beds of the great oceans are made of the heavier +materials such as basalts. In limited areas land has often become sea, +and sea has often given place to land, but the probability is that the +distinction of the areas corresponding to the great continents and +oceans goes back to a very early stage. + +The lithosphere is the more or less stable crust of the earth, which may +have been, to begin with, about fifty miles in thickness. It seems that +the young earth had no atmosphere, and that ages passed before water +began to accumulate on its surface--before, in other words, there was +any hydrosphere. The water came from the earth itself, to begin with, +and it was long before there was any rain dissolving out saline matter +from the exposed rocks and making the sea salt. The weathering of the +high grounds of the ancient crust by air and water furnished the +material which formed the sandstones and mudstones and other sedimentary +rocks, which are said to amount to a thickness of over fifty miles in +all. + + +Sec. 3 + +Making a Home for Life + +It is interesting to inquire how the callous, rough-and-tumble +conditions of the outer world in early days were replaced by others that +allowed of the germination and growth of that tender plant we call +LIFE. There are very tough living creatures, but the average organism is +ill suited for violence. Most living creatures are adapted to mild +temperatures and gentle reactions. Hence the fundamental importance of +the early atmosphere, heavy with planetesimal dust, in blanketing the +earth against intensities of radiance from without, as Chamberlin says, +and inequalities of radiance from within. This was the first preparation +for life, but it was an atmosphere without free oxygen. Not less +important was the appearance of pools and lakelets, of lakes and seas. +Perhaps the early waters covered the earth. And water was the second +preparation for life--water, that can dissolve a larger variety of +substances in greater concentration than any other liquid; water, that +in summer does not readily evaporate altogether from a pond, nor in +winter freeze throughout its whole extent; water, that is such a mobile +vehicle and such a subtle cleaver of substances; water, that forms over +80 per cent. of living matter itself. + +Of great significance was the abundance of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen +(in the form of carbonic acid and water) in the atmosphere of the +cooling earth, for these three wonderful elements have a unique +_ensemble_ of properties--ready to enter into reactions and relations, +making great diversity and complexity possible, favouring the formation +of the plastic and permeable materials that build up living creatures. +We must not pursue the idea, but it is clear that the stones and mortar +of the inanimate world are such that they built a friendly home for +life. + + +Origin of Living Creatures upon the Earth + +During the early chapters of the earth's history, no living creature +that we can imagine could possibly have lived there. The temperature was +too high; there was neither atmosphere nor surface water. Therefore it +follows that at some uncertain, but inconceivably distant date, living +creatures appeared upon the earth. No one knows how, but it is +interesting to consider possibilities. + +[Illustration: _Reproduced from the Smithsonian Report, 1915._ + +A LIMESTONE CANYON + +Many fossils of extinct animals have been found in such rock +formations.] + +[Illustration: GENEALOGICAL TREE OF ANIMALS + +Showing in order of evolution the general relations of the chief classes +into which the world of living things is divided. This scheme represents +the present stage of our knowledge, but is admittedly provisional.] + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF AMOEBA + +(Greatly magnified.) + +The amoeba is one of the simplest of all animals, and gives us a hint +of the original ancestors. It looks like a tiny irregular speck of +greyish jelly, about 1/100th of an inch in diameter. It is commonly +found gliding on the mud or weeds in ponds, where it engulfs its +microscopic food by means of out-flowing lobes (PS). The food vacuole +(FV) contains ingested food. From the contractile vacuole (CV) the waste +matter is discharged. N is the nucleus, GR, granules.] + +From ancient times it has been a favourite answer that the dust of the +earth may have become living in a way which is outside scientific +description. This answer forecloses the question, and it is far too soon +to do that. Science must often say "Ignoramus": Science should be slow +to say "Ignorabimus." + +A second position held by Helmholtz, Lord Kelvin, and others, suggests +that minute living creatures may have come to the earth from elsewhere, +in the cracks of a meteorite or among cosmic dust. It must be remembered +that seeds can survive prolonged exposure to very low temperatures; that +spores of bacteria can survive high temperature; that seeds of plants +and germs of animals in a state of "latent life" can survive prolonged +drought and absence of oxygen. It is possible, according to Berthelot, +that as long as there is not molecular disintegration vital activities +may be suspended for a time, and may afterwards recommence when +appropriate conditions are restored. Therefore, one should be slow to +say that a long journey through space is impossible. The obvious +limitation of Lord Kelvin's theory is that it only shifts the problem of +the origin of organisms (i.e. living creatures) from the earth to +elsewhere. + +The third answer is that living creatures of a very simple sort may have +emerged on the earth's surface from not-living material, e.g. from some +semi-fluid carbon compounds activated by ferments. The tenability of +this view is suggested by the achievements of the synthetic chemists, +who are able artificially to build up substances such as oxalic acid, +indigo, salicylic acid, caffeine, and grape-sugar. We do not know, +indeed, what in Nature's laboratory would take the place of the clever +synthetic chemist, but there seems to be a tendency to complexity. +Corpuscles form atoms, atoms form molecules, small molecules large +ones. + +Various concrete suggestions have been made in regard to the possible +origin of living matter, which will be dealt with in a later chapter. So +far as we know of what goes on to-day, there is no evidence of +spontaneous generation; organisms seem always to arise from pre-existing +organisms of the same kind; where any suggestion of the contrary has +been fancied, there have been flaws in the experimenting. But it is one +thing to accept the verdict "omne vivum e vivo" as a fact to which +experiment has not yet discovered an exception and another thing to +maintain that this must always have been true or must always remain +true. + +If the synthetic chemists should go on surpassing themselves, if +substances like white of egg should be made artificially, and if we +should get more light on possible steps by which simple living creatures +may have arisen from not-living materials, this would not greatly affect +our general outlook on life, though it would increase our appreciation +of what is often libelled as "inert" matter. If the dust of the earth +did naturally give rise very long ago to living creatures, if they are +in a real sense born of her and of the sunshine, then the whole world +becomes more continuous and more vital, and all the inorganic groaning +and travailing becomes more intelligible. + + +Sec. 4 + +The First Organisms upon the Earth + +We cannot have more than a speculative picture of the first living +creatures upon the earth or, rather, in the waters that covered the +earth. A basis for speculation is to be found, however, in the simplest +creatures living to-day, such as some of the bacteria and one-celled +animalcules, especially those called Protists, which have not taken any +very definite step towards becoming either plants or animals. No one can +be sure, but there is much to be said for the theory that the first +creatures were microscopic globules of living matter, not unlike the +simplest bacteria of to-day, but able to live on air, water, and +dissolved salts. From such a source may have originated a race of +one-celled marine organisms which were able to manufacture chlorophyll, +or something like chlorophyll, that is to say, the green pigment which +makes it possible for plants to utilise the energy of the sunlight in +breaking up carbon dioxide and in building up (photosynthesis) carbon +compounds like sugars and starch. These little units were probably +encased in a cell-wall of cellulose, but their boxed-in energy expressed +itself in the undulatory movement of a lash or flagellum, by means of +which they propelled themselves energetically through the water. There +are many similar organisms to-day, mostly in water, but some of +them--simple one-celled plants--paint the tree-stems and even the +paving-stones green in wet weather. According to Prof. A. H. Church +there was a long chapter in the history of the earth when the sea that +covered everything teemed with these green flagellates--the originators +of the Vegetable Kingdom. + +On another tack, however, there probably evolved a series of simple +predatory creatures, not able to build up organic matter from air, +water, and salts, but devouring their neighbours. These units were not +closed in with cellulose, but remained naked, with their living matter +or protoplasm flowing out in changeful processes, such as we see in the +Amoebae in the ditch or in our own white blood corpuscles and other +amoeboid cells. These were the originators of the animal kingdom. Thus +from very simple Protists the first animals and the first plants may +have arisen. All were still very minute, and it is worth remembering +that had there been any scientific spectator after our kind upon the +earth during these long ages, he would have lamented the entire absence +of life, although the seas were teeming. The simplest forms of life and +the protoplasm which Huxley called the physical basis of life will be +dealt with in the chapter on Biology in a later section of this work. + + +FIRST GREAT STEPS IN EVOLUTION + +THE FIRST PLANTS--THE FIRST ANIMALS--BEGINNINGS OF BODIES--EVOLUTION OF +SEX--BEGINNING OF NATURAL DEATH + +Sec. 1 + +The Contrast between Plants and Animals + +However it may have come about, there is no doubt at all that one of the +first great steps in Organic Evolution was the forking of the +genealogical tree into Plants and Animals--the most important parting of +the ways in the whole history of Nature. + +Typical plants have chlorophyll; they are able to feed at a low chemical +level on air, water, and salts, using the energy of the sunlight in +their photosynthesis. They have their cells boxed in by cellulose walls, +so that their opportunities for motility are greatly restricted. They +manufacture much more nutritive material than they need, and live far +below their income. They have no ready way of getting rid of any +nitrogenous waste matter that they may form, and this probably helps to +keep them sluggish. + +Animals, on the other hand, feed at a high chemical level, on the +carbohydrates (e.g. starch and sugar), fats, and proteins (e.g. gluten, +albumin, casein) which are manufactured by other animals, or to begin +with, by plants. Their cells have not cellulose walls, nor in most cases +much wall of any kind, and motility in the majority is unrestricted. +Animals live much more nearly up to their income. If we could make for +an animal and a plant of equal weight two fractions showing the ratio of +the upbuilding, constructive, chemical processes to the down-breaking, +disruptive, chemical processes that go on in their respective bodies, +the ratio for the plant would be much greater than the corresponding +ratio for the animal. In other words, animals take the munitions which +plants laboriously manufacture and explode them in locomotion and +work; and the entire system of animate nature depends upon the +photosynthesis that goes on in green plants. + +[Illustration: _From the Smithsonian Report, 1917_ + +A PIECE OF A REEF-BUILDING CORAL, BUILT UP BY A LARGE COLONY OF SMALL +SEA-ANEMONE-LIKE POLYPS, EACH OF WHICH FORMS FROM THE SALTS OF THE SEA A +SKELETON OR SHELL OF LIME + +The wonderful mass of corals, which are very beautiful, are the skeleton +remains of hundreds of these little creatures.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +THE INSET CIRCLE SHOWS A GROUP OF CHALK-FORMING ANIMALS, OR +FORAMINIFERA, EACH ABOUT THE SIZE OF A VERY SMALL PIN'S HEAD + +They form a great part of the chalk cliffs of Dover and similar deposits +which have been raised from the floor of an ancient sea. + +THE ENORMOUSLY ENLARGED ILLUSTRATION IS THAT OF A COMMON FORAMINIFER +(POLYSTOMELLA) SHOWING THE SHELL IN THE CENTRE AND THE OUTFLOWING +NETWORK OF LIVING MATTER, ALONG WHICH GRANULES ARE CONTINUALLY +TRAVELLING, AND BY WHICH FOOD PARTICLES ARE ENTANGLED AND DRAWN IN + +_Reproduced by permission of the Natural History Museum_ (_after Max +Schultze_).] + +As the result of much more explosive life, animals have to deal with +much in the way of nitrogenous waste products, the ashes of the living +fire, but these are usually got rid of very effectively, e.g. in the +kidney filters, and do not clog the system by being deposited as +crystals and the like, as happens in plants. Sluggish animals like +sea-squirts which have no kidneys are exceptions that prove the rule, +and it need hardly be said that the statements that have been made in +regard to the contrasts between plants and animals are general +statements. There is often a good deal of the plant about the animal, as +in sedentary sponges, zoophytes, corals, and sea-squirts, and there is +often a little of the animal about the plant, as we see in the movements +of all shoots and roots and leaves, and occasionally in the parts of the +flower. But the important fact is that on the early forking of the +genealogical tree, i.e. the divergence of plants and animals, there +depended and depends all the higher life of the animal kingdom, not to +speak of mankind. The continuance of civilisation, the upkeep of the +human and animal population of the globe, and even the supply of oxygen +to the air we breathe, depend on the silent laboratories of the green +leaves, which are able with the help of the sunlight to use carbonic +acid, water, and salts to build up the bread of life. + + +Sec. 2 + +The Beginnings of Land Plants + +It is highly probable that for long ages the waters covered the earth, +and that all the primeval vegetation consisted of simple Flagellates in +the universal Open Sea. But contraction of the earth's crust brought +about elevations and depressions of the sea-floor, and in places the +solid substratum was brought near enough the surface to allow the +floating plants to begin to settle down without getting out of the +light. This is how Professor Church pictures the beginning of a fixed +vegetation--a very momentous step in evolution. It was perhaps among +this early vegetation that animals had their first successes. As the +floor of the sea in these shallow areas was raised higher and higher +there was a beginning of dry land. The sedentary plants already spoken +of were the ancestors of the shore seaweeds, and there is no doubt that +when we go down at the lowest tide and wade cautiously out among the +jungle of vegetation only exposed on such occasions we are getting a +glimpse of very ancient days. _This_ is the forest primeval. + + +The Protozoa + +Animals below the level of zoophytes and sponges are called Protozoa. +The word obviously means "First Animals," but all that we can say is +that the very simplest of them may give us some hint of the simplicity +of the original first animals. For it is quite certain that the vast +majority of the Protozoa to-day are far too complicated to be thought of +as primitive. Though most of them are microscopic, each is an animal +complete in itself, with the same fundamental bodily attributes as are +manifested in ourselves. They differ from animals of higher degree in +not being built up of the unit areas or corpuscles called cells. They +have no cells, no tissues, no organs, in the ordinary acceptation of +these words, but many of them show a great complexity of internal +structure, far exceeding that of the ordinary cells that build up the +tissues of higher animals. They are complete living creatures which have +not gone in for body-making. + +In the dim and distant past there was a time when the only animals were +of the nature of Protozoa, and it is safe to say that one of the great +steps in evolution was the establishment of three great types of +Protozoa: (_a_) Some were very active, the Infusorians, like the slipper +animalcule, the night-light (Noctiluca), which makes the seas +phosphorescent at night, and the deadly Trypanosome, which causes +Sleeping Sickness. (_b_) Others were very sluggish, the parasitic +Sporozoa, like the malaria organism which the mosquito introduces into +man's body. (_c_) Others were neither very active nor very passive, the +Rhizopods, with out-flowing processes of living matter. This amoeboid +line of evolution has been very successful; it is represented by the +Rhizopods, such as Amoebae and the chalk-forming Foraminifera and the +exquisitely beautiful flint-shelled Radiolarians of the open sea. They +have their counterparts in the amoeboid cells of most multicellular +animals, such as the phagocytes which migrate about in the body, +engulfing and digesting intruding bacteria, serving as sappers and +miners when something has to be broken down and built up again, and +performing other useful offices. + + +Sec. 3 + +The Making of a Body + +The great naturalist Louis Agassiz once said that the biggest gulf in +Organic Nature was that between the unicellular and the multicellular +animals (Protozoa and Metazoa). But the gulf was bridged very long ago +when sponges, stinging animals, and simple worms were evolved, and +showed, for the first time, a "body." What would one not give to be able +to account for the making of a body, one of the great steps in +evolution! No one knows, but the problem is not altogether obscure. + +When an ordinary Protozoon or one-celled animal divides into two or +more, which is its way of multiplying, the daughter-units thus formed +float apart and live independent lives. But there are a few Protozoa in +which the daughter-units are not quite separated off from one another, +but remain coherent. Thus Volvox, a beautiful green ball, found in some +canals and the like, is a colony of a thousand or even ten thousand +cells. It has almost formed a body! But in this "colony-making" +Protozoon, and in others like it, the component cells are all of one +kind, whereas in true multicellular animals there are different kinds +of cells, showing division of labour. There are some other Protozoa in +which the nucleus or kernel divides into many nuclei within the cell. +This is seen in the Giant Amoeba (Pelomyxa), sometimes found in +duck-ponds, or the beautiful Opalina, which always lives in the hind +part of the frog's food-canal. If a portion of the living matter of +these Protozoa should gather round each of the nuclei, then _that would +be the beginning of a body_. It would be still nearer the beginning of a +body if division of labour set in, and if there was a setting apart of +egg-cells and sperm-cells distinct from body-cells. + +It was possibly in some such way that animals and plants with a body +were first evolved. Two points should be noticed, that body-making is +not essentially a matter of size, though it made large size possible. +For the body of a many-celled Wheel Animalcule or Rotifer is no bigger +than many a Protozoon. Yet the Rotifer--we are thinking of Hydatina--has +nine hundred odd cells, whereas the Protozoon has only one, except in +forms like Volvox. Secondly, it is a luminous fact that _every +many-celled animal from sponge to man that multiplies in the ordinary +way begins at the beginning again as a "single cell,"_ the fertilised +egg-cell. It is, of course, not an ordinary single cell that develops +into an earthworm or a butterfly, an eagle, or a man; it is a cell in +which a rich inheritance, the fruition of ages, is somehow condensed; +but it is interesting to bear in mind the elementary fact that every +many-celled creature, reproduced in the ordinary way and not by budding +or the like, starts as a fertilised egg-cell. The coherence of the +daughter-cells into which the fertilised egg-cell divides is a +reminiscence, as it were, of the primeval coherence of daughter-units +that made the first body possible. + + +The Beginning of Sexual Reproduction + +A freshwater Hydra, growing on the duckweed usually multiplies by +budding. It forms daughter-buds, living images of itself; a check comes +to nutrition and these daughter-buds go free. A big sea-anemone may +divide in two or more parts, which become separate animals. This is +asexual reproduction, which means that the multiplication takes place by +dividing into two or many portions, and not by liberating egg-cells and +sperm-cells. Among animals as among plants, asexual reproduction is very +common. But it has great disadvantages, for it is apt to be +physiologically expensive, and it is beset with difficulties when the +body shows great division of labour, and is very intimately bound into +unity. Thus, no one can think of a bee or a bird multiplying by division +or by budding. Moreover, if the body of the parent has suffered from +injury or deterioration, the result of this is bound to be handed on to +the next generation if asexual reproduction is the only method. + +[Illustration: _Photos: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +A PLANT-LIKE ANIMAL, OR ZOOPHYTE, CALLED OBELIA + +Consisting of a colony of small polyps, whose stinging tentacles are +well shown greatly enlarged in the lower photograph.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission of "The Quart. Journ. Mic. +Sci."_ + +TRYPANOSOMA GAMBIENSE + +(Very highly magnified.) + +The microscopic animal Trypanosome, which causes Sleeping Sickness. The +study of these organisms has of late years acquired an immense +importance on account of the widespread and dangerous maladies to which +some of them give rise. It lives in the blood of man, who is infected by +the bite of a Tse-tse fly which carries the parasite from some other +host.] + +[Illustration: VOLVOX + +The Volvox is found in some canals and the like. It is one of the first +animals to suggest the beginning of a body. It is a colony of a thousand +or even ten thousand cells, but they are all cells of one kind. In +_multicellular_ animals the cells are of _different_ kinds with +different functions. Each of the ordinary cells (marked 5) has two +lashes or flagella. Daughter colonies inside the Parent colony are being +formed at 3, 4, and 2. The development of germ-cells is shown at 1.] + +[Illustration: PROTEROSPONGIA + +One of the simplest multicellular animals, illustrating the beginning of +a body. There is a setting apart of egg-cells and sperm-cells, distinct +from body-cells; the collared lashed cells on the margin are different +in kind from those farther in. Thus, as in indubitable multicellular +animals, division of labour has begun.] + +Splitting into two or many parts was the old-fashioned way of +multiplying, but one of the great steps in evolution was the discovery +of a better method, namely, sexual reproduction. The gist of this is +simply that during the process of body-building (by the development of +the fertilised egg-cell) certain units, _the germ-cells_, do not share +in forming ordinary tissues or organs, but remain apart, continuing the +full inheritance which was condensed in the fertilised egg-cell. _These +cells kept by themselves are the originators of the future reproductive +cells of the mature animal_; they give rise to the egg-cells and the +sperm-cells. + +The advantages of this method are great. (1) The new generation is +started less expensively, for it is easier to shed germ-cells into the +cradle of the water than to separate off half of the body. (2) It is +possible to start a great many new lives at once, and this may be of +vital importance when the struggle for existence is very keen, and when +parental care is impossible. (3) The germ-cells are little likely to be +prejudicially affected by disadvantageous dints impressed on the body of +the parent--little likely unless the dints have peculiarly penetrating +consequences, as in the case of poisons. (4) A further advantage is +implied in the formation of two kinds of germ-cells--the ovum or +egg-cell, with a considerable amount of building material and often with +a legacy of nutritive yolk; the spermatozoon or sperm-cell, adapted to +move in fluids and to find the ovum from a distance, thus securing +change-provoking cross-fertilisation. + + +Sec. 4 + +The Evolution of Sex + +Another of the great steps in organic evolution was the differentiation +of two different physiological types, the male or sperm-producer and the +female or egg-producer. It seems to be a deep-seated difference in +constitution, which leads one egg to develop into a male, and another, +lying beside it in the nest, into a female. In the case of pigeons it +seems almost certain, from the work of Professor Oscar Riddle, that +there are two kinds of egg, a male-producing egg and a female-producing +egg, which differ in their yolk-forming and other physiological +characters. + +In sea-urchins we often find two creatures superficially +indistinguishable, but the one is a female with large ovaries and the +other is a male with equally large testes. Here the physiological +difference does not affect the body as a whole, but the reproductive +organs or gonads only, though more intimate physiology would doubtless +discover differences in the blood or in the chemical routine +(metabolism). In a large number of cases, however, there are marked +superficial differences between the sexes, and everyone is familiar with +such contrasts as peacock and peahen, stag and hind. In such cases the +physiological difference between the sperm-producer and the +ovum-producer, for this is the essential difference, saturates through +the body and expresses itself in masculine and feminine structures and +modes of behaviour. The expression of the masculine and feminine +characters is in some cases under the control of hormones or chemical +messengers which are carried by the blood from the reproductive organs +throughout the body, and pull the trigger which brings about the +development of an antler or a wattle or a decorative plume or a capacity +for vocal and saltatory display. In some cases it is certain that the +female carries in a latent state the masculine features, but these are +kept from expressing themselves by other chemical messengers from the +ovary. Of these chemical messengers more must be said later on. + +Recent research has shown that while the difference between male and +female is very deep-rooted, corresponding to a difference in gearing, it +is not always clear-cut. Thus a hen-pigeon may be very masculine, and a +cock-pigeon very feminine. The difference is in degree, not in kind. + + +Sec. 5 + +What is the meaning of the universal or almost universal inevitableness +of death? A Sequoia or "Big Tree" of California has been known to live +for over two thousand years, but eventually it died. A centenarian +tortoise has been known, and a sea-anemone sixty years of age; but +eventually they die. What is the meaning of this apparently inevitable +stoppage of bodily life? + + +The Beginning of Natural Death + +There are three chief kinds of death, (_a_) The great majority of +animals come to a violent end, being devoured by others or killed by +sudden and extreme changes in their surroundings. (_b_) When an animal +enters a new habitat, or comes into new associations with other +organisms, it may be invaded by a microbe or by some larger parasite to +which it is unaccustomed and to which it can offer no resistance. With +many parasites a "live-and-let-live" compromise is arrived at, but new +parasites are apt to be fatal, as man knows to his cost when he is +bitten by a tse-tse fly which infects him with the microscopic animal (a +Trypanosome) that causes Sleeping Sickness. In many animals the +parasites are not troublesome as long as the host is vigorous, but if +the host is out of condition the parasites may get the upper hand, as in +the so-called "grouse disease," and become fatal. (_c_) But besides +violent death and microbic (or parasitic) death, there is natural death. +This is in great part to be regarded as the price paid for a body. A +body worth having implies complexity or division of labour, and this +implies certain internal furnishings of a more or less stable kind in +which the effects of wear and tear are apt to accumulate. It is not the +living matter itself that grows old so much as the framework in which it +works--the furnishings of the vital laboratory. There are various +processes of rejuvenescence, e.g. rest, repair, change, reorganisation, +which work against the inevitable processes of senescence, but sooner or +later the victory is with ageing. Another deep reason for natural death +is to be found in the physiological expensiveness of reproduction, for +many animals, from worms to eels, illustrate natural death as the +nemesis of starting new lives. Now it is a very striking fact that to a +large degree the simplest animals or Protozoa are exempt from natural +death. They are so relatively simple that they can continually +recuperate by rest and repair; they do not accumulate any bad debts. +Moreover, their modes of multiplying, by dividing into two or many +units, are very inexpensive physiologically. It seems that in some +measure this bodily immortality of the Protozoa is shared by some simple +many-celled animals like the freshwater Hydra and Planarian worms. Here +is an interesting chapter in evolution, the evolution of means of +evading or staving off natural death. Thus there is the well-known case +of the Paloloworm of the coral-reefs where the body breaks up in +liberating the germ-cells, but the head-end remains fixed in a crevice +of the coral, and buds out a new body at leisure. + +Along with the evolution of the ways of avoiding death should be +considered also the gradual establishment of the length of life best +suited to the welfare of the species, and the punctuation of the +life-history to suit various conditions. + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +GREEN HYDRA + +A little freshwater polyp, about half an inch long, with a crown of +tentacles round the mouth. It is seen giving off a bud, a clear +illustration of asexual reproduction. When a tentacle touches some small +organism the latter is paralysed and drawn into the mouth.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +EARTHWORM + +Earthworms began the profitable habit of moving with one end of the body +always in front, and from worms to man the great majority of animals +have bilateral symmetry.] + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM ILLUSTRATING THE BEGINNING OF INDIVIDUAL LIFE + +1. An immature _sperm_-cell, with 4 chromosomes (nuclear bodies) +represented as rods. + +2. A mature sperm-cell, with 2 chromosomes. + +3. An immature _egg_-cell, with 4 chromosomes represented as curved +bodies. + +4. A mature egg-cell, with 2 chromosomes. + +5. The spermatozoon fertilises the ovum, introducing 2 chromosomes. + +6. The fertilised ovum, with 4 chromosomes, 2 of paternal origin and 2 +of maternal origin. + +7. The chromosomes lie at the equator, and each is split longitudinally. +The centrosome introduced by the spermatozoon has divided into two +centrosomes, one at each pole of the nucleus. These play an important +part in the division or segmentation of the egg. + +8. The fertilised egg has divided into two cells. Each cell has 2 +paternal and 2 maternal chromosomes.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced from the Smithsonian Report, 1917._ + +GLASS MODEL OF A SEA-ANEMONE + +A long tubular sea-anemone, with a fine crown of tentacles around the +mouth. The suggestion of a flower is very obvious. By means of stinging +lassoes on the tentacles minute animals on which it feeds are paralysed +and captured for food.] + +[Illustration: THIS DRAWING SHOWS THE EVOLUTION OF THE BRAIN FROM FISH +TO MAN + +The Cerebrum, the seat of intelligence, increases in proportion to the +other parts. In mammals it becomes more and more convoluted. The brain, +which lies in one plane in fishes, becomes gradually curved on itself. +In birds it is more curved than the drawing shows.] + + +Sec. 6 + +Great Acquisitions + +In animals like sea-anemones and jellyfishes the general symmetry of the +body is radial; that is to say, there is no right or left, and the body +might be halved along many planes. It is a kind of symmetry well suited +for sedentary or for drifting life. But worms began the profitable habit +of moving with one end of the body always in front, and from worms to +man the great majority of animals have bilateral symmetry. They have a +right and a left side, and there is only one cut that halves the body. +This kind of symmetry is suited for a more strenuous life than radial +animals show; it is suited for pursuing food, for avoiding enemies, for +chasing mates. And _with the establishment of bilateral symmetry must be +associated the establishment of head-brains_, the beginning of which is +to be found in some simple worm-types. + +Among the other great acquisitions gradually evolved we may notice: a +well-developed head with sense-organs, the establishment of large +internal surfaces such as the digestive and absorptive wall of the +food-canal, the origin of quickly contracting striped muscle and of +muscular appendages, the formation of blood as a distributing medium +throughout the body, from which all the parts take what they need and to +which they also contribute. + +Another very important acquisition, almost confined (so far as is known) +to backboned animals, was the evolution of what are called glands of +internal secretion, such as the thyroid and the supra-renal. These +manufacture subtle chemical substances which are distributed by the +blood throughout the body, and have a manifold influence in regulating +and harmonising the vital processes. Some of these chemical messengers +are called hormones, which stimulate organs and tissues to greater +activity; others are called chalones, which put on a brake. Some +regulate growth and others rapidly alter the pressure and composition +of the blood. Some of them call into active development certain parts of +the body which have been, as it were, waiting for an appropriate +trigger-pulling. Thus, at the proper time, the milk-glands of a +mammalian mother are awakened from their dormancy. This very interesting +outcome of evolution will be dealt with in another portion of this work. + + +THE INCLINED PLANE OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR + +Sec. 1 + +Before passing to a connected story of the gradual emergence of higher +and higher forms of life in the course of the successive ages--the +procession of life, as it may be called--it will be useful to consider +the evolution of animal behaviour. + + +Evolution of Mind + +A human being begins as a microscopic fertilised egg-cell, within which +there is condensed the long result of time--Man's inheritance. The long +period of nine months before birth, with its intimate partnership +between mother and offspring, is passed as it were in sleep, and no one +can make any statement in regard to the mind of the unborn child. Even +after birth the dawn of mind is as slow as it is wonderful. To begin +with, there is in the ovum and early embryo no nervous system at all, +and it develops very gradually from simple beginnings. Yet as mentality +cannot come in from outside, we seem bound to conclude that the +potentiality of it--whatever that means--resides in the individual from +the very first. The particular kind of activity known to us as thinking, +feeling, and willing is the most intimate part of our experience, known +to us directly apart from our senses, and the possibility of that must +be implicit in the germ-cell just as the genius of Newton was implicit +in a very miserable specimen of an infant. Now what is true of the +individual is true also of the race--there is a gradual evolution of +that aspect of the living creature's activity which we call mind. We +cannot put our finger on any point and say: Before this stage there was +no mind. Indeed, many facts suggest the conclusion that wherever there +is life there is some degree of mind--even in the plants. Or it might be +more accurate to put the conclusion in another way, that the activity we +call life has always in some degree an inner or mental aspect. + +[Illustration: OKAPI AND GIRAFFE + +The Okapi is one of the great zooelogical discoveries. It gives a good +idea of what the Giraffe's ancestors were like. The Okapi was unknown +until discovered in 1900 by Sir Harry Johnston in Central Africa, where +these strange animals have probably lived in dense forests from time +immemorial.] + +In another part of this book there is an account of the dawn of mind in +backboned animals; what we aim at here is an outline of what may be +called the inclined plane of animal behaviour. + +A very simple animal accumulates a little store of potential energy, and +it proceeds to expend this, like an explosive, by acting on its +environment. It does so in a very characteristic self-preservative +fashion, so that it burns without being consumed and explodes without +being blown to bits. It is characteristic of the organism that it +remains a going concern for a longer or shorter period--its length of +life. Living creatures that expended their energy ineffectively or +self-destructively would be eliminated in the struggle for existence. +When a simple one-celled organism explores a corner of the field seen +under a microscope, behaving to all appearance very like a dog scouring +a field seen through a telescope, it seems permissible to think of +something corresponding to mental endeavour associated with its +activity. This impression is strengthened when an amoeba pursues +another amoeba, overtakes it, engulfs it, loses it, pursues it again, +recaptures it, and so on. What is quite certain is that the behaviour of +the animalcule is not like that of a potassium pill fizzing about in a +basin of water, nor like the lurching movements of a gun that has got +loose and "taken charge" on board ship. Another feature is that the +locomotor activity of an animalcule often shows a distinct +individuality: it may swim, for instance, in a loose spiral. + +But there is another side to vital activity besides acting upon the +surrounding world; the living creature is acted on by influences from +without. The organism acts on its environment; that is the one side of +the shield: the environment acts upon the organism; that is the other +side. If we are to see life whole we must recognise these two sides of +what we call living, and it is missing an important part of the history +of animal life if we fail to see that evolution implies becoming more +advantageously sensitive to the environment, making more of its +influences, shutting out profitless stimuli, and opening more gateways +to knowledge. The bird's world is a larger and finer world than an +earthworm's; the world means more to the bird than to the worm. + + +The Trial and Error Method + +Simple creatures act with a certain degree of spontaneity on their +environment, and they likewise react effectively to surrounding stimuli. +Animals come to have definite "answers back," sometimes several, +sometimes only one, as in the case of the Slipper Animalcule, which +reverses its cilia when it comes within the sphere of some disturbing +influence, retreats, and, turning upon itself tentatively, sets off +again in the same general direction as before, but at an angle to the +previous line. If it misses the disturbing influence, well and good; if +it strikes it again, the tactics are repeated until a satisfactory way +out is discovered or the stimulation proves fatal. + +It may be said that the Slipper Animalcule has but one answer to every +question, but there are many Protozoa which have several enregistered +reactions. When there are alternative reactions which are tried one +after another, the animal is pursuing what is called the trial-and-error +method, and a higher note is struck. + +There is an endeavour after satisfaction, and a trial of answers. When +the creature profits by experience to the extent of giving the right +answer first, there is the beginning of learning. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF A SIMPLE REFLEX ARC IN A BACKBONELESS ANIMAL +LIKE AN EARTHWORM + +1. A sensory nerve-cell (S.C.) on the surface receives a stimulus. + +2. The stimulus travels along the sensatory nerve-fibre (S.F.) + +3. The sensory nerve-fibre branches in the nerve-cord. + +4. Its branches come into close contact (SY^{1}) with those of an +associative or communicating nerve-cell (A.C.). + +5. Other branches of the associative cell come into close contact +(SY^{2}) with the branches or dendrites of a motor nerve-cell (M.C.). + +6. An impulse or command travels along the motor nerve-fibre or axis +cylinder of the motor nerve-cell. + +7. The motor nerve-fibre ends on a muscle-fibre (M.F.) near the surface. +This moves and the reflex action is complete.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: British Museum_ (_Natural History_). + +THE YUCCA MOTH + +The Yucca Moth, emerging from her cocoon, flies at night to a Yucca +flower and collects pollen from the stamens, holding a little ball of it +in her mouth-parts. She then visits another flower and lays an egg in +the seed-box. After this she applies the pollen to the tip of the +pistil, thus securing the fertilisation of the flower and the growth of +the ovules in the pod. Yucca flowers in Britain do not produce seeds +because there are no Yucca Moths.] + +[Illustration: INCLINED PLANE OF ANIMAL BEHAVIOUR + +Diagram illustrating animal behaviour. The main line represents the +general life of the creature. On the upper side are activities implying +initiative; on the lower side actions which are almost automatic. + +_Upper Side._--I. Energetic actions. II. Simple tentatives. III. +Trial-and-error methods. IV. Non-intelligent experiments. V. +Experiential "learning." VI. Associative "learning." VII. Intelligent +behaviour. VIII. Rational conduct (man). + +_Lower Side._--1. Reactions to environment. 2. Enregistered reactions. +3. Simple reflex actions. 4. Compound reflex actions. 5. Tropisms. 6. +Enregistered rhythms. 7. Simple instincts. 8. Chain instincts. 9. +Instinctive activities influenced by intelligence. 10. Subconscious +cerebration at a high level (man).] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +VENUS' FLY-TRAP + +One of the most remarkable plants in the world, which captures its prey +by means of a trap formed from part of its leaf. It has been induced to +snap at and hold a bristle. If an insect lighting on the leaf touches +one of six very sensitive hairs, which pull the trigger of the movement, +the two halves of the leaf close rapidly and the fringing teeth on the +margin interlock, preventing the insect's escape. Then follows an +exudation of digestive juice.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission from "The Wonders of Instinct" +by J. H. Fabre._ + +A SPIDER SUNNING HER EGGS + +A kind of spider, called Lycosa, lying head downwards at the edge of her +nest, and holding her silken cocoon--the bag containing the eggs--up +towards the sun in her hindmost pair of legs. This extraordinary +proceeding is believed to assist in the hatching.] + + +Reflex Actions + +Among simple multicellular animals, such as sea-anemones, we find the +beginnings of reflex actions, and a considerable part of the behaviour +of the lower animals is reflex. That is to say, there are laid down in +the animal in the course of its development certain pre-arrangements of +nerve-cells and muscle-cells which secure that a fit and proper answer +is given to a frequently recurrent stimulus. An earthworm half out of +its burrow becomes aware of the light tread of a thrush's foot, and +jerks itself back into its hole before anyone can say "reflex action." +What is it that happens? + +Certain sensory nerve-cells in the earthworm's skin are stimulated by +vibrations in the earth; the message travels down a sensory nerve-fibre +from each of the stimulated cells and enters the nerve-cord. The sensory +fibres come into vital connection with branches of intermediary, +associative, or communicating cells, which are likewise connected with +motor nerve-cells. To these the message is thus shunted. From the motor +nerve-cells an impulse or command travels by motor nerve-fibres, one +from each cell, to the muscles, which contract. If this took as long to +happen as it takes to describe, even in outline, it would not be of much +use to the earthworm. But the motor answer follows the sensory stimulus +almost instantaneously. The great advantage of establishing or +enregistering these reflex chains is that the answers are practically +ready-made or inborn, not requiring to be learned. It is not necessary +that the brain should be stimulated if there is a brain; nor does the +animal will to act, though in certain cases it may by means of higher +controlling nerve-centres keep the natural reflex response from being +given, as happens, for instance, when we control a cough or a sneeze on +some solemn occasion. The evolutionary method, if we may use the +expression, has been to enregister ready-made responses; and as we +ascend the animal kingdom, we find reflex actions becoming complicated +and often linked together, so that the occurrence of one pulls the +trigger of another, and so on in a chain. The behaviour of the +insectivorous plant called Venus's fly-trap when it shuts on an insect +is like a reflex action in an animal, but plants have no definite +nervous system. + + +What are Called Tropisms + +A somewhat higher level on the inclined plane is illustrated by what are +called "tropisms," obligatory movements which the animal makes, +adjusting its whole body so that physiological equilibrium results in +relation to gravity, pressure, currents, moisture, heat, light, +electricity, and surfaces of contact. A moth is flying past a candle; +the eye next the light is more illumined than the other; a physiological +inequilibrium results, affecting nerve-cells and muscle-cells; the +outcome is that the moth automatically adjusts its flight so that both +eyes become equally illumined; in doing this it often flies into the +candle. + +It may seem bad business that the moth should fly into the candle, but +the flame is an utterly artificial item in its environment to which no +one can expect it to be adapted. These tropisms play an important role +in animal behaviour. + + +Sec. 2 + +Instinctive Behaviour + +On a higher level is instinctive behaviour, which reaches such +remarkable perfection in ants, bees, and wasps. In its typical +expression instinctive behaviour depends on inborn capacities; it does +not require to be learned; it is independent of practice or experience, +though it may be improved by both; it is shared equally by all members +of the species of the same sex (for the female's instincts are often +different from the male's); it refers to particular conditions of life +that are of vital importance, though they may occur only once in a +lifetime. The female Yucca Moth emerges from the cocoon when the Yucca +flower puts forth its bell-like blossoms. She flies to a flower, +collects some pollen from the stamens, kneads it into a pill-like ball, +and stows this away under her chin. She flies to an older Yucca flower +and lays her eggs in some of the ovules within the seed-box, but before +she does so she has to deposit on the stigma the ball of pollen. From +this the pollen-tubes grow down and the pollen-nucleus of a tube +fertilises the egg-cell in an ovule, so that the possible seeds become +real seeds, for it is only a fraction of them that the Yucca Moth has +destroyed by using them as cradles for her eggs. Now it is plain that +the Yucca Moth has no individual experience of Yucca flowers, yet she +secures the continuance of her race by a concatenation of actions which +form part of her instinctive repertory. + +From a physiological point of view instinctive behaviour is like a chain +of compound reflex actions, but in some cases, at least, there is reason +to believe that the behaviour is suffused with awareness and backed by +endeavour. This is suggested in exceptional cases where the stereotyped +routine is departed from to meet exceptional conditions. It should also +be noted that just as ants, hive bees, and wasps exhibit in most cases +purely instinctive behaviour, but move on occasion on the main line of +trial and error or of experimental initiative, so among birds and +mammals the intelligent behaviour is sometimes replaced by instinctive +routine. Perhaps there is no instinctive behaviour without a spice of +intelligence, and no intelligent behaviour without an instinctive +element. The old view that instinctive behaviour was originally +intelligent, and that instinct is "lapsed intelligence," is a tempting +one, and is suggested by the way in which habitual intelligent actions +cease in the individual to require intelligent control, but it rests on +the unproved hypothesis that the acquisitions of the individual can be +entailed on the race. It is almost certain that instinct is on a line of +evolution quite different from intelligence, and that it is nearer to +the inborn inspirations of the calculating boy or the musical genius +than to the plodding methods of intelligent learning. + + +Animal Intelligence + +The higher reaches of the inclined plane of behaviour show intelligence +in the strict sense. They include those kinds of behaviour which cannot +be described without the suggestion that the animal makes some sort of +perceptual inference, not only profiting by experience but learning by +ideas. Such intelligent actions show great individual variability; they +are plastic and adjustable in a manner rarely hinted at in connection +with instincts where routine cannot be departed from without the +creature being nonplussed; they are not bound up with particular +circumstances as instinctive actions are, but imply an appreciative +awareness of relations. + +When there is an experimenting with general ideas, when there is +_conceptual_ as contrasted with _perceptual_ inference, we speak of +Reason, but there is no evidence of this below the level of man. It is +not, indeed, always that we can credit man with rational conduct, but he +has the possibility of it ever within his reach. + +Animal instinct and intelligence will be illustrated in another part of +this work. We are here concerned simply with the general question of the +evolution of behaviour. There is a main line of tentative experimental +behaviour both below and above the level of intelligence, and it has +been part of the tactics of evolution to bring about the hereditary +enregistration of capacities of effective response, the advantages being +that the answers come more rapidly and that the creature is left free, +if it chooses, for higher adventures. + +There is no doubt as to the big fact that in the course of evolution +animals have shown an increasing complexity and masterfulness of +behaviour, that they have become at once more controlled and more +definitely free agents, and that the inner aspect of the +behaviour--experimenting, learning, thinking, feeling, and willing--has +come to count for more and more. + + +Sec. 3 + +Evolution of Parental Care + +Mammals furnish a crowning instance of a trend of evolution which +expresses itself at many levels--the tendency to bring forth the young +at a well-advanced stage and to an increase of parental care associated +with a decrease in the number of offspring. There is a British starfish +called _Luidia_ which has two hundred millions of eggs in a year, and +there are said to be several millions of eggs in conger-eels and some +other fishes. These illustrate the spawning method of solving the +problem of survival. Some animals are naturally prolific, and the number +of eggs which they sow broadcast in the waters allows for enormous +infantile mortality and obviates any necessity for parental care. + +But some other creatures, by nature less prolific, have found an +entirely different solution of the problem. They practise parental care +and they secure survival with greatly economised reproduction. This is a +trend of evolution particularly characteristic of the higher animals. So +much so that Herbert Spencer formulated the generalisation that the size +and frequency of the animal family is inverse ratio to the degree of +evolution to which the animal has attained. + +Now there are many different methods of parental care which secure the +safety of the young, and one of these is called viviparity. The young +ones are not liberated from the parent until they are relatively well +advanced and more or less able to look after themselves. This gives the +young a good send-off in life, and their chances of death are greatly +reduced. In other words, the animals that have varied in the direction +of economised reproduction may keep their foothold in the struggle for +existence if they have varied at the same time in the direction of +parental care. In other cases it may have worked the other way round. + +In the interesting archaic animal called _Peripatus_, which has to face +a modern world too severe for it, one of the methods of meeting the +environing difficulties is the retention of the offspring for many +months within the mother, so that it is born a fully-formed creature. +There are only a few offspring at a time, and, although there are +exceptional cases like the summer green-flies, which are very prolific +though viviparous, the general rule is that viviparity is associated +with a very small family. The case of flowering plants stands by itself, +for although they illustrate a kind of viviparity, the seed being +embryos, an individual plant may have a large number of flowers and +therefore a huge family. + +Viviparity naturally finds its best illustrations among terrestrial +animals, where the risks to the young life are many, and it finds its +climax among mammals. + +Now it is an interesting fact that the three lowest mammals, the +Duckmole and two Spiny Ant-eaters, lay eggs, i.e. are oviparous; that +the Marsupials, on the next grade, bring forth their young, as it were, +prematurely, and in most cases stow them away in an external pouch; +while all the others--the Placentals--show a more prolonged ante-natal +life and an intimate partnership between the mother and the unborn +young. + + +Sec. 4 + +There is another way of looking at the sublime process of evolution. It +has implied a mastery of all the possible haunts of life; it has been a +progressive conquest of the environment. + +1. It is highly probable that living organisms found their foothold in +the stimulating conditions of the shore of the sea--the shallow water, +brightly illumined, seaweed-growing shelf fringing the Continents. This +littoral zone was a propitious environment where sea and fresh water, +earth and air all meet, where there is stimulating change, abundant +oxygenation and a copious supply of nutritive material in what the +streams bring down and in the rich seaweed vegetation. + +[Illustration: THE HOATZIN INHABITS BRITISH GUIANA + +The newly hatched bird has claws on its thumb and first finger and so is +enabled to climb on the branches of trees with great dexterity until +such time as the wings are strong enough to sustain it in flight.] + +[Illustration: _Photograph, from the British Museum (Natural History), +of a drawing by Mr. E. Wilson._ + +PERIPATUS + +A widely distributed old-fashioned type of animal, somewhat like a +permanent caterpillar. It has affinities both with worms and with +insects. It has a velvety skin, minute diamond-like eyes, and short +stump-like legs. A defenceless, weaponless animal, it comes out at +night, and is said to capture small insects by squirting jets of slime +from its mouth.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S._ + +ROCK KANGAROO CARRYING ITS YOUNG IN A POUCH + +The young are born so helpless that they cannot even suck. The mother +places them in the external pouch, and fitting their mouths on the teats +injects the milk. After a time the young ones go out and in as they +please.] + +It is not an easy haunt of life, but none the worse for that, and it is +tenanted to-day by representatives of practically every class of animals +from infusorians to seashore birds and mammals. + + +The Cradle of the Open Sea + +2. The open-sea or pelagic haunt includes all the brightly illumined +surface waters beyond the shallow water of the shore area. + +It is perhaps the easiest of all the haunts of life, for there is no +crowding, there is considerable uniformity, and an abundance of food for +animals is afforded by the inexhaustible floating "sea-meadows" of +microscopic Algae. These are reincarnated in minute animals like the +open-sea crustaceans, which again are utilised by fishes, these in turn +making life possible for higher forms like carnivorous turtles and +toothed whales. It is quite possible that the open sea was the original +cradle of life and perhaps Professor Church is right in picturing a long +period of pelagic life before there was any sufficiently shallow water +to allow the floating plants to anchor. It is rather in favour of this +view that many shore animals such as crabs and starfishes, spend their +youthful stages in the relatively safe cradle of the open sea, and only +return to the more strenuous conditions of their birthplace after they +have gained considerable strength of body. It is probably safe to say +that the honour of being the original cradle of life lies between the +shore of the sea and the open sea. + + +The Great Deeps + +3. A third haunt of life is the floor of the Deep Sea, the abyssal area, +which occupies more than a half of the surface of the globe. It is a +region of extreme cold--an eternal winter; of utter darkness--an eternal +night--relieved only by the fitful gleams of "phosphorescent" animals; +of enormous pressure--2-1/2 tons on the square inch at a depth of 2,500 +fathoms; of profound calm, unbroken silence, immense monotony. And as +there are no plants in the great abysses, the animals must live on one +another, and, in the long run, on the rain of moribund animalcules which +sink from the surface through the miles of water. It seems a very +unpromising haunt of life, but it is abundantly tenanted, and it gives +us a glimpse of the insurgent nature of the living creature that the +difficulties of the Deep Sea should have been so effectively conquered. +It is probable that the colonising of the great abysses took place in +relatively recent times, for the fauna does not include many very +antique types. It is practically certain that the colonisation was due +to littoral animals which followed the food-debris, millennium after +millennium, further and further down the long slope from the shore. + + +The Freshwaters + +4. A fourth haunt of life is that of the freshwaters, including river +and lake, pond and pool, swamp and marsh. It may have been colonised by +gradual migration up estuaries and rivers, or by more direct passage +from the seashore into the brackish swamp. Or it may have been in some +cases that partially landlocked corners of ancient seas became gradually +turned into freshwater basins. The animal population of the freshwaters +is very representative, and is diversely adapted to meet the +characteristic contingencies--the risk of being dried up, the risk of +being frozen hard in winter, and the risk of being left high and dry +after floods or of being swept down to the sea. + + +Conquest of the Dry Land + +5. The terrestrial haunt has been invaded age after age by contingents +from the sea or from the freshwaters. We must recognise the worm +invasion, which led eventually to the making of the fertile soil, the +invasion due to air-breathing Arthropods, which led eventually to the +important linkage between flowers and their insect visitors, and the +invasion due to air-breathing Amphibians, which led eventually to the +higher terrestrial animals and to the development of intelligence and +family affection. Besides these three great invasions, there were minor +ones such as that leading to land-snails, for there has been a +widespread and persistent tendency among aquatic animals to try to +possess the dry land. + +Getting on to dry land had a manifold significance. + +It implied getting into a medium with a much larger supply of oxygen +than there is dissolved in the water. But the oxygen of the air is more +difficult to capture, especially when the skin becomes hard or well +protected, as it is almost bound to become in animals living on dry +ground. Thus this leads to the development of _internal surfaces_, such +as those of lungs, where the oxygen taken into the body may be absorbed +by the blood. In most animals the blood goes to the surface of +oxygen-capture; but in insects and their relatives there is a different +idea--of taking the air to the blood or in greater part to the area of +oxygen-combustion, the living tissues. A system of branching air-tubes +takes air into every hole and corner of the insect's body, and this +thorough aeration is doubtless in part the secret of the insect's +intense activity. The blood never becomes impure. + +The conquest of the dry land also implied a predominance of that kind of +locomotion which may be compared to punting, when the body is pushed +along by pressing a lever against a hard substratum. And it also +followed that with few exceptions the body of the terrestrial animal +tended to be compact, readily lifted off the ground by the limbs or +adjusted in some other way so that there may not be too large a surface +trailing on the ground. An animal like a jellyfish, easily supported in +the water, would be impossible on land. Such apparent exceptions as +earthworms, centipedes, and snakes are not difficult to explain, for the +earthworm is a burrower which eats its way through the soil, the +centipede's long body is supported by numerous hard legs, and the snake +pushes itself along by means of the large ventral scales to which the +lower ends of very numerous ribs are attached. + + +Methods of Mastering the Difficulties of Terrestrial Life + +A great restriction attendant on the invasion of the dry land is that +locomotion becomes limited to one plane, namely, the surface of the +earth. This is in great contrast to what is true in the water, where the +animal can move up or down, to right or to left, at any angle and in +three dimensions. It surely follows from this that the movements of land +animals must be rapid and precise, unless, indeed, safety is secured in +some other way. Hence it is easy to understand why most land animals +have very finely developed striped muscles, and why a beetle running on +the ground has far more numerous muscles than a lobster swimming in the +sea. + +Land animals were also handicapped by the risks of drought and of frost, +but these were met by defences of the most diverse description, from the +hairs of woolly caterpillars to the fur of mammals, from the carapace of +tortoises to the armour of armadillos. In other cases, it is hardly +necessary to say, the difficulties may be met in other ways, as frogs +meet the winter by falling into a lethargic state in some secluded +retreat. + +Another consequence of getting on to dry land is that the eggs or young +can no longer be set free anyhow, as is possible when the animal is +surrounded by water, which is in itself more or less of a cradle. If the +eggs were laid or the young liberated on dry ground, the chances are +many that they would be dried up or devoured. So there are numerous ways +in which land animals secure the safety of their young, e.g. by burying +them in the ground, or by hiding them in nests, or by carrying them +about for a prolonged period either before or after birth. This may mean +great safety for the young, this may make it possible to have only a +small family, and this may tend to the evolution of parental care and +the kindly emotions. Thus it may be understood that from the conquest of +the land many far-reaching consequences have followed. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Rischgitz._ + +PROFESSOR THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY (1825-95) + +One of the most distinguished of zoologists, with unsurpassed gifts as a +teacher and expositor. He did great service in gaining a place for +science in ordinary education and in popular estimation. No one +championed Evolutionism with more courage and skill.] + +[Illustration: BARON CUVIER, 1769-1832 + +One of the founders of modern Comparative Anatomy. A man of gigantic +intellect, who came to Paris as a youth from the provinces, and became +the director of the higher education of France and a peer of the Empire. +He was opposed to Evolutionist ideas, but he had anatomical genius.] + +[Illustration: AN ILLUSTRATION SHOWING VARIOUS METHODS OF FLYING AND +SWOOPING + +Gull, with a feather-wing, a true flier. Fox-bat, with a skin-wing, a +true flier. Flying Squirrel, with a parachute of skin, able to swoop +from tree to tree, but not to fly. Flying Fish, with pectoral fins used +as volplanes in a great leap due to the tail. To some extent able to +sail in albatros fashion.] + +Finally, it is worth dwelling on the risks of terrestrial life, because +they enable us better to understand why so many land animals have become +burrowers and others climbers of trees, why some have returned to the +water and others have taken to the air. It may be asked, perhaps, why +the land should have been colonised at all when the risks and +difficulties are so great. The answer must be that necessity and +curiosity are the mother and father of invention. Animals left the water +because the pools dried up, or because they were overcrowded, or because +of inveterate enemies, but also because of that curiosity and spirit of +adventure which, from first to last, has been one of the spurs of +progress. + + +Conquering the Air + +6. The last great haunt of life is the air, a mastery of which must be +placed to the credit of insects, Pterodactyls, birds, and bats. These +have been the successes, but it should be noted that there have been +many brilliant failures, which have not attained to much more than +parachuting. These include the Flying Fishes, which take leaps from the +water and are carried for many yards and to considerable heights, +holding their enlarged pectoral fins taut or with little more than a +slight fluttering. There is a so-called Flying Frog (_Rhacophorus_) that +skims from branch to branch, and the much more effective Flying Dragon +(_Draco volans_) of the Far East, which has been mentioned already. +Among mammals there are Flying Phalangers, Flying Lemurs, and more +besides, all attaining to great skill as parachutists, and illustrating +the endeavour to master the air which man has realised in a way of his +own. + +The power of flight brings obvious advantages. A bird feeding on the +ground is able to evade the stalking carnivore by suddenly rising into +the air; food and water can be followed rapidly and to great distances; +the eggs or the young can be placed in safe situations; and birds in +their migrations have made a brilliant conquest both of time and space. +Many of them know no winter in their year, and the migratory flight of +the Pacific Golden Plover from Hawaii to Alaska and back again does not +stand alone. + + +THE PROCESSION OF LIFE THROUGH THE AGES + +Sec. 1 + +The Rock Record + +How do we know when the various classes of animals and plants were +established on the earth? How do we know the order of their appearance +and the succession of their advances? The answer is: by reading the Rock +Record. In the course of time the crust of the earth has been elevated +into continents and depressed into ocean-troughs, and the surface of the +land has been buckled up into mountain ranges and folded in gentler +hills and valleys. The high places of the land have been weathered by +air and water in many forms, and the results of the weathering have been +borne away by rivers and seas, to be laid down again elsewhere as +deposits which eventually formed sandstones, mudstones, and similar +sedimentary rocks. Much of the material of the original crust has thus +been broken down and worked up again many times over, and if the total +thickness of the sedimentary rocks is added up it amounts, according to +some geologists, to a total of 67 miles. In most cases, however, only a +small part of this thickness is to be seen in one place, for the +deposits were usually formed in limited areas at any one time. + + +The Use of Fossils + +When the sediments were accumulating age after age, it naturally came +about that remains of the plants and animals living at the time were +buried, and these formed the fossils by the aid of which it is possible +to read the story of the past. By careful piecing together of evidence +the geologist is able to determine the order in which the different +sedimentary rocks were laid down, and thus to say, for instance, that +the Devonian period was the time of the origin of Amphibians. In other +cases the geologist utilises the fossils in his attempt to work out the +order of the strata when these have been much disarranged. For the +simpler fossil forms of any type must be older than those that are more +complex. There is no vicious circle here, for the general succession of +strata is clear, and it is quite certain that there were fishes before +there were amphibians, and amphibians before there were reptiles, and +reptiles before there were birds and mammals. In certain cases, e.g. of +fossil horses and elephants, the actual historical succession has been +clearly worked out. + +If the successive strata contained good samples of all the plants and +animals living at the time when the beds were formed, then it would be +easy to read the record of the rocks, but many animals were too soft to +become satisfactory fossils, many were eaten or dissolved away, many +were destroyed by heat and pressure, so that the rock record is like a +library very much damaged by fire and looting and decay. + + +Sec. 2 + +The Geological Time-table + +The long history of the earth and its inhabitants is conveniently +divided into eras. Thus, just as we speak of the ancient, mediaeval, and +modern history of mankind, so we may speak of Palaeozoic, Mesozoic and +Cenozoic eras in the history of the earth as a whole. + +Geologists cannot tell us except in an approximate way how long the +process of evolution has taken. One of the methods is to estimate how +long has been required for the accumulation of the salts of the sea, +for all these have been dissolved out of the rocks since rain began to +fall on the earth. Dividing the total amount of saline matter by what is +contributed every year in modern times, we get about a hundred million +years as the age of the sea. But as the present rate of +salt-accumulation is probably much greater than it was during many of +the geological periods, the prodigious age just mentioned is in all +likelihood far below the mark. Another method is to calculate how long +it would take to form the sedimentary rocks, like sandstones and +mudstones, which have a _total_ thickness of over fifty miles, though +the _local_ thickness is rarely over a mile. As most of the materials +have come from the weathering of the earth's crust, and as the annual +amount of weathering now going on can be estimated, the time required +for the formation of the sedimentary rocks of the world can be +approximately calculated. There are some other ways of trying to tell +the earth's age and the length of the successive periods, but no +certainty has been reached. + +The eras marked on the table (page 92) as _before the Cambrian_ +correspond to about thirty-two miles of thickness of strata; and all the +subsequent eras with fossil-bearing rocks to a thickness of about +twenty-one miles--in itself an astounding fact. Perhaps thirty million +years must be allotted to the Pre-Cambrian eras, eighteen to the +Palaeozoic, nine to the Mesozoic, three to the Cenozoic, making a grand +total of sixty millions. + + +The Establishment of Invertebrate Stocks + +It is an astounding fact that at least half of geological time (the +Archaeozoic and Proterozoic eras) passed before there were living +creatures with parts sufficiently hard to form fossils. In the latter +part of the Proterozoic era there are traces of one-celled marine +animals (Radiolarians) with shells of flint, and of worms that wallowed +in the primal mud. It is plain that as regards the most primitive +creatures the rock record tells us little. + +[Illustration: _From Knipe's "Nebula to Man."_ + +ANIMALS OF THE CAMBRIAN PERIOD e.g. Sponges, Jellyfish, Starfish, +Sea-lilies, Water-fleas, and Trilobites] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +A TRILOBITE + +Trilobites were ancient seashore animals, abundant from the Upper +Cambrian to the Carboniferous eras. They have no direct descendants +to-day. They were jointed-footed animals, allied to Crustaceans and +perhaps also to King-crabs. They were able to roll themselves up in +their ring-armour.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: British Museum (Natural History)._ + +THE GAMBIAN MUD-FISH, PROTOPTERUS + +It can breathe oxygen dissolved in water by its gills; it can also +breathe dry air by means of its swim-bladder, which has become a lung. +It is a _double-breather_, showing evolution in process. For seven +months of the year, the dry season, it can remain inert in the mud, +getting air through an open pipe to the surface. When water fills the +pools it can use its gills again. Mud-nests or mud encasements with the +lung-fish inside have often been brought to Britain and the fish when +liberated were quite lively.] + +[Illustration: THE ARCHAEOPTERYX + +(_After William Leche of Stockholm._) + +A good restoration of the oldest known bird, Archaeopteryx (Jurassic +Era). It was about the size of a crow; it had teeth on both jaws; it had +claws on the thumb and two fingers; and it had a long lizard-like tail. +But it had feathers, proving itself a true bird.] + +[Illustration: WING OF A BIRD, SHOWING THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE FEATHERS + +The longest feathers or primaries (PR) are borne by the two fingers (2 +and 3), and their palm-bones (CMC); the second longest or secondaries +are borne by the ulna bone (U) of the fore-arm; there is a separate tuft +(AS) on the thumb (TH).] + +The rarity of direct traces of life in the oldest rocks is partly due to +the fact that the primitive animals would be of delicate build, but it +must also be remembered that the ancient rocks have been profoundly and +repeatedly changed by pressure and heat, so that the traces which did +exist would be very liable to obliteration. And if it be asked what +right we have to suppose the presence of living creatures in the absence +or extreme rarity of fossils, we must point to great accumulations of +limestone which indicate the existence of calcareous algae, and to +deposits of iron which probably indicate the activity of iron-forming +Bacteria. Ancient beds of graphite similarly suggest that green plants +flourished in these ancient days. + + +Sec. 3 + +The Era of Ancient Life (Palaeozoic) + +The _Cambrian_ period was the time of the establishment of the chief +stocks of backboneless animals such as sponges, jellyfishes, worms, +sea-cucumbers, lamp-shells, trilobites, crustaceans, and molluscs. There +is something very eloquent in the broad fact that the peopling of the +seas had definitely begun some thirty million years ago, for Professor +H. F. Osborn points out that in the Cambrian period there was already a +colonisation of the shore of the sea, the open sea, and the deep waters. + +The _Ordovician_ period was marked by abundant representation of the +once very successful class of Trilobites--jointed-footed, +antenna-bearing, segmented marine animals, with numerous appendages and +a covering of chitin. They died away entirely with the end of the +Palaeozoic era. Also very notable was the abundance of predatory +cuttlefishes, the bullies of the ancient seas. But it was in this period +that the first backboned animals made their appearance--an epoch-making +step in evolution. In other words, true fishes were evolved--destined in +the course of ages to replace the cuttlefishes (which are mere molluscs) +in dominating the seas. + + _______________________________________________________________________ + + _RECENT TIMES_ Human civilisation. + _______________________________________________________________________ + + {PLEISTOCENE OR GLACIAL TIME Last great Ice Age. + _CENOZOIC ERA_ {MIOCENE AND PLIOCENE TIMES Emergence of Man. + {EOCENE AND OLIGOCENE TIMES Rise of higher mammals. + _______________________________________________________________________ + + {CRETACEOUS PERIOD Rise of primitive mammals, + { flowering plants, + { and higher insects. + _MESOZOIC ERA_ {JURASSIC PERIOD Rise of birds and flying + { reptiles. + {TRIASSIC PERIOD Rise of dinosaur reptiles. + _______________________________________________________________________ + + {PERMIAN PERIOD Rise of reptiles. + {CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD Rise of insects. + {DEVONIAN PERIOD First amphibians. + _PALAEOZOIC ERA_ {SILURIAN PERIOD Land animals began. + {ORDOVICIAN PERIOD First fishes. + {CAMBRIAN PERIOD Peopling of the sea. + _______________________________________________________________________ + + _PROTEROZOIC AGES_ Many of the Backboneless stocks began. + _ARCHAEOZOIC AGES_ Living creatures began to be upon the earth. + _______________________________________________________________________ + + {Making of continents and ocean-basins. + {Beginnings of atmosphere and hydrosphere. + _FORMATIVE TIMES_ {Cooling of the earth. + {Establishment of the solar system. + _______________________________________________________________________ + +In the _Silurian_ period in which the peopling of the seas went on +apace, there was the first known attempt at colonising the dry land. For +in Silurian rocks there are fossil scorpions, and that implies ability +to breathe dry air--by means of internal surfaces, in this case known as +lungbooks. It was also towards the end of the Silurian, when a period of +great aridity set in, that fishes appeared related to our mud-fishes or +double-breathers (Dipnoi), which have lungs as well as gills. This, +again, meant utilising dry air, just as the present-day mud-fishes do +when the water disappears from the pools in hot weather. The lung-fishes +or mud-fishes of to-day are but three in number, one in Queensland, one +in South America, and one in Africa, but they are extremely +interesting "living fossils," binding the class of fishes to that of +amphibians. It is highly probable that the first invasion of the dry +land should be put to the credit of some adventurous worms, but the +second great invasion was certainly due to air-breathing Arthropods, +like the pioneer scorpion we mentioned. + +[Illustration: PICTORIAL REPRESENTATION OF THE SUCCESSIVE STRATA OF THE +EARTH'S CRUST, WITH SUGGESTIONS OF CHARACTERISTIC FOSSILS + +E.g. Fish and Trilobite in the Devonian (red), a large Amphibian in the +Carboniferous (blue), Reptiles in Permian (light red), the first Mammal +in the Triassic (blue), the first Bird in the Jurassic (yellow), Giant +Reptiles in the Cretaceous (white), then follow the Tertiary strata with +progressive mammals, and Quaternary at the top with man and mammoth.] + +The _Devonian_ period, including that of the Old Red Sandstone, was one +of the most significant periods in the earth's history. For it was the +time of the establishment of flowering plants upon the earth and of +terrestrial backboned animals. One would like to have been the +discoverer of the Devonian foot-print of _Thinopus_, the first known +Amphibian foot-print--an eloquent vestige of the third great invasion of +the dry land. It was probably from a stock of Devonian lung-fishes that +the first Amphibians sprang, but it was not till the next period that +they came to their own. While they were still feeling their way, there +was a remarkable exuberance of shark-like and heavily armoured fishes in +the Devonian seas. + + +EVOLUTION OF LAND ANIMALS + +Sec. 1 + +Giant Amphibians and Coal-measures + +The _Carboniferous_ period was marked by a mild moist climate and a +luxuriant vegetation in the swampy low grounds. It was a much less +strenuous time than the Devonian period; it was like a very long summer. +There were no trees of the type we see now, but there were forests of +club-mosses and horsetails which grew to a gigantic size compared with +their pigmy representatives of to-day. In these forests the +jointed-footed invaders of the dry land ran riot in the form of +centipedes, spiders, scorpions, and insects, and on these the primeval +Amphibians fed. The appearance of insects made possible a new linkage of +far-reaching importance, namely, the cross-fertilisation of flowering +plants by their insect visitors, and from this time onwards it may be +said that flowers and their visitors have evolved hand in hand. +Cross-fertilisation is much surer by insects than by the wind, and +cross-fertilisation is more advantageous than self-fertilisation because +it promotes both fertility and plasticity. It was probably in this +period that _coloured_ flowers--attractive to insect-visitors--began to +justify themselves as beauty became useful, and began to relieve the +monotonous green of the horsetail and club-moss forests, which covered +great tracts of the earth for millions of years. In the Carboniferous +forests there were also land-snails, representing one of the minor +invasions of the dry land, tending on the whole to check vegetation. +They, too, were probably preyed upon by the Amphibians, some of which +attained a large size. Each age has had its giants, and those of the +Carboniferous were Amphibians called Labyrinthodonts, some of which were +almost as big as donkeys. It need hardly be said that it was in this +period that most of the Coal-measures were laid down by the immense +accumulation of the spores and debris of the club-moss forests. Ages +afterwards, it was given to man to tap this great source of +energy--traceable back to the sunshine of millions of years ago. Even +then it was true that no plant or animal lives or dies to itself! + + +The Acquisitions of Amphibians. + +As Amphibians had their Golden Age in the Carboniferous period we may +fitly use this opportunity of indicating the advances in evolution which +the emergence of Amphibians implied. (1) In the first place the passage +from water to dry land was the beginning of a higher and more promiseful +life, taxed no doubt by increased difficulties. The natural question +rises why animals should have migrated from water to dry land at all +when great difficulties were involved in the transition. The answers +must be: (_a_) that local drying up of water-basins or elevations of the +land surface often made the old haunts untenable; (_b_) that there may +have been great congestion and competition in the old quarters; and +(_c_) that there has been an undeniable endeavour after well-being +throughout the history of animal life. In the same way with mankind, +migrations were prompted by the setting in of prolonged drought, by +over-population, and by the spirit of adventure. (2) In Amphibians for +the first time the non-digitate paired fins of fishes were replaced by +limbs with fingers and toes. This implied an advantageous power of +grasping, of holding firm, of putting food into the mouth, of feeling +things in three dimensions. (3) We cannot be positive in regard to the +soft parts of the ancient Amphibians known only as fossils, but if they +were in a general way like the frogs and toads, newts and salamanders of +the present day, we may say that they made among other acquisitions the +following: true ventral lungs, a three-chambered heart, a movable +tongue, a drum to the ear, and lids to the eyes. It is very interesting +to find that though the tongue of the tadpole has some muscle-fibres in +it, they are not strong enough to effect movement, recalling the tongue +of fishes, which has not any muscles at all. Gradually, as the tadpole +becomes a frog, the muscle-fibres grow in strength, and make it possible +for the full-grown creature to shoot out its tongue upon insects. This +is probably a recapitulation of what was accomplished in the course of +millennia in the history of the Amphibian race. (4) Another acquisition +made by Amphibians was a voice, due, as in ourselves, to the rapid +passage of air over taut membranes (vocal cords) stretched in the +larynx. It is an interesting fact that for millions of years there was +upon the earth no sound of life at all, only the noise of wind and wave, +thunder and avalanche. Apart from the instrumental music of some +insects, perhaps beginning in the Carboniferous, the first vital sounds +were due to Amphibians, and theirs certainly was the first voice--surely +one of the great steps in organic evolution. + +[Illustration: _Photo: British Museum (Natural History)._ + +FOSSIL OF A PTERODACTYL OR EXTINCT FLYING DRAGON + +The wing is made of a web of skin extended on the enormously elongated +outermost finger. The long tail served for balancing and steering. The +Pterodactyls varied from the size of sparrows to a wing-span of fifteen +feet--the largest flying creatures.] + +[Illustration: _From Knipe's "Nebula to Man."_ + +PARIASAURUS: AN EXTINCT VEGETARIAN TRIASSIC REPTILE + +Total length about 9 feet. (Remains found in Cape Colony, South +Africa.)] + +[Illustration: _From Knipe's "Nebula to Man."_ + +TRICERATOPS: A HUGE EXTINCT REPTILE + +(From remains found in Cretaceous strata of Wyoming, U.S.A.) + +This Dinosaur, about the size of a large rhinoceros, had a huge +three-horned skull with a remarkable bony collar over the neck. But, as +in many other cases, its brain was so small that it could have passed +down the spinal canal in which the spinal cord lies. Perhaps this partly +accounts for the extinction of giant reptiles.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: "Daily Mail."_ + +THE DUCKMOLE OR DUCK-BILLED PLATYPUS OF AUSTRALIA + +The Duckmole or Duck-billed Platypus of Australia is a survivor of the +most primitive mammals. It harks back to reptiles, e.g. in being an +egg-layer, in having comparatively large eggs, and in being imperfectly +warm-blooded. It swims well and feeds on small water-animals. It can +also burrow.] + + +Evolution of the Voice + +The first use of the voice was probably that indicated by our frogs and +toads--it serves as a sex-call. That is the meaning of the trumpeting +with which frogs herald the spring, and it is often only in the males +that the voice is well developed. But if we look forward, past +Amphibians altogether, we find the voice becoming a maternal call +helping to secure the safety of the young--a use very obvious when young +birds squat motionless at the sound of the parent's danger-note. Later +on, probably, the voice became an infantile call, as when the unhatched +crocodile pipes from within the deeply buried egg, signalling to the +mother that it is time to be unearthed. Higher still the voice expresses +emotion, as in the song of birds, often outside the limits of the +breeding time. Later still, particular sounds become words, signifying +particular things or feelings, such as "food," "danger," "home," +"anger," and "joy." Finally words become a medium of social intercourse +and as symbols help to make it possible for man to reason. + + +Sec. 2 + +The Early Reptiles + +In the _Permian_ period reptiles appeared, or perhaps one should say, +began to assert themselves. That is to say, there was an emergence of +backboned animals which were free from water and relinquished the method +of breathing by gills, which Amphibians retained in their young stages +at least. The unhatched or unborn reptile breathes by means of a +vascular hood spread underneath the egg-shell and absorbing dry air from +without. It is an interesting point that this vascular hood, called the +allantois, is represented in the Amphibians by an unimportant bladder +growing out from the hind end of the food-canal. A great step in +evolution was implied in the origin of this ante-natal hood or foetal +membrane and another one--of protective significance--called the amnion, +which forms a water-bag over the delicate embryo. The step meant total +emancipation from the water and from gill-breathing, and the two +foetal membranes, the amnion and the allantois, persist not only in +all reptiles but in birds and mammals as well. These higher Vertebrates +are therefore called Amniota in contrast to the Lower Vertebrates or +Anamnia (the Amphibians, Fishes, and primitive types). + +It is a suggestive fact that the embryos of all reptiles, birds, and +mammals show gill-clefts--_a tell-tale evidence of their distant aquatic +ancestry_. But these embryonic gill-clefts are not used for respiration +and show no trace of gills except in a few embryonic reptiles and birds +where their dwindled vestiges have been recently discovered. As to the +gill-clefts, they are of no use in higher Vertebrates except that the +first becomes the Eustachian tube leading from the ear-passage to the +back of the mouth. The reason why they persist when only one is of any +use, and that in a transformed guise, would be difficult to interpret +except in terms of the Evolution theory. They illustrate the lingering +influence of a long pedigree, the living hand of the past, the tendency +that individual development has to recapitulate racial evolution. In a +condensed and telescoped manner, of course, for what took the race a +million years may be recapitulated by the individual in a week! + +In the Permian period the warm moist climate of most of the +Carboniferous period was replaced by severe conditions, culminating in +an Ice Age which spread from the Southern Hemisphere throughout the +world. With this was associated a waning of the Carboniferous flora, and +the appearance of a new one, consisting of ferns, conifers, ginkgos, and +cycads, which persisted until near the end of the Mesozoic era. The +Permian Ice Age lasted for millions of years, and was most severe in the +Far South. Of course, it was a very different world then, for North +Europe was joined to North America, Africa to South America, and +Australia to Asia. It was probably during the Permian Ice Age that many +of the insects divided their life-history into two main chapters--the +feeding, growing, moulting, immature, larval stages, e.g. caterpillars, +and the more ascetic, non-growing, non-moulting, winged phase, adapted +for reproduction. Between these there intervened the quiescent, +well-protected pupa stage or chrysalis, probably adapted to begin with +as a means of surviving the severe winter. For it is easier for an +animal to survive when the vital processes are more or less in abeyance. + + +Disappearance of many Ancient Types + +We cannot leave the last period of the Palaeozoic era and its prolonged +ice age without noticing that it meant the entire cessation of a large +number of ancient types, especially among plants and backboneless +animals, which now disappear for ever. It is necessary to understand +that the animals of ancient days stand in three different relations to +those of to-day. (_a_) There are ancient types that have living +representatives, sometimes few and sometimes many, sometimes much +changed and sometimes but slightly changed. The lamp-shell, +_Lingulella_, of the Cambrian and Ordovician period has a very near +relative in the _Lingula_ of to-day. There are a few extremely +conservative animals. (_b_) There are ancient types which have no living +representatives, except in the guise of transformed descendants, as the +King-crab (_Limulus_) may be said to be a transformed descendant of the +otherwise quite extinct race to which Eurypterids or Sea-scorpions +belonged. (_c_) There are altogether extinct types--_lost races_--which +have left not a wrack behind. For there is not any representation to-day +of such races as Graptolites and Trilobites. + +Looking backwards over the many millions of years comprised in the +Palaeozoic era, what may we emphasise as the most salient features? There +was in the _Cambrian_ the establishment of the chief classes of +backboneless animals; in the _Ordovician_ the first fishes and perhaps +the first terrestrial plants; in the _Silurian_ the emergence of +air-breathing Invertebrates and mud-fishes; in the _Devonian_ the +appearance of the first Amphibians, from which all higher land animals +are descended, and the establishment of a land flora; in the +_Carboniferous_ the great Club-moss forests and an exuberance of +air-breathing insects and their allies; in the _Permian_ the first +reptiles and a new flora. + + +THE GEOLOGICAL MIDDLE AGES + +Sec. 1 + +The Mesozoic Era + +In a broad way the Mesozoic era corresponds with the Golden Age of +reptiles, and with the climax of the Conifer and Cycad flora, which was +established in the Permian. But among the Conifers and Cycads our modern +flowering plants were beginning to show face tentatively, just like +birds and mammals among the great reptiles. + +In the _Triassic_ period the exuberance of reptilian life which marked +the Permian was continued. Besides Turtles which still persist, there +were Ichthyosaurs, Plesiosaurs, Dinosaurs, and Pterosaurs, none of which +lasted beyond the Mesozoic era. Of great importance was the rise of the +Dinosaurs in the Triassic, for it is highly probable that within the +limits of this vigorous and plastic stock--some of them bipeds--we must +look for the ancestors of both birds and mammals. Both land and water +were dominated by reptiles, some of which attained to gigantic size. Had +there been any zoologist in those days, he would have been very +sagacious indeed if he had suspected that reptiles did not represent the +climax of creation. + + +The Flying Dragons + +The _Jurassic_ period showed a continuance of the reptilian splendour. +They radiated in many directions, becoming adapted to many haunts. Thus +there were many Fish Lizards paddling in the seas, many types of +terrestrial dragons stalking about on land, many swiftly gliding +alligator-like forms, and the Flying Dragons which began in the Triassic +attained to remarkable success and variety. Their wing was formed by the +extension of a great fold of skin on the enormously elongated outermost +finger, and they varied from the size of a sparrow to a spread of over +five feet. A soldering of the dorsal vertebrae as in our Flying Birds was +an adaptation to striking the air with some force, but as there is not +more than a slight keel, if any, on the breast-bone, it is unlikely that +they could fly far. For we know from our modern birds that the power of +flight may be to some extent gauged from the degree of development of +the keel, which is simply a great ridge for the better insertion of the +muscles of flight. It is absent, of course, in the Running Birds, like +the ostrich, and it has degenerated in an interesting way in the +burrowing parrot (_Stringops_) and a few other birds that have "gone +back." + + +The First Known Bird + +But the Jurassic is particularly memorable because its strata have +yielded two fine specimens of the first known bird, _Archaeopteryx_. +These were entombed in the deposits which formed the fine-grained +lithographic stones of Bavaria, and practically every bone in the body +is preserved except the breast-bone. Even the feathers have left their +marks with distinctness. This oldest known bird--too far advanced to be +the first bird--was about the size of a crow and was probably of +arboreal habits. Of great interest are its reptilian features, so +pronounced that one cannot evade the evolutionist suggestion. It had +teeth in both jaws, which no modern bird has; it had a long lizard-like +tail, which no modern bird has; it had claws on three fingers, and a +sort of half-made wing. That is to say, it does not show, what all +modern birds show, a fusion of half the wrist-bones with the whole of +the palm-bones, the well-known carpo-metacarpus bone which forms a basis +for the longest pinions. In many reptiles, such as Crocodiles, there are +peculiar bones running across the abdomen beneath the skin, the +so-called "abdominal ribs," and it seems an eloquent detail to find +these represented in _Archaeopteryx_, the earliest known bird. No modern +bird shows any trace of them. [Illustration: SKELETON OF AN EXTINCT +FLIGHTLESS TOOTHED BIRD, HESPERORNIS + +(_After Marsh._) + +The bird was five or six feet high, something like a swimming ostrich, +with a very powerful leg but only a vestige of a wing. There were sharp +teeth in a groove. The modern divers come nearest to this ancient +type.] + +[Illustration: SIX STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE HORSE, SHOWING GRADUAL +INCREASE IN SIZE + +(_After Lull and Matthew._) + +1. Four-toed horse, Eohippus, about one foot high. Lower Eocene, N. +America. + +2. Another four-toed horse, Orohippus, a little over a foot high. Middle +Eocene, N. America. + +3. Three-toed horse, Mesohippus, about the size of a sheep. Middle +Oligocene, N. America. + +4. Three-toed horse, Merychippus, Miocene, N. America. Only one toe +reaches the ground on each foot, but the remains of two others are +prominent. + +5. The first one-toed horse, Pliohippus, about forty inches high at the +shoulder. Pliocene, N. America. + +6. The modern horse, running on the third digit of each foot.] + +There is no warrant for supposing that the flying reptiles or +Pterodactyls gave rise to birds, for the two groups are on different +lines, and the structure of the wings is entirely different. Thus the +long-fingered Pterodactyl wing was a parachute wing, while the secret of +the bird's wing has its centre in the feathers. It is highly probable +that birds evolved from certain Dinosaurs which had become bipeds, and +it is possible that they were for a time swift runners that took "flying +jumps" along the ground. Thereafter, perhaps, came a period of arboreal +apprenticeship during which there was much gliding from tree to tree +before true flight was achieved. It is an interesting fact that the +problem of flight has been solved four times among animals--by insects, +by Pterodactyls, by birds, and by bats; and that the four solutions are +on entirely different lines. + +In the _Cretaceous_ period the outstanding events included the waning of +giant reptiles, the modernising of the flowering plants, and the +multiplication of small mammals. Some of the Permian reptiles, such as +the dog-toothed Cynodonts, were extraordinarily mammal-like, and it was +probably from among them that definite mammals emerged in the Triassic. +Comparatively little is known of the early Triassic mammals save that +their back-teeth were marked by numerous tubercles on the crown, but +they were gaining strength in the late Triassic when small arboreal +insectivores, not very distant from the modern tree-shrews (_Tupaia_), +began to branch out in many directions indicative of the great divisions +of modern mammals, such as the clawed mammals, hoofed mammals, and the +race of monkeys or Primates. In the Upper Cretaceous there was an +exuberant "radiation" of mammals, adaptive to the conquest of all sorts +of haunts, and this was vigorously continued in Tertiary times. + +There is no difficulty in the fact that the earliest remains of definite +mammals in the Triassic precede the first-known bird in the Jurassic. +For although we usually rank mammals as higher than birds (being mammals +ourselves, how could we do otherwise?), there are many ways in which +birds are pre-eminent, e.g. in skeleton, musculature, integumentary +structures, and respiratory system. The fact is that birds and mammals +are on two quite different tacks of evolution, not related to one +another, save in having a common ancestry in extinct reptiles. Moreover, +there is no reason to believe that the Jurassic _Archaeopteryx_ was the +first bird in any sense except that it is the first of which we have any +record. In any case it is safe to say that birds came to their own +before mammals did. + +Looking backwards, we may perhaps sum up what is most essential in the +Mesozoic era in Professor Schuchert's sentence: "The Mesozoic is the Age +of Reptiles, and yet the little mammals and the toothed birds are +storing up intelligence and strength to replace the reptiles when the +cycads and conifers shall give way to the higher flowering plants." + + +Sec. 2 + +The Cenozoic or Tertiary Era + +In the _Eocene_ period there was a replacement of the small-brained +archaic mammals by big-brained modernised types, and with this must be +associated the covering of the earth with a garment of grass and dry +pasture. Marshes were replaced by meadows and browsing by grazing +mammals. In the spreading meadows an opportunity was also offered for a +richer evolution of insects and birds. + +During the _Oligocene_ the elevation of the land continued, the climate +became much less moist, and the grazing herds extended their range. + +The _Miocene_ was the mammalian Golden Age and there were crowning +examples of what Osborn calls "adaptive radiation." That is to say, +mammals, like the reptiles before them, conquer every haunt of life. +There are flying bats, volplaning parachutists, climbers in trees like +sloths and squirrels, quickly moving hoofed mammals, burrowers like the +moles, freshwater mammals, like duckmole and beaver, shore-frequenting +seals and manatees, and open-sea cetaceans, some of which dive far more +than full fathoms five. It is important to realise the perennial +tendency of animals to conquer every corner and to fill every niche of +opportunity, and to notice that this has been done by successive sets of +animals in succeeding ages. _Most notably the mammals repeat all the +experiments of reptiles on a higher turn of the spiral._ Thus arises +what is called convergence, the superficial resemblance of unrelated +types, like whales and fishes, the resemblance being due to the fact +that the different types are similarly adapted to similar conditions of +life. Professor H. F. Osborn points out that mammals may seek any one of +the twelve different habitat-zones, and that in each of these there may +be six quite different kinds of food. Living creatures penetrate +everywhere like the overflowing waters of a great river in flood. + + +Sec. 3 + +The _Pliocene_ period was a more strenuous time, with less genial +climatic conditions, and with more intense competition. Old land bridges +were broken and new ones made, and the geographical distribution +underwent great changes. Professor R. S. Lull describes the _Pliocene_ +as "a period of great unrest." "Many migrations occurred the world over, +new competitions arose, and the weaker stocks began to show the effects +of the strenuous life. One momentous event seems to have occurred in the +Pliocene, and that was the transformation of the precursor of humanity +into man--the culmination of the highest line of evolution." + +The _Pleistocene_ period was a time of sifting. There was a continued +elevation of the continental masses, and Ice Ages set in, relieved by +less severe interglacial times when the ice-sheets retreated northwards +for a time. Many types, like the mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, the +sabre-toothed tiger, the cave-lion, and the cave-bear, became extinct. +Others which formerly had a wide range became restricted to the Far +North or were left isolated here and there on the high mountains, like +the Snow Mouse, which now occurs on isolated Alpine heights above the +snow-line. Perhaps it was during this period that many birds of the +Northern Hemisphere learned to evade the winter by the sublime device of +migration. + +Looking backwards we may quote Professor Schuchert again: + + "The lands in the Cenozoic began to bloom with more and more + flowering plants and grand hardwood forests, the atmosphere is + scented with sweet odours, a vast crowd of new kinds of insects + appear, and the places of the once dominant reptiles of the lands + and seas are taken by the mammals. Out of these struggles there + rises a greater intelligence, seen in nearly all of the mammal + stocks, but particularly in one, the monkey-ape-man. Brute man + appears on the scene with the introduction of the last glacial + climate, a most trying time for all things endowed with life, and + finally there results the dominance of reasoning man over all his + brute associates." + +In man and human society the story of evolution has its climax. + + +The Ascent of Man + +Man stands apart from animals in his power of building up general ideas +and of using these in the guidance of his behaviour and the control of +his conduct. This is essentially wrapped up with his development of +language as an instrument of thought. Some animals have words, but man +has language (Logos). Some animals show evidence of _perceptual_ +inference, but man often gets beyond this to _conceptual_ inference +(Reason). Many animals are affectionate and brave, self-forgetful and +industrious, but man "thinks the ought," definitely guiding his conduct +in the light of ideals, which in turn are wrapped up with the fact that +he is "a social person." + +Besides his big brain, which may be three times as heavy as that of a +gorilla, man has various physical peculiarities. He walks erect, he +plants the sole of his foot flat on the ground, he has a chin and a good +heel, a big forehead and a non-protrusive face, a relatively uniform set +of teeth without conspicuous canines, and a relatively naked body. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM SHOWING SEVEN STAGES IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE +FORE-LIMBS AND HIND-LIMBS OF THE ANCESTORS OF THE MODERN HORSE, +BEGINNING WITH THE EARLIEST KNOWN PREDECESSORS OF THE HORSE AND +CULMINATING WITH THE HORSE OF TO-DAY + +(_After Marsh and Lull._) + +1 and 1A, fore-limb and hind-limb of Eohippus; 2 and 2A, Orohippus; 3 +and 3A, Mesohippus; 4 and 4A, Hypohippus; 5 and 5A, Merychippus; 6 and +6A, Hipparion; 7 and 7A, the modern horse. Note how the toes shorten and +disappear.] + +[Illustration: A. Fore-limb of Monkey B. Fore-limb of Whale + +WHAT IS MEANT BY HOMOLOGY? ESSENTIAL SIMILARITY OF ARCHITECTURE, THOUGH +THE APPEARANCES MAY BE VERY DIFFERENT + +This is seen in comparing these two fore-limbs, A, of Monkey, B, of +Whale. They are as different as possible, yet they show the same bones, +e.g. SC, the scapula or shoulder-blade; H, the humerus or upper arm; R +and U, the radius and ulna of the fore-arm; CA, the wrist; MC, the palm; +and then the fingers.] + +But in spite of man's undeniable apartness, there is no doubt as to his +solidarity with the rest of creation. There is an "all-pervading +similitude of structure," between man and the Anthropoid Apes, though it +is certain that it is not from any living form that he took his origin. +None of the anatomical distinctions, except the heavy brain, could be +called momentous. Man's body is a veritable museum of relics (vestigial +structures) inherited from pre-human ancestors. In his everyday bodily +life and in some of its disturbances, man's pedigree is often revealed. +Even his facial expression, as Darwin showed, is not always human. Some +fossil remains bring modern man nearer the anthropoid type. + +It is difficult not to admit the ring of truth in the closing words of +Darwin's _Descent of Man_: + + "We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man, with + all his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most + debased, with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to + the humblest living creature, with his God-like intellect which has + penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar + system--with all these exalted powers--man still bears in his bodily + frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin." + + +THE EVOLVING SYSTEM OF NATURE + +There is another side of evolution so obvious that it is often +overlooked, the tendency to link lives together in vital +inter-relations. Thus flowers and their insect visitors are often +vitally interlinked in mutual dependence. Many birds feed on berries and +distribute the seeds. The tiny freshwater snail is the host of the +juvenile stages of the liver-fluke of the sheep. The mosquito is the +vehicle of malaria from man to man, and the tse-tse fly spreads sleeping +sickness. The freshwater mussel cannot continue its race without the +unconscious co-operation of the minnow, and the freshwater fish called +the bitterling cannot continue its race without the unconscious +co-operation of the mussel. There are numerous mutually beneficial +partnerships between different kinds of creatures, and other +inter-relations where the benefit is one-sided, as in the case of +insects that make galls on plants. There are also among kindred animals +many forms of colonies, communities, and societies. Nutritive chains +bind long series of animals together, the cod feeding on the whelk, the +whelk on the worm, the worm on the organic dust of the sea. There is a +system of successive incarnations and matter is continually passing from +one embodiment to another. These instances must suffice to illustrate +the central biological idea of the web of life, the interlinked System +of Animate Nature. Linnaeus spoke of the Systema Naturae, meaning the +orderly hierarchy of classes, orders, families, genera, and species; but +we owe to Darwin in particular some knowledge of a more dynamic Systema +Naturae, the network of vital inter-relations. This has become more and +more complex as evolution has continued, and man's web is most complex +of all. It means making Animate Nature more of a unity; it means an +external method of registering steps of progress; it means an evolving +set of sieves by which new variations are sifted, and living creatures +are kept from slipping down the steep ladder of evolution. + + +Parasitism + +It sometimes happens that the inter-relation established between one +living creature and another works in a retrograde direction. This is the +case with many thoroughgoing internal parasites which have sunk into an +easygoing kind of life, utterly dependent on their host for food, +requiring no exertions, running no risks, and receiving no spur to +effort. Thus we see that evolution is not necessarily progressive; +everything depends on the conditions in reference to which the living +creatures have been evolved. When the conditions are too easygoing, the +animal may be thoroughly well adapted to them--as a tapeworm certainly +is--but it slips down the rungs of the ladder of evolution. + +This is an interesting minor chapter in the story of evolution--the +establishment of different kinds of parasites, casual and constant, +temporary and lifelong, external hangers-on and internal unpaying +boarders, those that live in the food-canal and depend on the host's +food and those that inhabit the blood or the tissues and find their food +there. It seems clear that ichneumon grubs and the like which hatch +inside a caterpillar and eat it alive are not so much parasites as +"beasts of prey" working from within. + +But there are two sides to this minor chapter: there is the evolution of +the parasite, and there is also the evolution of counteractive measures +on the part of the host. Thus there is the maintenance of a bodyguard of +wandering amoeboid cells, which tackle the microbes invading the body +and often succeed in overpowering and digesting them. Thus, again, there +is the protective capacity the blood has of making antagonistic +substances or "anti-bodies" which counteract poisons, including the +poisons which the intruding parasites often make. + + +THE EVIDENCES OF EVOLUTION--HOW IT CAME ABOUT + +Sec. 1 + +Progress in Evolution + +There has often been slipping back and degeneracy in the course of +evolution, but the big fact is that there has been progress. For +millions of years Life has been slowly creeping upwards, and if we +compare the highest animals--Birds and Mammals--with their predecessors, +we must admit that they are more controlled, more masters of their +fate, with more mentality. Evolution is on the whole _integrative_; that +is to say, it makes against instability and disorder, and towards +harmony and progress. Even in the rise of Birds and Mammals we can +discern that the evolutionary process was making towards a fuller +embodiment or expression of what Man values most--control, freedom, +understanding, and love. The advance of animal life through the ages has +been chequered, but on the whole it has been an advance towards +increasing fullness, freedom, and fitness of life. In the study of this +advance--the central fact of Organic Evolution--there is assuredly much +for Man's instruction and much for his encouragement. + + +Evidences of Evolution + +In all this, it may be said, the fact of evolution has been taken for +granted, but what are the evidences? Perhaps it should be frankly +answered that the idea of evolution, that the present is the child of +the past and the parent of the future, cannot be _proved_ as one may +prove the Law of Gravitation. All that can be done is to show that it is +a key--a way of looking at things--that fits the facts. There is no lock +that it does not open. + +But if the facts that the evolution theory vividly interprets be called +the evidences of its validity, there is no lack of them. There is +_historical_ evidence; and what is more eloquent than the general fact +that fishes emerge before amphibians, and these before reptiles, and +these before birds, and so on? There are wonderfully complete fossil +series, e.g. among cuttlefishes, in which we can almost see evolution in +process. The pedigree of horse and elephant and crocodile is in general +very convincing, though it is to be confessed that there are other cases +in regard to which we have no light. Who can tell, for instance, how +Vertebrates arose or from what origin? + +There is _embryological_ evidence, for the individual development often +reads like an abbreviated recapitulation of the presumed evolution of +the race. The mammal's visceral clefts are tell-tale evidence of remote +aquatic ancestors, breathing by gills. Something is known in regard to +the historical evolution of antlers in bygone ages; the Red Deer of +to-day recapitulates at least the general outlines of the history. The +individual development of an asymmetrical flat-fish, like a plaice or +sole, which rests and swims on one side, tells us plainly that its +ancestors were symmetrical fishes. + +There is what might be called _physiological_ evidence, for many plants +and animals are variable before our eyes, and evolution is going on +around us to-day. This is familiarly seen among domesticated animals and +cultivated plants, but there is abundant flux in Wild Nature. It need +hardly be said that some organisms are very conservative, and that +change need not be expected when a position of stable equilibrium has +been secured. + +There is also _anatomical_ evidence of a most convincing quality. In the +fore-limbs of backboned animals, say, the paddle of a turtle, the wing +of a bird, the flipper of a whale, the fore-leg of a horse, and the arm +of a man; the same essential bones and muscles are used to such diverse +results! What could it mean save blood relationship? And as to the two +sets of teeth in whalebone whales, which never even cut the gum, is +there any alternative but to regard them as relics of useful teeth which +ancestral forms possessed? In short, the evolution theory is justified +by the way in which it works. + + +Sec. 2 + +Factors in Evolution + +If it be said "So much for the _fact_ of evolution, but what of the +_factors_?" the answer is not easy. For not only is the problem the +greatest of all scientific problems, but the inquiry is still very +young. The scientific study of evolution practically dates from the +publication of _The Origin of Species_ in 1859. + +Heritable novelties or variations often crop up in living creatures, and +these form the raw material of evolution. These variations are the +outcome of expression of changes in the germ-cells that develop into +organisms. But why should there be changes in the constitution of the +germ-cells? Perhaps because the living material is very complex and +inherently liable to change; perhaps because it is the vehicle of a +multitude of hereditary items among which there are very likely to be +reshufflings or rearrangements; perhaps because the germ-cells have very +changeful surroundings (the blood, the body-cavity fluid, the +sea-water); perhaps because deeply saturating outside influences, such +as change of climate and habitat, penetrate through the body to its +germ-cells and provoke them to vary. But we must be patient with the +wearisome reiteration of "perhaps." Moreover, every many-celled organism +reproduced in the usual way, arises from an egg-cell fertilised by a +sperm-cell, and the changes involved in and preparatory to this +fertilisation may make new permutations and combinations of the living +items and hereditary qualities not only possible but necessary. It is +something like shuffling a pack of cards, but the cards are living. As +to the changes wrought on the body during its lifetime by peculiarities +in nurture, habits, and surroundings, these dents or modifications are +often very important for the individual, but it does not follow that +they are directly important for the race, since it is not certain that +they are transmissible. + +Given a crop of variations or new departures or mutations, whatever the +inborn novelties may be called, we have then to inquire how these are +sifted. The sifting, which means the elimination of the relatively less +fit variations and the selection of the relatively more fit, effected in +many different ways in the course of the struggle for existence. The +organism plays its new card in the game of life, and the consequences +may determine survival. The relatively less fit to given conditions +will tend to be eliminated, while the relatively more fit will tend to +survive. If the variations are hereditary and reappear, perhaps +increased in amount, generation after generation, and if the process of +sifting continue consistently, the result will be the evolution of the +species. The sifting process may be helped by various forms of +"isolation" which lessen the range of free intercrossing between members +of a species, e.g. by geographical barriers. Interbreeding of similar +forms tends to make a stable stock; out-breeding among dissimilars tends +to promote variability. But for an outline like this it is enough to +suggest the general method of organic evolution: Throughout the ages +organisms have been making tentatives--new departures of varying +magnitude--and these tentatives have been tested. The method is that of +testing all things and holding fast that which is good. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +(The following short list may be useful to readers who desire to have +further books recommended to them.) + + CLODD, _Story of Creation: A Plain Account of Evolution._ + DARWIN, _Origin of Species, Descent of Man._ + DEPERET, _Transformation of the Animal World_ (Internat. Sci. Series). + GEDDES AND THOMSON, _Evolution_ (Home University Library). + GOODRICH, _Evolution_ (The People's Books). + HEADLEY, _Life and Evolution._ + HUTCHINSON, H. NEVILLE, _Extinct Monsters_ (1892). + LULL, _Organic Evolution._ + MCCABE, _A B C of Evolution._ + METCALF, _Outline of the Theory of Organic Evolution._ + OSBORN, H. F., _The Evolution of Life_ (1921). + THOMSON, _Darwinism and Human Life._ + WALLACE, _Darwinism._ + + + + +III + +ADAPTATIONS TO ENVIRONMENT + + + + +ADAPTATIONS TO ENVIRONMENT + + +We saw in a previous chapter how the process of evolution led to a +mastery of all the haunts of life. But it is necessary to return to +these haunts or homes of animals in some detail, so as to understand the +peculiar circumstances of each, and to see how in the course of ages of +struggle all sorts of self-preserving and race-continuing adaptations or +fitnesses have been wrought out and firmly established. Living creatures +have spread over all the earth and in the waters under the earth; some +of them have conquered the underground world and others the air. It is +possible, however, as has been indicated, to distinguish six great +haunts of life, each tenanted by a distinctive fauna, namely, the shore +of the sea, the open sea, the depths of the sea, the freshwaters, the +dry land, and the air. In the deep sea there are no plants at all; in +the air the only plants are floating bacteria, though there is a sense +in which a tree is very aerial, and the orchid perched on its branches +still more so; in the other four haunts there is a flora as well as a +fauna--the two working into one another's hands in interesting and often +subtle inter-relations--the subject of a separate study. + + +I. THE SHORE OF THE SEA + +The Seaweed Area + +By the shore of the sea the zoologist means much more than the narrow +zone between tide-marks; he means the whole of the relatively shallow, +well-illumined, seaweed-growing shelf around the continents and +continental islands. Technically, this is called the littoral area, and +it is divisible into zones, each with its characteristic population. It +may be noted that the green seaweeds are highest up on the shore; the +brown ones come next; the beautiful red ones are lowest. All of them +have got green chlorophyll, which enables them to utilise the sun's rays +in photosynthesis (i.e. building up carbon compounds from air, water, +and salts), but in the brown and red seaweeds the green pigment is +masked by others. It is maintained by some botanists that these other +pigments enable their possessors to make more of the scantier light in +the deeper waters. However this may be, we must always think of the +shore-haunt as the seaweed-growing area. Directly and indirectly the +life of the shore animals is closely wrapped up with the seaweeds, which +afford food and foothold, and temper the force of the waves. The minute +fragments broken off from seaweeds and from the sea-grass (a flowering +plant called Zostera) form a sort of nutritive sea-dust which is swept +slowly down the slope from the shore, to form a very useful deposit in +the quietness of deepish water. It is often found in the stomachs of +marine animals living a long way offshore. + + +Conditions of Shore Life + +The littoral area as defined is not a large haunt of life; it occupies +only about 9 million square miles, a small fraction of the 197,000,000 +of the whole earth's surface. But it is a very long haunt, some 150,000 +miles, winding in and out by bay and fiord, estuary and creek. Where +deep water comes close to cliffs there may be no shore at all; in other +places the relatively shallow water, with seaweeds growing over the +bottom, may extend outwards for miles. The nature of the shore varies +greatly according to the nature of the rocks, according to what the +streams bring down from inland, and according to the jetsam that is +brought in by the tides. The shore is a changeful place; there is, in +the upper reaches, a striking difference between "tide in" and "tide +out"; there are vicissitudes due to storms, to freshwater floods, to +wind-blown sand, and to slow changes of level, up and down. The shore is +a very crowded haunt, for it is comparatively narrow, and every niche +among the rocks may be precious. + +[Illustration: AN EIGHT-ARMED CUTTLEFISH OR OCTOPUS ATTACKING A SMALL +CRAB + +These molluscs are particularly fond of crustaceans, which they crunch +with their parrot's beak-like jaws. Their salivary juice has a +paralysing effect on their prey. To one side, below the eye, may be seen +the funnel through which water is very forcibly ejected in the process +of locomotion.] + +[Illustration: A COMMON STARFISH, WHICH HAS LOST THREE ARMS AND IS +REGROWING THEM + +The lowest arm is being regrown double. + +(_After Professor W. C. McIntosh._)] + +[Illustration: A PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING A STARFISH (_Asterias Forreri_) +WHICH HAS CAPTURED A LARGE FISH + +The suctorial tube-feet are seen gripping the fish firmly. (After an +observation on the Californian coast.)] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +THE PAPER NAUTILUS (ARGONAUTA), AN ANIMAL OF THE OPEN SEA + +The delicate shell is made by the female only, and is used as a shelter +for the eggs and young ones. It is secreted by two of the arms, not by +the mantle as other mollusc shells are. It is a single-chambered shell, +very different from that of the Pearly Nautilus.] + + +Keen Struggle for Existence + +It follows that the shore must be the scene of a keen struggle for +existence--which includes all the answers-back that living creatures +make to environing difficulties and limitations. There is struggle for +food, accentuated by the fact that small items tend to be swept away by +the outgoing tide or to sink down the slope to deep water. Apart from +direct competition, e.g. between hungry hermit-crabs, it often involves +hard work to get a meal. This is true even of apparently sluggish +creatures. Thus the Crumb-of-Bread Sponge, or any other seashore sponge, +has to lash large quantities of water through the intricate canal system +of its body before it can get a sufficient supply of the microscopic +organisms and organic particles on which it feeds. An index of the +intensity of the struggle for food is afforded by the nutritive chains +which bind animals together. The shore is almost noisy with the +conjugation of the verb to eat in its many tenses. One pound of rock-cod +requires for its formation ten pounds of whelk; one pound of whelk +requires ten pounds of sea-worms; and one pound of worms requires ten +pounds of sea-dust. Such is the circulation of matter, ever passing from +one embodiment or incarnation to another. + +Besides struggle for food there is struggle for foothold and for fresh +air, struggle against the scouring tide and against the pounding +breakers. The risk of dislodgment is often great and the fracture of +limbs is a common accident. Of kinds of armour--the sea-urchin's +hedgehog-like test, the crab's shard, the limpet's shell--there is great +variety, surpassed only by that of weapons--the sea-anemone's +stinging-cells, the sea-urchin's snapping-blades, the hermit-crab's +forceps, the grappling tentacles and parrot's-beak jaws of the octopus. + + +Shifts for a Living + +We get another glimpse of the intensity of the seashore struggle for +existence in the frequency of "shifts for a living," adaptations of +structure or of behaviour which meet frequently recurrent vicissitudes. +The starfish is often in the dilemma of losing a limb or its life; by a +reflex action it jettisons the captured arm and escapes. And what is +lost is gradually regrown. The crab gets its leg broken past all +mending; it casts off the leg across a weak breakage plane near the +base, and within a preformed bandage which prevents bleeding a new leg +is formed in miniature. Such is the adaptive device--more reflex than +reflective--which is called self-mutilation or autotomy. + +In another part of this book there is a discussion of camouflaging and +protective resemblance; how abundantly these are illustrated on the +shore! But there are other "shifts for a living." Some of the +sand-hoppers and their relatives illustrate the puzzling phenomenon of +"feigning death," becoming suddenly so motionless that they escape the +eyes of their enemies. Cuttlefishes, by discharging sepia from their +ink-bags, are able to throw dust in the eyes of their enemies. Some +undisguised shore-animals, e.g. crabs, are adepts in a hide-and-seek +game; some fishes, like the butterfish or gunnel, escape between stones +where there seemed no opening and are almost uncatchable in their +slipperiness. Subtlest of all, perhaps, is the habit some hermit-crabs +have of entering into mutually beneficial partnership (commensalism) +with sea-anemones, which mask their bearers and also serve as mounted +batteries, getting transport as their reward and likewise crumbs from +the frequently spread table. But enough has been said to show that the +shore-haunt exhibits an extraordinary variety of shifts for a living. + + +Parental Care on the Shore + +According to Darwin, the struggle for existence, as a big fact in the +economy of Animate Nature, includes not only competition but all the +endeavours which secure the welfare of the offspring, and give them a +good send-off in life. So it is without a jolt that we pass from +struggle for food and foothold to parental care. The marine leech called +Pontobdella, an interesting greenish warty creature fond of fixing +itself to skate, places its egg-cocoons in the empty shell of a bivalve +mollusc, and guards them for weeks, removing any mud that might injure +their development. We have seen a British starfish with its fully-formed +young ones creeping about on its body, though the usual mode of +development for shore starfishes is that the young ones pass through a +free-swimming larval period in the open water. The father sea-spider +carries about the eggs attached to two of his limbs; the father +sea-horse puts his mate's eggs into his breast pocket and carries them +there in safety until they are hatched; the father stickleback of the +shore-pools makes a seaweed nest and guards the eggs which his wives are +induced to lay there; the father lumpsucker mounts guard over the bunch +of pinkish eggs which his mate has laid in a nook of a rocky shore-pool, +and drives off intruders with zest. He also aerates the developing eggs +by frequent paddling with his pectoral fins and tail, as the Scots name +Cock-paidle probably suggests. It is interesting that the salient +examples of parental care in the shore-haunt are mostly on the male +parent's side. But there is maternal virtue as well. + +[Illustration: TEN-ARMED CUTTLEFISH OR SQUID IN THE ACT OF CAPTURING A +FISH + +The arms bear numerous prehensile suckers, which grip the prey. In the +mouth there are strong jaws shaped like a parrot's beak. The +cuttlefishes are molluscs and may be regarded as the highest of the +backboneless or Invertebrate animals. Many occur near shore, others in +the open sea, and others in the great depths.] + +[Illustration: GREENLAND WHALE + +Showing the double blowhole or nostrils on the top of the head and the +whalebone plates hanging down from the roof of the mouth.] + +[Illustration: MINUTE TRANSPARENT EARLY STAGE OF A SEA-CUCUMBER + +It swims in the open sea by means of girdles of microscopic cilia shown +in the figure. After a period of free swimming and a remarkable +metamorphosis, the animal settles down on the floor of the sea in +relatively shallow water.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: British Museum (Natural History)_ + +AN INTRICATE COLONY OF OPEN-SEA ANIMALS (_Physophora Hydrostatica_) +RELATED TO THE PORTUGUESE MAN-OF-WAR + +There is great division of labor in the colony. At the top are floating +and swimming "persons"; the long ones below are offensive "persons" +bearing batteries of stinging cells; in the middle zone there are +nutritive, reproductive, and other "persons." The color of the colony is +a fine translucent blue. Swimmers and bathers are often badly stung by +this strange animal and its relatives.] + +[Illustration: A SCENE IN THE GREAT DEPTHS + +Showing a deep-sea fish of large gape, two feather-stars on the end of +long stalks, a "sea-spider" (or Pycnogon) walking on lanky legs on the +treacherous ooze, likewise a brittle-star, and some deep-sea corals.] + +The fauna of the shore is remarkably _representative_--from unicellular +Protozoa to birds like the oyster-catcher and mammals like the seals. +Almost all the great groups of animals have apparently served an +apprenticeship in the shore-haunt, and since lessons learned for +millions of years sink in and become organically enregistered, it is +justifiable to look to the shore as a great school in which were gained +racial qualities of endurance, patience, and alertness. + + +II. THE OPEN SEA + +In great contrast to the narrow, crowded, difficult conditions of the +shore-haunt (littoral area) are the spacious, bountiful, and relatively +easygoing conditions of the open sea (pelagic area), which means the +well-lighted surface waters quite away from land. Many small organisms +have their maximum abundance at about fifty fathoms, so that the word +"surface" is to be taken generously. The light becomes very dim at 250 +fathoms, and the open sea, as a zoological haunt, stops with the light. +It is hardly necessary to say that the pelagic plants are more abundant +near the surface, and that below a certain depth the population consists +almost exclusively of animals. Not a few of the animals sink and rise in +the water periodically; there are some that come near the surface by +day, and others that come near the surface by night. Of great interest +is the habit of the extremely delicate Ctenophores or +"sea-gooseberries," which the splash of a wave would tear into shreds. +Whenever there is any hint of a storm they sink beyond its reach, and +the ocean's surface must have remained flat as a mirror for many hours +before they can be lured upwards from the calm of their deep retreat. + + +The Floating Sea-meadows + +To understand the vital economy of the open sea, we must recognise the +incalculable abundance of minute unicellular plants, for they form the +fundamental food-supply. Along with these must also be included numerous +microscopic animals which have got possession of chlorophyll, or have +entered into internal partnership with unicellular Algae (symbiosis). +These green or greenish plants and animals are the _producers_, using +the energy of the sunlight to help them in building up carbon compounds +out of air, water, and salts. The animals which feed on the producers, +or on other animals, are the _consumers_. Between the two come those +open-sea bacteria that convert nitrogenous material, e.g. from dead +plants or animals that other bacteria have rotted, into forms, e.g. +nitrates, which plants can re-utilise. The importance of these +_middlemen_ is great in keeping "the circulation of matter" agoing. + +[Illustration: 1. SEA-HORSE IN SARGASSO WEED. In its frond-like tags of +skin and in its colouring this kind of sea-horse is well concealed among +the floating seaweed of the so-called Sargasso Sea. + +2. THE LARGE MARINE LAMPREYS (_PETROMYZON MARINUS_), WHICH MAY BE AS +LONG AS ONE'S ARM, SPAWN IN FRESH WATER. Stones and pebbles, gripped in +the suctorial mouth, are removed from a selected spot and piled around +the circumference, so that the eggs, which are laid within the circle, +are not easily washed away. + +3. THE DEEP-SEA FISH _CHIASMODON NIGER_ IS FAMOUS FOR ITS VORACITY. It +sometimes manages to swallow a fish larger than itself, which causes an +extraordinary protrusion of the stomach. + +4. DEEP-SEA FISHES. Two of them--_Melanocetus murrayi_ and _Melanocetus +indicus_--are related to the Angler of British coasts, but adapted to +life in the great abysses. They are very dark in colour, and delicately +built; they possess well-developed luminous organs. The third form is +called Chauliodus, a predatory animal with large gape and formidable +teeth.] + +[Illustration: FLINTY SKELETON OF VENUS FLOWER BASKET (EUPLECTELLA), A +JAPANESE DEEP-SEA SPONGE] + +[Illustration: EGG DEPOSITORY OF _Semotilus Atromaculatus_ + +In the building of this egg depository, the male fish takes stones from +the bottom of the stream, gripping them in his mouth, and heaps them up +into the dam. In the egg depository he arranges the stones so that when +the eggs are deposited in the interstices they are thoroughly protected, +and cannot be washed down-stream. + +1, dam of stones; 2, egg depository; 3, hillock of sand. The arrow shows +the direction of the stream. Upper fish, male; lower, female.] + +The "floating sea-meadows," as Sir John Murray called them, are always +receiving contributions from inshore waters, where the conditions are +favourable for the prolific multiplication of unicellular Algae, and +there is also a certain amount of non-living sea-dust always being swept +out from the seaweed and sea-grass area. + + +Swimmers and Drifters + +The animals of the open sea are conveniently divided into the active +swimmers (Nekton) and the more passive drifters (Plankton). The swimmers +include whales great and small, such birds as the storm petrel, the +fish-eating turtles and sea-snakes, such fishes as mackerel and herring, +the winged snails or sea-butterflies on which whalebone whales largely +feed, some of the active cuttles or squids, various open-sea prawns and +their relatives, some worms like the transparent arrow-worm, and such +active Protozoa as Noctiluca, whose luminescence makes the waves sparkle +in the short summer darkness. Very striking as an instance of the +insurgence of life are the sea-skimmers (Halobatidae), wingless insects +related to the water-measurers in the ditch. They are found hundreds of +miles from land, skimming on the surface of the open sea, and diving in +stormy weather. They feed on floating dead animals. + +The drifters or easygoing swimmers--for there is no hard and fast +line--are represented, for instance, by the flinty-shelled Radiolarians +and certain of the chalk-forming animals (Globigerinid Foraminifera); by +jellyfishes, swimming-bells, and Portuguese men-of-war; by the +comb-bearers or Ctenophores; by legions of minute Crustaceans; by +strange animals called Salps, related to the sedentary sea-squirts; and +by some sluggish fishes like globe-fishes, which often float idly on the +surface. + +Open-sea animals tend to be delicately built, with a specific gravity +near that of the sea-water, with adaptations, such as projecting +filaments, which help flotation, and with capacities of rising and +sinking according to the surrounding conditions. Many of them are +luminescent, and many of them are very inconspicuous in the water owing +to their transparency or their bluish colour. In both cases the +significance is obscure. + + +Hunger and Love + +Hunger is often very much in evidence in the open sea, especially in +areas where the Plankton is poor. For there is great diversity in this +respect, most of the Mediterranean, for instance, having a scanty +Plankton as compared with the North Sea. In the South Pacific, west of +Patagonia, there is said to be an immense "sea desert" where there is +little Plankton, and therefore little in the way of fishes. The success +of fisheries in the North, e.g. on the Atlantic cod-banks, is due to the +richness of the floating sea-meadows and the abundance of the smaller +constituents of the animal Plankton. + +Hunger is plain enough when the Baleen Whale rushes through the water +with open jaws, engulfing in the huge cavern of its mouth, where the +pendent whalebone plates form a huge sieve, incalculable millions of +small fry. + +But there is love as well as hunger in the open sea. The maternal care +exhibited by the whale reaches a very high level, and the delicate shell +of the female Paper Nautilus or Argonaut, in which the eggs and the +young ones are sheltered, may well be described as "the most beautiful +cradle in the world." + +Besides the permanent inhabitants of the open sea, there are the larval +stages of many shore-animals which are there only for a short time. For +there is an interesting give and take between the shore-haunt and the +open sea. From the shore come nutritive contributions and minute +organisms which multiply quickly in the open waters. But not less +important is the fact that the open waters afford a safe cradle or +nursery for many a delicate larva, e.g. of crab and starfish, +acorn-shell and sea-urchin, which could not survive for a day in the +rough-and-tumble conditions of the shore and the shallow water. After +undergoing radical changes and gaining strength, the young creatures +return to the shore in various ways. + + +III. THE DEEP SEA + +Very different from all the other haunts are the depths of the sea, +including the floor of the abysses and the zones of water near the +bottom. This haunt, forever unseen, occupies more than a third of the +earth's surface, and it is thickly peopled. It came into emphatic notice +in connection with the mending of telegraph cables, but the results of +the _Challenger_ expedition (1873-6) gave the first impressive picture +of what was practically a new world. + + +Physical Conditions + +The average depth of the ocean is about two and a half miles; therefore, +since many parts are relatively shallow, there must be enormous depths. +A few of these, technically called "deeps," are about six miles deep, in +which Mount Everest would be engulfed. There is enormous pressure in +such depths; even at 2,500 fathoms it is two and a half tons on the +square inch. The temperature is on and off the freezing-point of fresh +water (28 deg.-34 deg. Fahr.), due to the continual sinking down of cold water +from the Poles, especially from the South. Apart from the fitful gleams +of luminescent animals, there is utter darkness in the deep waters. The +rays of sunlight are practically extinguished at 250 fathoms, though +very sensitive bromogelatine plates exposed at 500 fathoms have shown +faint indications even at that depth. It is a world of absolute calm and +silence, and there is no scenery on the floor. A deep, cold, dark, +silent, monotonous world! + + +Biological Conditions + +While some parts of the floor of the abysses are more thickly peopled +than others, there is no depth limit to the distribution of life. +Wherever the long arm of the dredge has reached, animals have been +found, e.g. Protozoa, sponges, corals, worms, starfishes, sea-urchins, +sea-lilies, crustaceans, lamp-shells, molluscs, ascidians, and fishes--a +very representative fauna. In the absence of light there can be no +chlorophyll-possessing plants, and as the animals cannot all be eating +one another there must be an extraneous source of food-supply. This is +found in the sinking down of minute organisms which are killed on the +surface by changes of temperature and other causes. What is left of +them, before or after being swallowed, and of sea-dust and mineral +particles of various kinds forms the diversified "ooze" of the +sea-floor, a soft muddy precipitate, which is said to have in places the +consistence of butter in summer weather. + +There seems to be no bacteria in the abysses, so there can be no +rotting. Everything that sinks down, even the huge carcase of a whale, +must be nibbled away by hungry animals and digested, or else, in the +case of most bones, slowly dissolved away. Of the whale there are left +only the ear-bones, of the shark his teeth. + + +Adaptations to Deep-sea Life + +In adaptation to the great pressure the bodies of deep-sea animals are +usually very permeable, so that the water gets through and through them, +as in the case of Venus' Flower Basket, a flinty sponge which a child's +finger would shiver. But when the pressure inside is the same as that +outside nothing happens. In adaptation to the treacherous ooze, so apt +to smother, many of the active deep-sea animals have very long, +stilt-like legs, and many of the sedentary types are lifted into safety +on the end of long stalks which have their bases embedded in the mud. In +adaptation to the darkness, in which there is only luminescence that +eyes could use, there is a great development of tactility. The +interesting problem of luminescence will be discussed elsewhere. + +As to the origin of the deep-sea fauna, there seems no doubt that it +has arisen by many contributions from the various shore-haunts. +Following the down-drifting food, many shore-animals have in the course +of many generations reached the world of eternal night and winter, and +become adapted to its strange conditions. For the animals of the +deep-sea are as fit, beautiful, and vigorous as those elsewhere. There +are no slums in Nature. + +[Illustration: THE BITTERLING (_Rhodeus Amarus_) + +A Continental fish which lays its eggs by means of a long ovipositor +inside the freshwater mussel. The eggs develop inside the mollusc's +gill-plates.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge._ + +WOOLLY OPOSSUM CARRYING HER FAMILY + +One of the young ones is clinging to its mother and has its long +prehensile tail coiled round hers.] + +[Illustration: SURINAM TOAD (_Pipa Americana_) WITH YOUNG ONES HATCHING +OUT OF LITTLE POCKETS ON HER BACK] + +[Illustration: STORM PETREL OR MOTHER CAREY'S CHICKEN + +(_Procellaria Pelagica_) + +This characteristic bird of the open sea does not come to land at all +except to nest. It is the smallest web-footed bird, about four inches +long. The legs are long and often touch the water as the bird flies. The +storm petrel is at home in the Atlantic, and often nests on islands off +the west coast of Britain.] + + +IV. THE FRESH WATERS + +Of the whole earth's surface the freshwaters form a very small fraction, +about a hundredth, but they make up for their smallness by their +variety. We think of deep lake and shallow pond, of the great river and +the purling brook, of lagoon and swamp, and more besides. There is a +striking resemblance in the animal population of widely separated +freshwater basins: and this is partly because birds carry many small +creatures on their muddy feet from one water-shed to another; partly +because some of the freshwater animals are descended from types which +make their way from the sea and the seashore through estuaries and +marshes, and only certain kinds of constitution could survive the +migration; and partly because some lakes are landlocked dwindling relics +of ancient seas, and similar forms again would survive the change. + +A typical assemblage of freshwater animals would include many Protozoa, +like Amoebae and the Bell-Animalcules, a representative of one family +of sponges (Spongillidae), the common Hydra, many unsegmented worms +(notably Planarians and Nematodes), many Annelids related to the +earthworms, many crustaceans, insects, and mites, many bivalves and +snails, various fishes, a newt or two, perhaps a little mud-turtle or in +warm countries a huge Crocodilian, various interesting birds like the +water-ouzel or dipper, and mammals like the water-vole and the +water-shrew. + +Freshwater animals have to face certain difficulties, the greatest of +which are drought, frost, and being washed away in times of flood. +There is no more interesting study in the world than an inquiry into the +adaptations by which freshwater animals overcome the difficulties of the +situation. We cannot give more than a few illustrations. + +(1) Drought is circumvented by the capacity that many freshwater animals +have of lying low and saying nothing. Thus the African mudfish may spend +half the year encased in the mud, and many minute crustaceans can +survive being dried up for years. (2) Escape from the danger of being +frozen hard in the pool is largely due to the almost unique property of +water that it expands as it approaches the freezing-point. Thus the +colder water rises to the surface and forms or adds to the protecting +blanket of ice. The warmer water remains unfrozen at the bottom, and the +animals live on. (3) The risk of being washed away, e.g. to the sea, is +lessened by all sorts of gripping, grappling, and anchoring structures, +and by shortening the juvenile stages when the risks are greatest. + + +V. THE DRY LAND + +Over and over again in the history of animal life there have been +attempts to get out of the water on to terra firma, and many of these +have been successful, notably those made (1) by worms, (2) by +air-breathing Arthropods, and (3) by amphibians. + +In thinking of the conquest of the dry land by animals, we must +recognise the indispensable role of plants in preparing the way. The dry +ground would have proved too inhospitable had not terrestrial plants +begun to establish themselves, affording food, shelter, and humidity. +There had to be plants before there could be earthworms, which feed on +decaying leaves and the like, but how soon was the debt repaid when the +earthworms began their worldwide task of forming vegetable mould, +opening up the earth with their burrows, circulating the soil by means +of their castings, and bruising the particles in their +gizzard--certainly the most important mill in the world. + +Another important idea is that littoral haunts, both on the seashore and +in the freshwaters, afforded the necessary apprenticeship and +transitional experience for the more strenuous life on dry land. Much +that was perfected on land had its beginnings on the shore. Let us +inquire, however, what the passage from water to dry land actually +implied. This has been briefly discussed in a previous article (on +Evolution), but the subject is one of great interest and importance. + + +Difficulties and Results of the Transition from Water to Land + +Leaving the water for dry land implied a loss in freedom of movement, +for the terrestrial animal is primarily restricted to the surface of the +earth. Thus it became essential that movements should be very rapid and +very precise, needs with which we may associate the acquisition of fine +cross-striped, quickly contracting muscles, and also, in time, their +multiplication into very numerous separate engines. We exercise +fifty-four muscles in the half-second that elapses between raising the +heel of our foot in walking and planting it firmly on the ground again. +Moreover, the need for rapid precisely controlled movements implied an +improved nervous system, for the brain was a movement-controlling organ +for ages before it did much in the way of thinking. The transition to +terra firma also involved a greater compactness of body, so that there +should not be too great friction on the surface. An animal like the +jellyfish is unthinkable on land, and the elongated bodies of some land +animals like centipedes and snakes are specially adapted so that they do +not "sprawl." They are exceptions that prove the rule. + +Getting on to dry land meant entering a kingdom where the differences +between day and night, between summer and winter are more felt than in +the sea. This made it advantageous to have protections against +evaporation and loss of heat and other such dangers. Hence a variety of +ways in which the surface of the body acquired a thickened skin, or a +dead cuticle, or a shell, or a growth of hair, and so forth. In many +cases there is an increase of the protection before the winter sets in, +e.g. by growing thicker fur or by accumulating a layer of fat below the +skin. + +But the thickening or protection of the skin involved a partial or total +loss of the skin as a respiratory surface. There is more oxygen +available on dry land than in the water, but it is not so readily +captured. Thus we see the importance of moist internal surfaces for +capturing the oxygen which has been drawn into the interior of the body +into some sort of lung. A unique solution was offered by Tracheate +Arthropods, such as Peripatus, Centipedes, Millipedes, and Insects, +where the air is carried to every hole and corner of the body by a +ramifying system of air-tubes or tracheae. In most animals the blood goes +to the air, in insects the air goes to the blood. In the Robber-Crab, +which has migrated from the shore inland, the dry air is absorbed by +vascular tufts growing under the shelter of the gill-cover. + +The problem of disposing of eggs or young ones is obviously much more +difficult on land than in the water. For the water offers an immediate +cradle, whereas on the dry land there were many dangers, e.g. of +drought, extremes of temperature, and hungry sharp-eyed enemies, which +had to be circumvented. So we find all manner of ways in which land +animals hide their eggs or their young ones in holes and nests, on herbs +and on trees. Some carry their young ones about after they are born, +like the Surinam toad and the kangaroo, while others have prolonged the +period of ante-natal life during which the young ones develop in safety +within their mother, and in very intimate partnership with her in the +case of the placental mammals. It is very interesting to find that the +pioneer animal called Peripatus, which bridges the gap between worms and +insects, carries its young for almost a year before birth. + +Enough has been said to show that the successive conquests of the dry +land had great evolutionary results. It is hardly too much to say that +the invasion which the Amphibians led was the beginning of better +brains, more controlled activities, and higher expressions of family +life. + +[Illustration: ALBATROSS: A CHARACTERISTIC PELAGIC BIRD OF THE SOUTHERN +SEA + +It may have a spread of wing of over 11 feet from tip to tip. It is +famous for its extraordinary power of "sailing" round the ship without +any apparent strokes of its wings.] + + +VI. THE AIR + +There are no animals thoroughly aerial, but many insects spend much of +their adult life in the free air, and the swift hardly pauses in its +flight from dawn to dusk of the long summer day, alighting only for +brief moments at the nest to deliver insects to the young. All the +active life of bats certainly deserves to be called aerial. + +The air was the last haunt of life to be conquered, and it is +interesting to inquire what the conquest implied. (1) It meant +transcending the radical difficulty of terrestrial life which confines +the creatures of the dry land to moving on one plane, the surface of the +earth. But the power of flight brought its possessors back to the +universal freedom of movement which water animals enjoy. When we watch a +sparrow rise into the air just as the cat has completed her stealthy +stalking, we see that flight implies an enormous increase of safety. (2) +The power of flight also opened up new possibilities of following the +prey, of exploring new territories, of prospecting for water. (3) Of +great importance too was the practicability of placing the eggs and the +young, perhaps in a nest, in some place inaccessible to most enemies. +When one thinks of it, the rooks' nests swaying on the tree-tops express +the climax of a brilliant experiment. (4) The crowning advantage was the +possibility of migrating, of conquering time (by circumventing the arid +summer and the severe winter) and of conquering space (by passing +quickly from one country to another and sometimes almost girdling the +globe). There are not many acquisitions that have meant more to their +possessors than the power of flight. It was a key opening the doors of a +new freedom. + +The problem of flight, as has been said in a previous chapter, has been +solved four times, and the solution has been different in each case. The +four solutions are those offered by insects, extinct Pterodactyls, +birds, and bats. Moreover, as has been pointed out, there have been +numerous attempts at flight which remain glorious failures, notably the +flying fishes, which take a great leap and hold their pectoral fins +taut; the Flying Tree-Toad, whose webbed fingers and toes form a +parachute; the Flying Lizard (_Draco volans_), which has its skin pushed +out on five or six greatly elongated mobile ribs; and various "flying" +mammals, e.g. Flying Phalangers and Flying Squirrels, which take great +swooping leaps from tree to tree. + +The wings of an insect are hollow flattened sacs which grow out from the +upper parts of the sides of the second and third rings of the region +called the thorax. They are worked by powerful muscles, and are +supported, like a fan, by ribs of chitin, which may be accompanied by +air-tubes, blood-channels, and nerves. The insect's body is lightly +built and very perfectly aerated, and the principle of the insect's +flight is the extremely rapid striking of the air by means of the +lightly built elastic wings. Many an insect has over two hundred strokes +of its wings in one _second_. Hence, in many cases, the familiar hum, +comparable on a small scale to that produced by the rapidly revolving +blades of an aeroplane's propeller. For a short distance a bee can +outfly a pigeon, but few insects can fly far, and they are easily blown +away or blown back by the wind. Dragon-flies and bees may be cited as +examples of insects that often fly for two or three miles. But this is +exceptional, and the usual shortness of insect flight is an important +fact for man since it limits the range of insects like house-flies and +mosquitoes which are vehicles of typhoid fever and malaria respectively. +The most primitive insects (spring-tails and bristle-tails) show no +trace of wings, while fleas and lice have become secondarily wingless. +It is interesting to notice that some insects only fly once in their +lifetime, namely, in connection with mating. The evolution of the +insect's wing remains quite obscure, but it is probable that insects +could run, leap, and parachute before they could actually fly. + +The extinct Flying Dragons or Pterodactyls had their golden age in the +Cretaceous era, after which they disappeared, leaving no descendants. A +fold of skin was spread out from the sides of the body by the enormously +elongated outermost finger (usually regarded as corresponding to our +little finger); it was continued to the hind-legs and thence to the +tail. + +It is unlikely that the Pterodactyls could fly far, for they have at +most a weak keel on their breast-bone; on the other hand, some of them +show a marked fusion of dorsal vertebrae, which, as in flying birds, must +have served as a firm fulcrum for the stroke of the wings. The quaint +creatures varied from the size of a sparrow up to a magnificent spread +of 15-20 feet from tip to tip of the wings. They were the largest of all +flying creatures. + +The bird's solution of the problem of flight, which will be discussed +separately, is centred in the feather, which forms a coherent vane for +striking the air. In Pterodactyl and bat the wing is a web-wing or +patagium, and a small web is to be seen on the front side of the bird's +wing. But the bird's patagium is unimportant, and the bird's wing is on +an evolutionary tack of its own--a fore-limb transformed for bearing the +feathers of flight. Feathers are in a general way comparable to the +scales of reptiles, but only in a general way, and no transition stage +is known between the two. Birds evolved from a bipedal Dinosaur stock, +as has been noticed already, and it is highly probable that they began +their ascent by taking running leaps along the ground, flapping their +scaly fore-limbs, and balancing themselves in kangaroo-like fashion with +an extended tail. A second chapter was probably an arboreal +apprenticeship, during which they made a fine art of parachuting--a +persistence of which is to be seen in the pigeon "gliding" from the +dovecot to the ground. It is in birds that the mastery of the air +reaches its climax, and the mysterious "sailing" of the albatross and +the vulture is surely the most remarkable locomotor triumph that has +ever been achieved. Without any apparent stroke of the wings, the bird +sails for half an hour at a time with the wind and against the wind, +around the ship and in majestic spirals in the sky, probably taking +advantage of currents of air of different velocities, and continually +changing energy of position into energy of motion as it sinks, and +energy of motion into energy of position as it rises. It is interesting +to know that some dragon-flies are also able to "sail." + +The web-wing of bats involves much more than the fore-arm. The double +fold of skin begins on the side of the neck, passes along the front of +the arm, skips the thumb, and is continued over the elongated palm-bones +and fingers to the sides of the body again, and to the hind-legs, and to +the tail if there is a tail. It is interesting to find that the bones of +the bat's skeleton tend to be lightly built as in birds, that the +breast-bone has likewise a keel for the better insertion of the pectoral +muscles, and that there is a solidifying of the vertebrae of the back, +affording as in birds a firm basis for the wing action. Such similar +adaptations to similar needs, occurring in animals not nearly related to +one another, are called "convergences," and form a very interesting +study. In addition to adaptations which the bat shares with the flying +bird, it has many of its own. There are so many nerve-endings on the +wing, and often also on special skin-leaves about the ears and nose, +that the bat flying in the dusk does not knock against branches or other +obstacles. Some say that it is helped by the echoes of its high-pitched +voice, but there is no doubt as to its exquisite tactility. That it +usually produces only a single young one at a time is a clear adaptation +to flight, and similarly the sharp, mountain-top-like cusps on the back +teeth are adapted in insectivorous bats for crunching insects. + +Whether we think of the triumphant flight of birds, reaching a climax in +migration, or of the marvel that a creature of the earth--as a mammal +essentially is--should evolve such a mastery of the air as we see in +bats, or even of the repeated but splendid failures which parachuting +animals illustrate, we gain an impression of the insurgence of living +creatures in their characteristic endeavour after fuller well-being. + +We have said enough to show how well adapted many animals are to meet +the particular difficulties of the haunt which they tenant. But +difficulties and limitations are ever arising afresh, and so one fitness +follows on another. It is natural, therefore, to pass to the frequent +occurrence of protective resemblance, camouflage, and mimicry--the +subject of the next article. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + ELMHIRST, R., _Animals of the Shore_. + FLATTELY AND WALTON, _The Biology of the Shore_ (1921). + FURNEAUX, _Life of Ponds and Streams_. + HICKSON, S. J., _Story of Life in the Seas_ and _Fauna of the Deep Sea_. + JOHNSTONE, J., _Life in the Sea_ (Cambridge Manual of Science). + MIALL, L. C., _Aquatic Insects_. + MURRAY, SIR JOHN, _The Ocean_ (Home University Library). + MURRAY, SIR JOHN AND HJORT, DR. J., _The Depths of the Ocean_. + NEWBIGIN, M. I., _Life by the Sea Shore_. + PYCRAFT, W. P., _History of Birds_. + SCHARFF, R. F., _History of the European Fauna_ (Contemp. Sci. Series). + THOMSON, J. ARTHUR, _The Wonder of Life_ (1914) and + _The Haunts of Life_ (1921). + + + + +IV + +THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE + + + + +ANIMAL AND BIRD MIMICRY AND DISGUISE + + +Sec. 1 + +For every animal one discovers when observing carefully, there must be +ten unseen. This is partly because many animals burrow in the ground or +get in underneath things and into dark corners, being what is called +cryptozoic or elusive. But it is partly because many animals put on +disguise or have in some way acquired a garment of invisibility. This is +very common among animals, and it occurs in many forms and degrees. The +reason why it is so common is because the struggle for existence is +often very keen, and the reasons why the struggle for existence is keen +are four. First, there is the tendency to over-population in many +animals, especially those of low degree. Second, there is the fact that +the scheme of nature involves nutritive chains or successive +incarnations, one animal depending upon another for food, and all in the +long run on plants; thirdly, every vigorous animal is a bit of a +hustler, given to insurgence and sticking out his elbows. There is a +fourth great reason for the struggle for existence, namely, the frequent +changefulness of the physical environment, which forces animals to +answer back or die; but the first three reasons have most to do with the +very common assumption of some sort of disguise. Even when an animal is +in no sense a weakling, it may be very advantageous for it to be +inconspicuous when it is resting or when it is taking care of its young. +Our problem is the evolution of elusiveness, so far at least as that +depends on likeness to surroundings, on protective resemblance to other +objects, and in its highest reaches on true mimicry. + + +Colour Permanently Like That of Surroundings + +Many animals living on sandy places have a light-brown colour, as is +seen in some lizards and snakes. The green lizard is like the grass and +the green tree-snake is inconspicuous among the branches. The spotted +leopard is suited to the interrupted light of the forest, and it is +sometimes hard to tell where the jungle ends and the striped tiger +begins. There is no better case than the hare or the partridge sitting a +few yards off on the ploughed field. Even a donkey grazing in the dusk +is much more readily heard than seen. + +The experiment has been made of tethering the green variety of Praying +Mantis on green herbage, fastening them with silk threads. They escape +the notice of birds. The same is true when the brown variety is tethered +on withered herbage. But if the green ones are put on brown plants, or +the brown ones on green plants, the birds pick them off. Similarly, out +of 300 chickens in a field, 240 white or black and therefore +conspicuous, 60 spotted and inconspicuous, 24 were soon picked off by +crows, but only one of these was spotted. This was not the proportion +that there should have been if the mortality had been fortuitous. There +is no doubt that it often pays an animal to be like its habitual +surroundings, like a little piece of scenery if the animal is not +moving. It is safe to say that in process of time wide departures from +the safest coloration will be wiped out in the course of Nature's +ceaseless sifting. + +But we must not be credulous, and there are three cautions to be borne +in mind. (1) An animal may be very like its surroundings without there +being any protection implied. The arrow-worms in the sea are as clear as +glass, and so are many open-sea animals. But this is because their +tissues are so watery, with a specific gravity near that of the salt +water. And the invisibility does not save them, always or often, from +being swallowed by larger animals that gather the harvest of the sea. +(2) Among the cleverer animals it looks as if the creature sometimes +sought out a spot where it was most inconspicuous. A spider may place +itself in the middle of a little patch of lichen, where its +self-effacement is complete. Perhaps it is more comfortable as well as +safer to rest in surroundings the general colour of which is like that +of the animal's body. (3) The fishes that live among the coral-reefs are +startling in their brilliant coloration, and there are many different +patterns. To explain this it has been suggested that these fishes are so +safe among the mazy passages and endless nooks of the reefs, that they +can well afford to wear any colour that suits their constitution. In +some cases this may be true, but naturalists who have put on a diving +suit and walked about among the coral have told us that each kind of +fish is particularly suited to some particular place, and that some are +suited for midday work and others for evening work. Sometimes there is a +sort of Box and Cox arrangement by which two different fishes utilise +the same corner at different times. + +[Illustration: THE PRAYING MANTIS (_Mantis Religiosa_) + +A very voracious insect with a quiet, unobtrusive appearance. It holds +its formidable forelegs as if in the attitude of prayer; its movements +are very slow and stealthy; and there is a suggestion of a leaf in the +forewing. But there is no reason to credit the creature with conscious +guile!] + +[Illustration: PROTECTIVE COLORATION: A WINTER SCENE IN NORTH +SCANDINAVIA + +Showing Variable Hare, Willow Grouse, and Arctic Fox, all white in +winter and inconspicuous against the snow. But the white dress is also +the dress that is physiologically best, for it loses least of the animal +heat.] + +[Illustration: THE VARIABLE MONITOR (_Varanus_) + +The monitors are the largest of existing lizards, the Australian species +represented in the photograph attaining a length of four feet. It has a +brown colour with yellow spots, and in spite of its size it is not +conspicuous against certain backgrounds, such as the bark of a tree.] + + +Sec. 2 + +Gradual Change of Colour + +The common shore-crab shows many different colours and mottlings, +especially when it is young. It may be green or grey, red or brown, and +so forth, and it is often in admirable adjustment to the colour of the +rock-pool where it is living. Experiments, which require extension, have +shown that when the crab has moulted, which it has to do very often when +it is young, the colour of the new shell tends to harmonise with the +general colour of the rocks and seaweed. How this is brought about, we +do not know. The colour does not seem to change till the next moult, and +not then unless there is some reason for it. A full-grown shore-crab is +well able to look after itself, and it is of interest to notice, +therefore, that the variety of coloration is mainly among the small +individuals, who have, of course, a much less secure position. It is +possible, moreover, that the resemblance to the surroundings admits of +more successful hunting, enabling the small crab to take its victim +unawares. + +Professor Poulton's experiments with the caterpillars of the small +tortoise-shell butterfly showed that in black surroundings the pupae tend +to be darker, in white surroundings lighter, in gilded boxes golden; and +the same is true in other cases. It appears that the surrounding colour +affects the caterpillars through the skin during a sensitive period--the +twenty hours immediately preceding the last twelve hours of the larval +state. The result will tend to make the quiescent pupae less conspicuous +during the critical time of metamorphosis. The physiology of this +sympathetic colouring remains obscure. + + +Seasonal Change of Colouring + +The ptarmigan moults three times in the year. Its summer plumage is +rather grouselike above, with a good deal of rufous brown; the back +becomes much more grey in autumn; almost all the feathers of the winter +plumage are white. That is to say, they develop without any pigment and +with numerous gas-bubbles in their cells. Now there can be no doubt that +this white winter plumage makes the ptarmigan very inconspicuous amidst +the snow. Sometimes one comes within a few feet of the crouching bird +without seeing it, and this garment of invisibility may save it from the +hungry eyes of golden eagles. + +Similarly the brown stoat becomes the white ermine, mainly by the +growth, of a new suit of white fur, and the same is true of the mountain +hare. The ermine is all white except the black tip of its tail; the +mountain hare in its winter dress is all white save the black tips of +its ears. In some cases, especially in the mountain hare, it seems that +individual hairs may turn white, by a loss of pigment, as may occur in +man. According to Metchnikoff, the wandering amoeboid cells of the +body, called phagocytes, may creep up into the hairs and come back again +with microscopic burdens of pigment. The place of the pigment is taken +by gas-bubbles, and that is what causes the whiteness. In no animals is +there any white _pigment_; the white _colour_ is like that of snow or +foam, it is due to the complete reflection of the light from innumerable +minute surfaces of crystals or bubbles. + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S._ + +BANDED KRAIT: A VERY POISONOUS SNAKE WITH ALTERNATING YELLOW AND DARK +BANDS + +It is very conspicuous and may serve as an illustration of warning +coloration. Perhaps, that is to say, its striking coloration serves as +an advertisement, impressing other creatures with the fact that the +Banded Krait should be left alone. It is very unprofitable for a snake +to waste its venom on creatures it does not want.] + +[Illustration: _Photos: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S._ + +THE WARTY CHAMELEON + +The upper photograph shows the Warty Chameleon inflated and conspicuous. +At another time, however, with compressed body and adjusted coloration, +the animal is very inconspicuous. The lower photograph shows the sudden +protrusion of the very long tongue on a fly.] + +[Illustration: SEASONAL COLOUR-CHANGE: A SUMMER SCENE IN NORTH +SCANDINAVIA + +Showing a brown Variable Hare, Willow Grouse, and Arctic Fox, all +inconspicuous in their coloration when seen in their natural +surroundings.] + +The mountain hare may escape the fox the more readily because its +whiteness makes it so inconspicuous against a background of snow; and +yet, at other times, we have seen the creature standing out like a +target on the dark moorland. So it cuts both ways. The ermine has almost +no enemies except the gamekeeper, but its winter whiteness may help it +to sneak upon its victims, such as grouse or rabbit, when there is snow +upon the ground. In both cases, however, the probability is that the +constitutional rhythm which leads to white hair in winter has been +fostered and fixed for a reason quite apart from protection. The fact is +that for a warm-blooded creature, whether bird or mammal, the +physiologically best dress is a white one, for there is less radiation +of the precious animal heat from white plumage or white pelage than from +any other colour. The quality of warm-bloodedness is a prerogative of +birds and mammals, and it means that the body keeps an almost constant +temperature, day and night, year in and year out. This is effected by +automatic internal adjustments which regulate the supply of heat, +chiefly from the muscles, to the loss of heat, chiefly through the skin +and from the lungs. The chief importance of this internal heat is that +it facilitates the smooth continuance of the chemical processes on which +life depends. If the temperature falls, as in hibernating mammals (whose +warm-bloodedness is imperfect), the rate of the vital process is slowed +down--sometimes dangerously. Thus we see how the white coat helps the +life of the creature. + + +Sec. 3 + +Rapid Colour-change + +Bony flat-fishes, like plaice and sole, have a remarkable power of +adjusting their hue and pattern to the surrounding gravel and sand, so +that it is difficult to find them even when we know that they are there. +It must be admitted that they are also very quick to get a sprinkling +of sand over their upturned side, so that only the eyes are left +showing. But there is no doubt as to the exactness with which they often +adjust themselves to be like a little piece of the substratum on which +they lie; they will do this within limits in experimental conditions +when they are placed on a quite artificial floor. As these fishes are +very palatable and are much sought after by such enemies as cormorants +and otters, it is highly probably that their power of self-effacement +often saves their life. And it may be effected within a few minutes, in +some cases within a minute. + +In these self-effacing flat-fishes we know with some precision what +happens. The adjustment of colour and pattern is due to changes in the +size, shape, and position of mobile pigment-cells (chromatophores) and +the skin. But what makes the pigment-cells change? The fact that a blind +flat-fish does not change its colour gives us the first part of the +answer. The colour and the pattern of the surroundings must affect the +eye. The message travels by the optic nerve to the brain; from the +brain, instead of passing down the spinal cord, the message travels down +the chain of sympathetic ganglia. From these it passes along the nerves +which comes out of the spinal cord and control the skin. Thus the +message reaches the colour-cells in the skin, and before you have +carefully read these lines the flat-fish has slipped on its Gyges ring +and become invisible. + +The same power of rapid colour-change is seen in cuttlefishes, where it +is often an expression of nervous excitement, though it sometimes helps +to conceal. It occurs with much subtlety in the AEsop prawn, Hippolyte, +which may be brown on a brown seaweed, green on sea-lettuce or +sea-grass, red on red seaweed, and so on through an extensive repertory. + + According to the nature of the background, [Professor Gamble writes] + so is the mixture of the pigments compounded so as to form a close + reproduction both of its colour and its pattern. A sweep of the + shrimp net detaches a battalion of these sleeping prawns, and if + we turn the motley into a dish and give a choice of seaweed, each + variety after its kind will select the one with which it agrees in + colour, and vanish. Both when young and when full-grown, the AEsop + prawn takes on the colour of its immediate surroundings. At + nightfall Hippolyte, of whatever colour, changes to a transparent + azure blue: its stolidity gives place to a nervous restlessness; at + the least tremor it leaps violently, and often swims actively from + one food-plant to another. This blue fit lasts till daybreak, and is + then succeeded by the prawn's diurnal tint. + +Thus, Professor Gamble continues, the colour of an animal may express a +nervous rhythm. + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE + +Hawk Moth, settled down on a branch, and very difficult to detect as +long as it remains stationary. Note its remarkable sucking tongue, which +is about twice the length of its body. The tongue can be quickly coiled +up and put safely away beneath the lower part of the head.] + +[Illustration: WHEN ONLY A FEW DAYS OLD, YOUNG BITTERN BEGIN TO STRIKE +THE SAME ATTITUDE AS THEIR PARENTS THRUSTING THEIR BILLS UPWARDS AND +DRAWING THEIR BODIES UP SO THAT THEY RESEMBLE A BUNCH OF REEDS + +The soft browns and blue-greens harmonise with the dull sheaths of the +young reeds; the nestling bittern is thus completely camouflaged.] + + +The Case of Chameleons + +The highest level at which rapid colour-change occurs is among lizards, +and the finest exhibition of it is among the chameleons. These quaint +creatures are characteristic of Africa; but they occur also in +Andalusia, Arabia, Ceylon, and Southern India. They are adapted for life +on trees, where they hunt insects with great deliberateness and success. +The protrusible tongue, ending in a sticky club, can be shot out for +about seven inches in the common chameleon. Their hands and feet are +split so that they grip the branches firmly, and the prehensile tail +rivals a monkey's. When they wish they can make themselves very slim, +contracting the body from side to side, so that they are not very +readily seen. In other circumstances, however, they do not practise +self-effacement, but the very reverse. They inflate their bodies, having +not only large lungs, but air-sacs in connection with them. The throat +bulges; the body sways from side to side; and the creature expresses its +sentiments in a hiss. The power of colour-change is very remarkable, and +depends partly on the contraction and expansion of the colour-cells +(chromatophores) in the under-skin (or dermis) and partly on +close-packed refractive granules and crystals of a waste-product called +guanin. The repertory of possible colours in the common chameleon is +greater than in any other animal except the AEsop prawn. There is a +legend of a chameleon which was brown in a brown box, green in a green +box, and blue in a blue box, and died when put into one lined with +tartan; and there is no doubt that one and the same animal has a wide +range of colours. The so-called "chameleon" (_Anolis_) of North America +is so sensitive that a passing cloud makes it change its emerald hue. + +There is no doubt that a chameleon may make itself more inconspicuous by +changing its colour, being affected by the play of light on its eyes. A +bright-green hue is often seen on those that are sitting among strongly +illumined green leaves. But the colour also changes with the time of day +and with the animal's moods. A sudden irritation may bring about a rapid +change; in other cases the transformation comes about very gradually. +When the colour-change expresses the chameleon's feelings it might be +compared to blushing, but that is due to an expansion of the arteries of +the face, allowing more blood to get into the capillaries of the +under-skin. The case of the chameleon is peculiarly interesting because +the animal has two kinds of tactics--self-effacement on the one hand and +bluffing on the other. There can be little doubt that the power of +colour-change sometimes justifies itself by driving off intruders. Dr. +Cyril Crossland observed that a chameleon attacked by a fox-terrier +"turned round and opened its great pink mouth in the face of the +advancing dog, at the same time rapidly changing colour, becoming almost +black. This ruse succeeded every time, the dog turning off at once." In +natural leafy surroundings the startling effect would be much greater--a +sudden throwing off of the mantle of invisibility and the exposure of a +conspicuous black body with a large red mouth. + + +Sec. 4 + +Likeness to Other Things + +Dr. H. O. Forbes tells of a flat spider which presents a striking +resemblance to a bird's dropping on a leaf. Years after he first +found it he was watching in a forest in the Far East when his eye fell +on a leaf before him which had been blotched by a bird. He wondered idly +why he had not seen for so long another specimen of the bird-dropping +spider (_Ornithoscatoides decipiens_), and drew the leaf towards him. +Instantaneously he got a characteristic sharp nip; it was the spider +after all! Here the colour-resemblance was enhanced by a +form-resemblance. + +[Illustration: A. PROTECTIVE COLORATION OR CAMOUFLAGING, GIVING ANIMALS +A GARMENT OF INVISIBILITY + +At the foot of the plate is a Nightjar, with plumage like bark and +withering leaves; to the right, resting on a branch, is shown a +Chameleon in a green phase amid green surroundings; the insects on the +reeds are Locusts; while a green Frog, merged into its surroundings, +rests on a leaf near the centre at the top of the picture. + +B. ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF PROTECTIVE COLORATION OR CAMOUFLAGE + +A shore scene showing Trout in the pool almost invisible against their +background. The Stone Curlews, both adult and young, are very +inconspicuous among the stones on the beach.] + +But why should it profit a spider to be like a bird-dropping? Perhaps +because it thereby escapes attention; but there is another possibility. +It seems that some butterflies, allied to our Blues, are often attracted +to excrementitious material, and the spider Dr. Forbes observed had +actually caught its victim. This is borne out by a recent observation by +Dr. D. G. H. Carpenter, who found a Uganda bug closely resembling a +bird-dropping on sand. The bug actually settled down on a bird-dropping +on sand, and caught a blue butterfly which came to feed there! + +Some of the walking-stick insects, belonging to the order of crickets +and grasshoppers (Orthoptera), have their body elongated and narrow, +like a thin dry branch, and they have a way of sticking out their limbs +at abrupt and diverse angles, which makes the resemblance to twigs very +close indeed. Some of these quaint insects rest through the day and have +the remarkable habit of putting themselves into a sort of kataleptic +state. Many creatures turn stiff when they get a shock, or pass suddenly +into new surroundings, like some of the sand-hoppers when we lay them on +the palm of our hand; but these twig-insects put themselves into this +strange state. The body is rocked from side to side for a short time, +and then it stiffens. An advantage may be that even if they were +surprised by a bird or a lizard, they will not be able to betray +themselves by even a tremor. Disguise is perfected by a remarkable +habit, a habit which leads us to think of a whole series of different +ways of lying low and saying nothing which are often of life-preserving +value. The top end of the series is seen when a fox plays 'possum. + +The leaf-butterfly _Kallima_, conspicuously coloured on its upper +surface, is like a withered leaf when it settles down and shows the +under side of its wings. Here, again, there is precise form-resemblance, +for the nervures on the wings are like the mid-rib and side veins on a +leaf, and the touch of perfection is given in the presence of whitish +spots which look exactly like the discolorations produced by lichens on +leaves. An old entomologist, Mr. Jenner Weir, confessed that he +repeatedly pruned off a caterpillar on a bush in mistake for a +superfluous twig, for many brownish caterpillars fasten themselves by +their posterior claspers and by an invisible thread of silk from their +mouth, and project from the branch at a twig-like angle. An insect may +be the very image of a sharp prickle or a piece of soft moss; a spider +may look precisely like a tiny knob on a branch or a fragment of lichen; +one of the sea-horses (_Phyllopteryx_) has frond-like tassels on various +parts of its body, so that it looks extraordinarily like the seaweeds +among which it lives. In a few cases, e.g. among spiders, it has been +shown that animals with a special protective resemblance to something +else seek out a position where this resemblance tells, and there is +urgent need for observations bearing on this selection of environment. + + +Sec. 5 + +Mimicry in the True Sense + +It sometimes happens that in one and the same place there are two groups +of animals not very nearly related which are "doubles" of one another. +Investigation shows that the members of the one group, _always in the +majority_, are in some way specially protected, e.g. by being +unpalatable. They are the "mimicked." The members of the other group, +_always in the minority_, have not got the special protection possessed +by the others. They are the "mimickers," though the resemblance is not, +of course, associated with any conscious imitation. The theory is that +the mimickers live on the reputation of the mimicked. If the mimicked +are left alone by birds because they have a reputation for +unpalatability, or because they are able to sting, the mimickers +survive--although they are palatable and stingless. They succeed, not +through any virtue of their own, but because of their resemblance to the +mimicked, for whom they are mistaken. There are many cases of mimetic +resemblance so striking and so subtle that it seems impossible to doubt +that the thing works; there are other cases which are rather +far-fetched, and may be somewhat of the nature of coincidences. Thus +although Mr. Bates tells us that he repeatedly shot humming-bird moths +in mistake for humming-birds, we cannot think that this is a good +illustration of mimicry. What is needed for many cases is what is +forthcoming for some, namely, experimental evidence, e.g. that the +unpalatable mimicked butterflies are left in relative peace while +similar palatable butterflies are persecuted. It is also necessary to +show that the mimickers do actually consort with the mimicked. Some +beetles and moths are curiously wasplike, which may be a great +advantage; the common drone-fly is superficially like a small bee; some +harmless snakes are very like poisonous species; and Mr. Wallace +maintained that the powerful "friar-birds" of the Far East are mimicked +by the weak and timid orioles. When the model is unpalatable or +repulsive or dangerous, and the mimic the reverse, the mimicry is called +"Batesian" (after Mr. Bates), but there is another kind of mimicry +called Muellerian (after Fritz Mueller) where the mimic is also +unpalatable. The theory in this case is that the mimicry serves as +mutual assurance, the members of the ring getting on better by +consistently presenting the same appearance, which has come to mean to +possible enemies a signal, _Noli me tangere_ ("Leave me alone"). There +is nothing out of the question in this theory, but it requires to be +taken in a critical spirit. It leads us to think of "warning colours," +which are the very opposite of the disguises which we are now studying. +Some creatures like skunks, magpies, coral-snakes, cobras, brightly +coloured tree-frogs are obtrusive rather than elusive, and the theory +of Alfred Russel Wallace was that the flaunting conspicuousness serves +as a useful advertisement, impressing itself on the memories of +inexperienced enemies, who soon learn to leave creatures with "warning +colours" alone. In any case it is plain that an animal which is as safe +as a wasp or a coral-snake can afford to wear any suit of clothes it +likes. + +[Illustration: DEAD-LEAF BUTTERFLY (_Kallima Inachis_) FROM INDIA + +It is conspicuous on its upper surface, but when it settles down on a +twig and shows the underside of its wings it is practically invisible. +The colouring of the under surface of the wings is like that of the +withering leaf; there are spots like fungas spots; and the venation of +the wings suggests the mid-rib and veins of the leaf. A, showing upper +surface; B, showing under surface; C, a leaf.] + +[Illustration: PROTECTIVE RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN A SMALL SPIDER (_to the +left_) AND AN ANT (_to the right_) + +As ants are much dreaded, it is probably profitable to the spider to be +like an ant. It will be noted that the spider has four pairs of legs and +no feelers, whereas the ant has three pairs of legs and a pair of +feelers.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._ + +THE WASP BEETLE, WHICH, WHEN MOVING AMONGST THE BRANCHES GIVES A +WASP-LIKE IMPRESSION] + +[Illustration: HERMIT-CRAB WITH PARTNER SEA-ANEMONES + +Hermit-crabs hide their soft tail in the shell of a whelk or some other +sea-snail. But some hermit-crabs place sea-anemones on the back of their +borrowed shell. The sea-anemones mask the hermit-crab and their +tentacles can sting. As for the sea-anemones, they are carried about by +the hermit-crab and they get crumbs from its table. This kind of +mutually beneficial external partnership is called commensalism, i.e. +eating at the same table.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: G. P. Duffus._ + +CUCKOO-SPIT + +The white mass in the centre of the picture is a soapy froth which the +young frog-hopper makes, and within which it lies safe both from the +heat of the sun and almost all enemies. After sojourning for a time in +the cuckoo-spit, the frog-hopper becomes a winged insect.] + + +Masking + +The episode in Scottish history called "The Walking Wood of Birnam," +when the advancing troop masked their approach by cutting down branches +of the trees, has had its counterpart in many countries. But it is also +enacted on the seashore. There are many kinds of crabs that put on +disguise with what looks like deliberateness. The sand-crab takes a +piece of seaweed, nibbles at the end of it, and then rubs it on the back +of the carapace or on the legs so that it fixes to the bristles. As the +seaweed continues to live, the crab soon has a little garden on its back +which masks the crab's real nature. It is most effective camouflaging, +but if the crab continues to grow it has to moult, and that means losing +the disguise. It is then necessary to make a new one. The crab must have +on the shore something corresponding to a reputation; that is to say, +other animals are clearly or dimly aware that the crab is a voracious +and combative creature. How useful to the crab, then, to have its +appearance cloaked by a growth of innocent seaweed, or sponge, or +zoophyte. It will enable the creature to sneak upon its victims or to +escape the attention of its own enemies. + +If a narrow-beaked crab is cleaned artificially it will proceed to +clothe itself again, the habit has become instinctive; and it must be +admitted that while a particular crab prefers a particular kind of +seaweed for its dress, it will cover itself with unsuitable and even +conspicuous material, such as pieces of coloured cloth, if nothing +better is available. The disguise differs greatly, for one crab is +masked by a brightly coloured and unpalatable sponge densely packed +with flinty needles; another cuts off the tunic of a sea-squirt and +throws it over its shoulders; another trundles about a bivalve shell. +The facts recall the familiar case of the hermit-crab, which protects +its soft tail by tucking it into the empty shell of a periwinkle or a +whelk or some other sea-snail, and that case leads on to the elaboration +known as commensalism, where the hermit-crab fixes sea-anemones on the +back of its borrowed house. The advantage here is beyond that of +masking, for the sea-anemone can sting, which is a useful quality in a +partner. That this second advantage may become the main one is evident +in several cases where the sea-anemone is borne, just like a weapon, on +each of the crustacean's great claws. Moreover, as the term commensalism +(eating at the same table) suggests, the partnership is _mutually_ +beneficial. For the sea-anemone is carried about by the hermit-crab, and +it doubtless gets its share of crumbs from its partner's frequent meals. +There is a very interesting sidelight on the mutual benefit in the case +of a dislodged sea-anemone which sulked for a while and then waited in a +state of preparedness until a hermit-crab passed by and touched it. +Whereupon the sea-anemone gripped and slowly worked itself up on to the +back of the shell. + + +Sec. 6 + +Other Kinds of Elusiveness + +There are various kinds of disguise which are not readily classified. A +troop of cuttlefish swimming in the sea is a beautiful sight. They keep +time with one another in their movements and they show the same change +of colour almost at the same moment. They are suddenly attacked, +however, by a small shark, and then comes a simultaneous discharge of +sepia from their ink-bags. There are clouds of ink in the clear water, +for, as Professor Hickson puts it, the cuttlefishes have thrown dust in +the eyes of their enemies. One can see a newborn cuttlefish do this a +minute after it escapes from the egg. + +Very beautiful is the way in which many birds, like our common +chaffinch, disguise the outside of their nest with moss and lichen and +other trifles felted together, so that the cradle is as inconspicuous as +possible. There seems to be a touch of art in fastening pieces of +spider's web on the outside of a nest! + +How curious is the case of the tree-sloth of South American forests, +that walks slowly, back downwards, along the undersides of the branches, +hanging on by its long, curved fingers and toes. It is a nocturnal +animal, and therefore not in special danger, but when resting during the +day it is almost invisible because its shaggy hair is so like certain +lichens and other growths on the branches. But the protective +resemblance is enhanced by the presence of a green alga, which actually +lives on the surface of the sloth's hairs--an alga like the one that +makes tree-stems and gate-posts green in damp weather. + +There is no commoner sight in the early summer than the cuckoo-spit on +the grasses and herbage by the wayside. It is conspicuous and yet it is +said to be left severely alone by almost all creatures. In some way it +must be a disguise. It is a sort of soap made by the activity of small +frog-hoppers while they are still in the wingless larval stage, before +they begin to hop. The insect pierces with its sharp mouth-parts the +skin of the plant and sucks in sweet sap which by and by overflows over +its body. It works its body up and down many times, whipping in air, +which mixes with the sugary sap, reminding one of how "whipped egg" is +made. But along with the sugary sap and the air, there is a little +ferment from the food-canal and a little wax from glands on the skin, +and the four things mixed together make a kind of soap which lasts +through the heat of the day. + +There are many other modes of disguise besides those which we have been +able to illustrate. Indeed, the biggest fact is that there are so many, +for it brings us back to the idea that life is not an easy business. It +is true, as Walt Whitman says, that animals do not sweat and whine about +their condition; perhaps it is true, as he says, that not one is +unhappy over the whole earth. But there is another truth, that this +world is not a place for the unlit lamp and the ungirt loin, and that +when a creature has not armour or weapons or cleverness it must find +some path of safety or go back. One of these paths of safety is +disguise, and we have illustrated its evolution. + + + + +V + +THE ASCENT OF MAN + + + + +THE ASCENT OF MAN + + +Sec. 1 + +No one thinks less of Sir Isaac Newton because he was born as a very +puny infant, and no one should think less of the human race because it +sprang from a stock of arboreal mammals. There is no doubt as to man's +apartness from the rest of creation when he is seen at his best--"a +little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honour." "What a +piece of work is a man! How noble in reason! How infinite in faculty! in +form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! +in apprehension so like a God." Nevertheless, all the facts point to his +affiliation to the stock to which monkeys and apes also belong. Not, +indeed, that man is descended from any living ape or monkey; it is +rather that he and they have sprung from a common ancestry--are branches +of the same stem. This conclusion is so momentous that the reasons for +accepting it must be carefully considered. They were expounded with +masterly skill in Darwin's _Descent of Man_ in 1871--a book which was +but an expansion of a chapter in _The Origin of Species_ (1859). + + +Anatomical Proof of Man's Relationship with a Simian Stock + +The anatomical structure of man is closely similar to that of the +anthropoid apes--the gorilla, the orang, the chimpanzee, and the gibbon. +Bone for bone, muscle for muscle, blood-vessel for blood-vessel, nerve +for nerve, man and ape agree. As the conservative anatomist, Sir +Richard Owen, said, there is between them "an all-pervading similitude +of structure." Differences, of course, there are, but they are not +momentous except man's big brain, which may be three times as heavy as +that of a gorilla. The average human brain weighs about 48 ounces; the +gorilla brain does not exceed 20 ounces at its best. The capacity of the +human skull is never less than 55 cubic inches; in the orang and the +chimpanzee the figures are 26 and 27-1/2 respectively. We are not +suggesting that the most distinctive features of man are such as can be +measured and weighed, but it is important to notice that the main seat +of his mental powers is physically far ahead of that of the highest of +the anthropoid apes. + +Man alone is thoroughly erect after his infancy is past; his head +weighted with the heavy brain does not droop forward as the ape's does; +with his erect attitude there is perhaps to be associated his more +highly developed vocal organs. Compared with an anthropoid ape, man has +a bigger and more upright forehead, a less protrusive face region, +smaller cheek-bones and eyebrow ridges, and more uniform teeth. He is +almost unique in having a chin. Man plants the sole of his foot flat on +the ground, his big toe is usually in a line with the other toes, and he +has a better heel than any monkey has. The change in the shape of the +head is to be thought of in connection with the enlargement of the +brain, and also in connection with the natural reduction of the muzzle +region when the hand was freed from being an organ of support and became +suited for grasping the food and conveying it to the mouth. + +Everyone is familiar in man's clothing with traces of the past +persisting in the present, though their use has long since disappeared. +There are buttons on the back of the waist of the morning coat to which +the tails of the coat used to be fastened up, and there are buttons, +occasionally with buttonholes, at the wrist which were once useful in +turning up the sleeve. The same is true of man's body, which is a +veritable museum of relics. Some anatomists have made out a list of +over a hundred of these _vestigial_ structures, and though this number +is perhaps too high, there is no doubt that the list is long. In the +inner upper corner of the eye there is a minute tag--but larger in some +races than in others--which is the last dwindling relic of the third +eyelid, used in cleaning the front of the eye, which most mammals +possess in a large and well-developed form. It can be easily seen, for +instance, in ox and rabbit. In man and in monkeys it has become a +useless vestige, and the dwindling must be associated with the fact that +the upper eyelid is much more mobile in man and monkeys than in the +other mammals. The vestigial third eyelid in man is enough of itself to +prove his relationship with the mammals, but it is only one example out +of many. Some of these are discussed in the article dealing with the +human body, but we may mention the vestigial muscles going to the +ear-trumpet, man's dwindling counterpart of the skin-twitching muscle +which we see a horse use when he jerks a fly off his flanks, and the +short tail which in the seven-weeks-old human embryo is actually longer +than the leg. Without committing ourselves to a belief in the entire +uselessness of the vermiform appendix, which grows out as a blind alley +at the junction of the small intestine with the large, we are safe in +saying that it is a dwindling structure--the remains of a blind gut +which must have been capacious and useful in ancestral forms. In some +mammals, like the rabbit, the blind gut is the bulkiest structure in the +body, and bears the vermiform appendix at its far end. In man the +appendix alone is left, and it tells its tale. It is interesting to +notice that it is usually longer in the orang than in man, and that it +is very variable, as dwindling structures tend to be. One of the +unpleasant expressions of this variability is the liability to go wrong: +hence appendicitis. Now these vestigial structures are, as Darwin said, +like the unsounded, i.e. functionless, letters in words, such as the _o_ +in "leopard," the _b_ in "doubt," the _g_ in "reign." They are of no +use, but they tell us something of the history of the words. So do man's +vestigial structures reveal his pedigree. They must have an historical +or evolutionary significance. No other interpretation is possible. + +[Illustration: _Photo: New York Zoological Park._ + +CHIMPANZEE, SITTING + +The head shows certain facial characteristics, e.g. the beetling eyebrow +ridges, which were marked in the Neanderthal race of men. Note the +shortening of the thumb and the enlargement of the big toe.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: New York Zoological Park._ + +CHIMPANZEE, ILLUSTRATING WALKING POWERS + +Note the great length of the arms and the relative shortness of the +legs.] + +[Illustration: SURFACE VIEW OF THE BRAINS OF MAN (1) AND CHIMPANZEE (2) + +The human brain is much larger and heavier, more dome-like, and with +much more numerous and complicated convolutions.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: New York Zoological Park._ + +SIDE-VIEW OF CHIMPANZEE'S HEAD. + +(Compare with opposite picture.)] + +[Illustration: _After a model by J. H. McGregor._ + +PROFILE VIEW OF HEAD OF PITHECANTHROPUS, THE JAVA APE MAN, RECONSTRUCTED +FROM THE SKULL-CAP.] + +[Illustration: THE FLIPPER OF A WHALE AND THE HAND OF A MAN + +In the bones and in their arrangement there is a close resemblance in +the two cases, yet the outcome is very different. The multiplication of +finger joints in the whale is a striking feature.] + +Some men, oftener than women, show on the inturned margin of the +ear-trumpet or pinna, a little conical projection of great interest. It +is a vestige of the tip of the pointed ear of lower mammals, and it is +well named _Darwin's point_. It was he who described it as a "surviving +symbol of the stirring times and dangerous days of man's animal youth." + + +Sec. 2 + +Physiological Proof of Man's Relationship with a Simian Stock + +The everyday functions of the human body are practically the same as +those of the anthropoid ape, and similar disorders are common to both. +Monkeys may be infected with certain microbes to which man is peculiarly +liable, such as the bacillus of tuberculosis. Darwin showed that various +human gestures and facial expressions have their counterparts in +monkeys. The sneering curl of the upper lip, which tends to expose the +canine tooth, is a case in point, though it may be seen in many other +mammals besides monkeys--in dogs, for instance, which are at some +considerable distance from the simian branch to which man's ancestors +belonged. + +When human blood is transfused into a dog or even a monkey, it behaves +in a hostile way to the other blood, bringing about a destruction of the +red blood corpuscles. But when it is transfused into a chimpanzee there +is an harmonious mingling of the two. This is a very literal +demonstration of man's blood-relationship with the higher apes. But +there is a finer form of the same experiment. When the blood-fluid (or +serum) of a rabbit, which has had human blood injected into it, is +mingled with human blood, it forms a cloudy precipitate. It forms almost +as marked a precipitate when it is mingled with the blood of an +anthropoid ape. But when it is mingled with the blood of an American +monkey there is only a slight clouding after a considerable time and +no actual precipitate. When it is added to the blood of one of the +distantly related "half-monkeys" or lemurs there is no reaction or only +a very weak one. With the blood of mammals off the simian line +altogether there is no reaction at all. Thus, as a distinguished +anthropologist, Professor Schwalbe, has said: "We have in this not only +a proof of the literal blood-relationship between man and apes, but the +degree of relationship with the different main groups of apes can be +determined beyond possibility of mistake." We can imagine how this +modern line of experiment would have delighted Darwin. + +[Illustration: THE GORILLA, INHABITING THE FOREST TRACT OF THE GABOON IN +AFRICA + +A full-grown individual stands about 5 feet high. The gait is shuffling, +the strength enormous, the diet mainly vegetarian, the temper rather +ferocious.] + + +Embryological Proof of Man's Relationship with a Simian Stock + +In his individual development, man does in some measure climb up his own +genealogical tree. Stages in the development of the body during its nine +months of ante-natal life are closely similar to stages in the +development of the anthropoid embryo. Babies born in times of famine or +siege are sometimes, as it were, imperfectly finished, and sometimes +have what may be described as monkeyish features and ways. A visit to an +institution for the care of children who show arrested, defective, or +disturbed development leaves one sadly impressed with the risk of +slipping down the rungs of the steep ladder of evolution; and even in +adults the occurrence of serious nervous disturbance, such as +"shell-shock," is sometimes marked by relapses to animal ways. It is a +familiar fact that a normal baby reveals the past in its surprising +power of grip, and the careful experiments of Dr. Louis Robinson showed +that an infant three weeks old could support its own weight for over two +minutes, holding on to a horizontal bar. "In many cases no sign of +distress is evinced and no cry uttered, until the grasp begins to give +way." This persistent grasp probably points back to the time when the +baby had to cling to its arboreal mother. The human tail is represented +in the adult by a fusion of four or five vertebrae forming the "coccyx" +at the end of the backbone, and is normally concealed beneath the +flesh, but in the embryo the tail projects freely and is movable. Up to +the sixth month of the ante-natal sleep the body is covered, all but the +palms and soles, with longish hair (the lanugo), which usually +disappears before birth. This is a stage in the normal development, +which is reasonably interpreted as a recapitulation of a stage in the +racial evolution. We draw this inference when we find that the unborn +offspring of an almost hairless whale has an abundant representation of +hairs; we must draw a similar inference in the case of man. + +It must be noticed that there are two serious errors in the careless +statement often made that man in his development is at one time like a +little fish, at a later stage like a little reptile, at a later stage +like a little primitive mammal, and eventually like a little monkey. The +first error here is that the comparison should be made with +_embryo_-fish, _embryo_-reptile, _embryo_-mammal, and so on. It is in +the making of the embryos that the great resemblance lies. When the +human embryo shows the laying down of the essential vertebrate +characters, such as brain and spinal cord, then it is closely comparable +to the embryo of a lower vertebrate at a similar stage. When, at a +subsequent stage, its heart, for instance, is about to become a +four-chambered mammalian heart, it is closely comparable to the heart +of, let us say, a turtle, which never becomes more than three-chambered. +The point is that in the making of the organs of the body, say brain and +kidneys, the embryo of man pursues a path closely corresponding to the +path followed by the embryos of other backboned animals lower in the +scale, but at successive stages it parts company with these, with the +lowest first and so on in succession. A human embryo is never like a +little reptile, but the developing organs pass through stages which very +closely resemble the corresponding stages in lower types which are in a +general way ancestral. + +The second error is that every kind of animal, man included, has from +the first a certain individuality, with peculiar characteristics which +are all its own. This is expressed by the somewhat difficult word +_specificity_, which just means that every species is itself and no +other. So in the development of the human embryo, while there are close +resemblances to the embryos of apes, monkeys, other mammals, and even, +at earlier stages still, to the embryos of reptile and fish, it has to +be admitted that we are dealing from first to last with a human embryo +with peculiarities of its own. + +[Illustration: "DARWIN'S POINT" ON HUMAN EAR (MARKED D.P.) + +It corresponds to the tip (T) of the ear of an ordinary mammal, as shown +in the hare's ear below. In the young orang the part corresponding to +Darwin's point is still at the tip of the ear.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. Russell & Sons._ + +PROFESSOR SIR ARTHUR KEITH, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S. + +Conservator of the Museum and Hunterian Professor, Royal College of +Surgeons of England. One of the foremost living anthropologists and a +leading authority on the antiquity of man.] + +[Illustration: _After T. H. Huxley (by permission of Messrs. +Macmillan)._ + +SKELETONS OF THE GIBBON, ORANG, CHIMPANZEE, GORILLA, MAN + +Photographically reduced from diagrams of the natural size (except that +of the gibbon, which was twice as large as nature) drawn by Mr. +Waterhouse Hawkins from specimens in the Museum of the Royal College of +Surgeons.] + +Every human being begins his or her life as a single cell--a fertilised +egg-cell, a treasure-house of all the ages. For in this living +microcosm, only a small fraction (1/125) of an inch in diameter, there +is condensed--who can imagine how?--all the natural inheritance of man, +all the legacy of his parentage, of his ancestry, of his long pre-human +pedigree. Darwin called the pinhead brain of the ant the most marvellous +atom of matter in the world, but the human ovum is more marvellous +still. It has more possibilities in it than any other thing, yet without +fertilisation it will die. The fertilised ovum divides and redivides; +there results a ball of cells and a sack of cells; gradually division of +labour becomes the rule; there is a laying down of nervous system and +food-canal, muscular system and skeleton, and so proceeds what is +learnedly called differentiation. Out of the apparently simple there +emerges the obviously complex. As Aristotle observed more than two +thousand years ago, in the developing egg of the hen there soon appears +the beating heart! There is nothing like this in the non-living world. +But to return to the developing human embryo, there is formed from and +above the embryonic food-canal a skeletal rod, which is called the +notochord. It thrills the imagination to learn that this is the only +supporting axis that the lower orders of the backboned race possess. The +curious thing is that it does not become the backbone, which is +certainly one of the essential features of the vertebrate race. The +notochord is the supporting axis of the pioneer backboned animals, +namely the Lancelets and the Round-mouths (Cyclostomes), such as the +Lamprey. They have no backbone in the strict sense, but they have this +notochord. It can easily be dissected out in the lamprey--a long gristly +rod. It is surrounded by a sheath which becomes the backbone of most +fishes and of all higher animals. The interesting point is that although +the notochord is only a vestige in the adults of these types, it is +never absent from the embryo. It occurs even in man, a short-lived relic +of the primeval supporting axis of the body. It comes and then it goes, +leaving only minute traces in the adult. We cannot say that it is of any +use, unless it serves as a stimulus to the development of its +substitute, the backbone. It is only a piece of preliminary scaffolding, +but there is no more eloquent instance of the living hand of the past. + +One other instance must suffice of what Professor Lull calls the +wonderful changes wrought in the dark of the ante-natal period, which +recapitulate in rapid abbreviation the great evolutionary steps which +were taken by man's ancestors "during the long night of the geological +past." On the sides of the neck of the human embryo there are four pairs +of slits, the "visceral clefts," openings from the beginning of the +food-canals to the surface. There is no doubt as to their significance. +They correspond to the gill-slits of fishes and tadpoles. Yet in +reptiles, birds, and mammals they have no connection with breathing, +which is their function in fishes and amphibians. Indeed, they are not +of any use at all, except that the first becomes the Eustachian tube +bringing the ear-passage into connection with the back of the mouth, and +that the second and third have to do with the development of a curious +organ called the thymus gland. Persistent, nevertheless, these +gill-slits are, recalling even in man an aquatic ancestry of many +millions of years ago. + +When all these lines of evidence are considered, they are seen to +converge in the conclusion that man is derived from a simian stock of +mammals. He is solidary with the rest of creation. To quote the closing +words of Darwin's _Descent of Man_: + + We must, however, acknowledge, as it seems to me, that man with all + his noble qualities, with sympathy which feels for the most debased, + with benevolence which extends not only to other men but to the + humblest living creature, with his God-like intellect, which has + penetrated into the movements and constitution of the solar + system--with all these exalted powers--man still bears in his bodily + frame the indelible stamp of his lowly origin. + +We should be clear that this view does not say more than that man sprang +from a stock common to him and to the higher apes. Those who are +repelled by the idea of man's derivation from a simian type should +remember that the theory implies rather more than this, namely, that man +is the outcome of a genealogy which has implied many millions of years +of experimenting and sifting--the groaning and travailing of a whole +creation. Speaking of man's mental qualities, Sir Ray Lankester says: +"They justify the view that man forms a new departure in the gradual +unfolding of Nature's predestined plan." In any case, we have to try to +square our views with the facts, not the facts with our views, and while +one of the facts is that man stands unique and apart, the other is that +man is a scion of a progressive simian stock. Naturalists have exposed +the pit whence man has been digged and the rock whence he has been hewn, +but it is surely a heartening encouragement to know that it is an +ascent, not a descent, that we have behind us. There is wisdom in +Pascal's maxim: + + It is dangerous to show man too plainly how like he is to the + animals, without, at the same time, reminding him of his greatness. + It is equally unwise to impress him with his greatness and not with + his lowliness. It is worse to leave him in ignorance of both. But it + is very profitable to recognise the two facts. + + +Sec. 3 + +Man's Pedigree + +The facts of anatomy, physiology, and embryology, of which we have given +illustrations, all point to man's affiliation with the order of monkeys +and apes. To this order is given the name Primates, and our first and +second question must be when and whence the Primates began. The rock +record answers the first question: the Primates emerged about the dawn +of the Eocene era, when grass was beginning to cover the earth with a +garment. Their ancestral home was in the north in both hemispheres, and +then they migrated to Africa, India, Malay, and South America. In North +America the Primates soon became extinct, and the same thing happened +later on in Europe. In this case, however, there was a repeopling from +the South (in the Lower Miocene) and then a second extinction (in the +Upper Pliocene) before man appeared. There is considerable evidence in +support of Professor R. S. Lull's conclusion, that in Southern Asia, +Africa, and South America the evolution of Primates was continuous since +the first great southward migration, and there is, of course, an +abundant modern representation of Primates in these regions to-day. + +As to the second question: Whence the Primates sprang, the answer must +be more conjectural. But it is a reasonable view that Carnivores and +Primates sprang from a common Insectivore stock, the one order diverging +towards flesh-eating and hunting on the ground, the other order +diverging towards fruit-eating and arboreal habits. There is no doubt +that the Insectivores (including shrews, tree-shrews, hedgehog, mole, +and the like) were very plastic and progressive mammals. + +What followed in the course of ages was the divergence of branch after +branch from the main Primate stem. First there diverged the South +American monkeys on a line of their own, and then the Old World monkeys, +such as the macaques and baboons. Ages passed and the main stems gave +off (in the Oligocene period) the branch now represented by the small +anthropoid apes--the gibbon and the siamang. Distinctly later there +diverged the branch of the large anthropoid apes--the gorilla, the +chimpanzee, and the orang. That left a generalised humanoid stock +separated off from all monkeys and apes, and including the immediate +precursors of man. When this sifting out of a generalised humanoid stock +took place remains very uncertain, some authorities referring it to the +Miocene, others to the early Pliocene. Some would estimate its date at +half a million years ago, others at two millions! The fact is that +questions of chronology do not as yet admit of scientific statement. + +[Illustration: SIDE-VIEW OF SKULL OF MAN (M) AND GORILLA (G) + +Notice in the gorilla's skull the protrusive face region, the big +eyebrow ridges, the much less domed cranial cavity, the massive lower +jaw, the big canine teeth. Notice in man's skull the well-developed +forehead, the domed and spacious cranial cavity, the absence of any +snout, the chin process, and many other marked differences separating +the human skull from the ape's.] + +[Illustration: THE SKULL AND BRAIN-CASE OF PITHECANTHROPUS, THE JAVA +APE-MAN, AS RESTORED. BY J. H. McGREGOR FROM THE SCANTY REMAINS + +The restoration shows the low, retreating forehead and the prominent +eyebrow ridges.] + +[Illustration: SUGGESTED GENEALOGICAL TREE OF MAN AND ANTHROPOID APES + +From Sir Arthur Keith; the lettering to the right has been slightly +simplified.] + +We are on firmer, though still uncertain, ground when we state the +probability that it was in Asia that the precursors of man were +separated off from monkeys and apes, and began to be terrestrial rather +than arboreal. Professor Lull points out that Asia is nearest to the +oldest known human remains (in Java), and that Asia was the seat of the +most ancient civilisations and the original home of many domesticated +animals and cultivated plants. The probability is that the cradle of the +human race was in Asia. + + +Man's Arboreal Apprenticeship + +At this point it will be useful to consider man's arboreal +apprenticeship and how he became a terrestrial journeyman. Professor +Wood Jones has worked out very convincingly the thesis that man had no +direct four-footed ancestry, but that the Primate stock to which he +belongs was from its first divergence arboreal. He maintains that the +leading peculiarities of the immediate precursors of man were wrought +out during a long arboreal apprenticeship. The first great gain of +arboreal life on bipedal erect lines (not after the quadrupedal fashion +of tree-sloths, for instance) was the emancipation of the hand. The +foot became the supporting and branch-gripping member, and the hand was +set free to reach upward, to hang on by, to seize the fruit, to lift it +and hold it to the mouth, and to hug the young one close to the breast. +The hand thus set free has remained plastic--a generalised, not a +specialised member. Much has followed from man's "handiness." + +The arboreal life had many other consequences. It led to an increased +freedom of movement of the thigh on the hip joint, to muscular +arrangements for balancing the body on the leg, to making the backbone a +supple yet stable curved pillar, to a strongly developed collar-bone +which is only found well-formed when the fore-limb is used for more than +support, and to a power of "opposing" the thumb and the big toe to the +other digits of the hand and foot--an obvious advantage for +branch-gripping. But the evolution of a free hand made it possible to +dispense with protrusive lips and gripping teeth. Thus began the +recession of the snout region, the associated enlargement of the +brain-box, and the bringing of the eyes to the front. The overcrowding +of the teeth that followed the shortening of the snout was one of the +taxes on progress of which modern man is often reminded in his dental +troubles. + +Another acquisition associated with arboreal life was a greatly +increased power of turning the head from side to side--a mobility very +important in locating sounds and in exploring with the eyes. +Furthermore, there came about a flattening of the chest and of the back, +and the movements of the midriff (or diaphragm) came to count for more +in respiration than the movements of the ribs. The sense of touch came +to be of more importance and the sense of smell of less; the part of the +brain receiving tidings from hand and eye and ear came to predominate +over the part for receiving olfactory messages. Finally, the need for +carrying the infant about among the branches must surely have implied an +intensification of family relations, and favoured the evolution of +gentleness. + +[Illustration: _Photo: New York Zoological Park._ + +THE GIBBON IS LOWER THAN THE OTHER APES AS REGARDS ITS SKULL AND +DENTITION, BUT IT IS HIGHLY SPECIALIZED IN THE ADAPTATION OF ITS LIMBS +TO ARBOREAL LIFE] + +[Illustration: _Photo: New York Zoological Park._ + +THE ORANG HAS A HIGH ROUNDED SKULL AND A LONG FACE] + +[Illustration: _Photo: British Museum (Natural History)._ + +COMPARISONS OF THE SKELETONS OF HORSE AND MAN + +Bone for bone, the two skeletons are like one another, though man is a +biped and the horse a quadruped. The backbone in man is mainly vertical; +the backbone in the horse is horizontal except in the neck and the tail. +Man's skull is mainly in a line with the backbone; the horse's at an +angle to it. Both man and horse have seven neck vertebrae. Man has five +digits on each limb; the horse has only one digit well developed on each +limb.] + +It may be urged that we are attaching too much importance to the +arboreal apprenticeship, since many tree-loving animals remain to-day +very innocent creatures. To this reasonable objection there are two +answers, first that in its many acquisitions the arboreal evolution of +the _humanoid_ precursors of man prepared the way for the survival of a +_human_ type marked by a great step in brain-development; and second +that the passage from the humanoid to the human was probably associated +with _a return to mother earth_. + +According to Professor Lull, to whose fine textbook, _Organic Evolution_ +(1917), we are much indebted, "climatic conditions in Asia in the +Miocene or early Pliocene were such as to compel the descent of the +pre-human ancestor from the trees, a step which was absolutely essential +to further human development." Continental elevation and consequent +aridity led to a dwindling of the forests, and forced the ape-man to +come to earth. "And at the last arose the man." + +According to Lull, the descent from the trees was associated with the +assumption of a more erect posture, with increased liberation and +plasticity of the hand, with becoming a hunter, with experiments towards +clothing and shelter, with an exploring habit, and with the beginning of +communal life. + +It is a plausible view that the transition from the humanoid to the +human was effected by a discontinuous variation of considerable +magnitude, what is nowadays called a _mutation_, and that it had mainly +to do with the brain and the vocal organs. But given the gains of the +arboreal apprenticeship, the stimulus of an enforced descent to terra +firma, and an evolving brain and voice, we can recognise accessory +factors which helped success to succeed. Perhaps the absence of great +physical strength prompted reliance on wits; the prolongation of infancy +would help to educate the parents in gentleness; the strengthening of +the feeling of kinship would favour the evolution of family and social +life--of which there are many anticipations at lower levels. There is +much truth in the saying: "Man did not make society, society made man." + +A continuation of the story will deal with the emergence of the +primitive types of man and the gradual ascent of the modern species. + + +Sec. 4 + +Tentative Men + +So far the story has been that of the sifting out of a humanoid stock +and of the transition to human kind, from the ancestors of apes and men +to the man-ape, and from the man-ape to man. It looks as if the +sifting-out process had proceeded further, for there were several human +branches that did not lead on to the modern type of man. + +1. The first of these is represented by the scanty fossil remains known +as _Pithecanthropus erectus_, found in Java in fossiliferous beds which +date from the end of the Pliocene or the beginning of the Pleistocene +era. Perhaps this means half a million years ago, and the remains +occurred along with those of some mammals which are now extinct. +Unfortunately the remains of Pithecanthropus the Erect consisted only of +a skull-cap, a thigh-bone, and two back teeth, so it is not surprising +that experts should differ considerably in their interpretation of what +was found. Some have regarded the remains as those of a large gibbon, +others as those of a pre-human ape-man, and others as those of a +primitive man off the main line of ascent. According to Sir Arthur +Keith, Pithecanthropus was "a being human in stature, human in gait, +human in all its parts, save its brain." The thigh-bone indicates a +height of about 5 feet 7 inches, one inch less than the average height +of the men of to-day. The skull-cap indicates a low, flat forehead, +beetling brows, and a capacity about two-thirds of the modern size. The +remains were found by Dubois, in 1894, in Trinil in Central Java. + +2. The next offshoot is represented by the Heidelberg man (_Homo +heidelbergensis_), discovered near Heidelberg in 1907 by Dr. +Schoetensack. But the remains consisted only of a lower jaw and its +teeth. Along with this relic were bones of various mammals, including +some long since extinct in Europe, such as elephant, rhinoceros, bison, +and lion. The circumstances indicate an age of perhaps 300,000 years +ago. There were also very crude flint implements (or eoliths). But the +teeth are human teeth, and the jaw seems transitional between that of an +anthropoid ape and that of man. Thus there was no chin. According to +most authorities the lower jaw from the Heidelberg sand-pit must be +regarded as a relic of a primitive type off the main line of human +ascent. + +[Illustration: A RECONSTRUCTION OF THE JAVA MAN + +(_Pithecanthropus erectus._)] + +3. It was in all probability in the Pliocene that there took origin the +Neanderthal species of man, _Homo neanderthalensis_, first known from +remains found in 1856 in the Neanderthal ravine near Duesseldorf. +According to some authorities Neanderthal man was living in Europe a +quarter of a million years ago. Other specimens were afterwards found +elsewhere, e.g. in Belgium ("the men of Spy"), in France, in Croatia, +and at Gibraltar, so that a good deal is known of Neanderthal man. He +was a loose-limbed fellow, short of stature and of slouching gait, but a +skilful artificer, fashioning beautifully worked flints with a +characteristic style. He used fire; he buried his dead reverently and +furnished them with an outfit for a long journey; and he had a big +brain. But he had great beetling, ape-like eyebrow ridges and massive +jaws, and he showed "simian characters swarming in the details of his +structure." In most of the points in which he differs from modern man he +approaches the anthropoid apes, and he must be regarded as a low type of +man off the main line. Huxley regarded the Neanderthal man as a low form +of the modern type, but expert opinion seems to agree rather with the +view maintained in 1864 by Professor William King of Galway, that the +Neanderthal man represents a distinct species off the main line of +ascent. He disappeared with apparent suddenness (like some aboriginal +races to-day) about the end of the Fourth Great Ice Age; but there is +evidence that before he ceased to be there had emerged a successor +rather than a descendant--the modern man. + +4. Another offshoot from the main line is probably represented by the +Piltdown man, found in Sussex in 1912. The remains consisted of the +walls of the skull, which indicate a large brain, and a high forehead +without the beetling eyebrows of the Neanderthal man and +Pithecanthropus. The "find" included a tooth and part of a lower jaw, +but these perhaps belong to some ape, for they are very discrepant. The +Piltdown skull represents the most ancient human remains as yet found in +Britain, and Dr. Smith Woodward's establishment of a separate genus +Eoanthropus expresses his conviction that the Piltdown man was off the +line of the evolution of the modern type. If the tooth and piece of +lower jaw belong to the Piltdown skull, then there was a remarkable +combination of ape-like and human characters. As regards the brain, +_inferred_ from the skull-walls, Sir Arthur Keith says: + + All the essential features of the brain of modern man are to be seen + in the brain cast. There are some which must be regarded as + primitive. There can be no doubt that it is built on exactly the + same lines as our modern brains. A few minor alterations would make + it in all respects a modern brain.... Although our knowledge of the + human brain is limited--there are large areas to which we can assign + no definite function--we may rest assured that a brain which was + shaped in a mould so similar to our own was one which responded to + the outside world as ours does. Piltdown man saw, heard, felt, + thought, and dreamt much as we do still. + +And this was 150,000 years ago at a modern estimate, and some would say +half a million. + +There is neither agreement nor certainty as to the antiquity of man, +except that the modern type was distinguishable from its collaterals +hundreds of thousands of years ago. The general impression left is very +grand. In remote antiquity the Primate stem diverged from the other +orders of mammals; it sent forth its tentative branches, and the result +was a tangle of monkeys; ages passed and the monkeys were left behind, +while the main stem, still probing its way, gave off the Anthropoid +apes, both small and large. But they too were left behind, and the main +line gave off other experiments--indications of which we know in Java, +at Heidelberg, in the Neanderthal, and at Piltdown. None of these lasted +or was made perfect. They represent _tentative_ men who had their day +and ceased to be, our predecessors rather than our ancestors. Still, the +main stem goes on evolving, and who will be bold enough to say what +fruit it has yet to bear! + +[Illustration: _After a model by J. H. McGregor._ + +PROFILE VIEW OF THE HEAD OF PITHECANTHROPUS, THE JAVA APE-MAN--AN EARLY +OFFSHOOT FROM THE MAIN LINE OF MAN'S ASCENT + +The animal remains found along with the skull-cap, thigh-bone, and two +teeth of Pithecanthropus seem to indicate the lowest Pleistocene period, +perhaps 500,000 years ago.] + +[Illustration: _From the reconstruction by J. H. McGregor._ + +PILTDOWN SKULL. THE DARK PARTS ONLY ARE PRESERVED, NAMELY PORTIONS OF +THE CRANIAL WALLS AND THE NASAL BONES + +Some authorities include a canine tooth and part of the lower jaw which +were found close by. The remains were found in 1912 in Thames gravels in +Sussex, and are usually regarded as vastly more ancient than those of +Neanderthal Man. It has been suggested that Piltdown Man lived 100,000 +to 150,000 years ago, in the Third Interglacial period.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission from Osborn's "Men of the Old +Stone Age."_ + +SAND-PIT AT MAUER, NEAR HEIDELBERG: DISCOVERY SITE OF THE JAW OF +HEIDELBERG MAN + + _a-b._ "Newer loess," either of Third Interglacial or of Postglacial + times. + _b-c._ "Older loess" (sandy loess), of the close of Second Interglacial + times. + _c-f._ The "sands of Mauer." + _d-e._ An intermediate layer of clay. + +The white cross (X) indicates the spot at the base of the "sands of +Mauer" at which the jaw of Heidelberg was discovered.] + + +Primitive Men + +Ancient skeletons of men of the modern type have been found in many +places, e.g. Combe Capelle in Dordogne, Galley Hill in Kent, Cro-Magnon +in Perigord, Mentone on the Riviera; and they are often referred to as +"Cave-men" or "men of the Early Stone Age." They had large skulls, high +foreheads, well-marked chins, and other features such as modern man +possesses. They were true men at last--that is to say, like ourselves! +The spirited pictures they made on the walls of caves in France and +Spain show artistic sense and skill. Well-finished statuettes +representing nude female figures are also known. The elaborate burial +customs point to a belief in life after death. They made stone +implements--knives, scrapers, gravers, and the like, of the type known +as Palaeolithic, and these show interesting gradations of skill and +peculiarities of style. The "Cave-men" lived between the third and +fourth Ice Ages, along with cave-bear, cave-lion, cave-hyaena, mammoth, +woolly rhinoceros, Irish elk, and other mammals now extinct--taking us +back to 30,000-50,000 years ago, and many would say much more. Some of +the big-brained skulls of these Palaeolithic cave-men show not a single +feature that could be called primitive. They show teeth which in size +and form are exactly the same as those of a thousand generations +afterwards--and suffering from gumboil too! There seems little doubt +that these vigorous Palaeolithic Cave-men of Europe were living for a +while contemporaneously with the men of Neanderthal, and it is possible +that they directly or indirectly hastened the disappearance of their +more primitive collaterals. Curiously enough, however, they had not +themselves adequate lasting power in Europe, for they seem for the most +part to have dwindled away, leaving perhaps stray present-day survivors +in isolated districts. The probability is that after their decline +Europe was repeopled by immigrants from Asia. It cannot be said that +there is any inherent biological necessity for the decline of a vigorous +race--many animal races go back for millions of years--but in mankind +the historical fact is that a period of great racial vigour and success +is often followed by a period of decline, sometimes leading to practical +disappearance as a definite race. The causes of this waning remain very +obscure--sometimes environmental, sometimes constitutional, sometimes +competitive. Sometimes the introduction of a new parasite, like the +malaria organism, may have been to blame. + +After the Ice Ages had passed, perhaps 25,000 years ago, the Palaeolithic +culture gave place to the Neolithic. The men who made rudely dressed but +often beautiful stone implements were succeeded or replaced by men who +made polished stone implements. The earliest inhabitants of Scotland +were of this Neolithic culture, migrating from the Continent when the +ice-fields of the Great Glaciation had disappeared. Their remains are +often associated with the "Fifty-foot Beach" which, though now high and +dry, was the seashore in early Neolithic days. Much is known about these +men of the polished stones. They were hunters, fowlers, and fishermen; +without domesticated animals or agriculture; short folk, two or three +inches below the present standard; living an active strenuous life. +Similarly, for the south, Sir Arthur Keith pictures for us a Neolithic +community at Coldrum in Kent, dating from about 4,000 years ago--a few +ticks of the geological clock. It consisted, in this case, of +agricultural pioneers, men with large heads and big brains, about two +inches shorter in stature than the modern British average (5 ft. 8 in.), +with better teeth and broader palates than men have in these days of +soft food, with beliefs concerning life and death similar to those that +swayed their contemporaries in Western and Southern Europe. Very +interesting is the manipulative skill they showed on a large scale in +erecting standing stones (probably connected with calendar-keeping and +with worship), and on a small scale in making daring operations on the +skull. Four thousand years ago is given as a probable date for that +early community in Kent, but evidences of Neolithic man occur in +situations which demand a much greater antiquity--perhaps 30,000 years. +And man was not young then! + +[Illustration: PAINTINGS ON THE ROOF OF THE ALTAMIRA CAVE IN NORTHERN +SPAIN, SHOWING A BISON ABOVE AND A GALLOPING BOAR BELOW + +The artistic drawings, over 2 feet in length, were made by the Reindeer +Men or "Cromagnards" in the time of the Upper or Post-Glacial +Pleistocene, before the appearance of the Neolithic men.] + +We must open one more chapter in the thrilling story of the Ascent of +Man--the Metal Ages, which are in a sense still continuing. Metals began +to be used in the late Polished Stone (Neolithic) times, for there were +always overlappings. Copper came first, Bronze second, and Iron last. +The working of copper in the East has been traced back to the fourth +millennium B.C., and there was also a very ancient Copper Age in the New +World. It need hardly be said that where copper is scarce, as in +Britain, we cannot expect to find much trace of a Copper Age. + +The ores of different metals seem to have been smelted together in an +experimental way by many prehistoric metallurgists, and bronze was the +alloy that rewarded the combination of tin with copper. There is +evidence of a more or less definite Bronze Age in Egypt and Babylonia, +Greece and Europe. + +It is not clear why iron should not have been the earliest metal to be +used by man, but the Iron Age dates from about the middle of the second +millennium B.C. From Egypt the usage spread through the Mediterranean +region to North Europe, or it may have been that discoveries made in +Central Europe, so rich in iron-mines, saturated southwards, following +for instance, the route of the amber trade from the Baltic. Compared +with stone, the metals afforded much greater possibilities of +implements, instruments, and weapons, and their discovery and usage had +undoubtedly great influence on the Ascent of Man. Occasionally, however, +on his descent. + + +Retrospect + +Looking backwards, we discern the following stages: (1) The setting +apart of a Primate stock, marked off from other mammals by a tendency to +big brains, a free hand, gregariousness, and good-humoured +talkativeness. (2) The divergence of marmosets and New World monkeys and +Old World monkeys, leaving a stock--an anthropoid stock--common to the +present-day and extinct apes and to mankind. (3) From this common stock +the Anthropoid apes diverged, far from ignoble creatures, and a humanoid +stock was set apart. (4) From the latter (we follow Sir Arthur Keith and +other authorities) there arose what may be called, without +disparagement, tentative or experimental men, indicated by +Pithecanthropus "the Erect," the Heidelberg man, the Neanderthalers, +and, best of all, the early men of the Sussex Weald--hinted at by the +Piltdown skull. It matters little whether particular items are +corroborated or disproved--e.g. whether the Heidelberg man came before +or after the Neanderthalers--the general trend of evolution remains +clear. (5) In any case, the result was the evolution of _Homo sapiens, +the man we are_--a quite different fellow from the Neanderthaler. (6) +Then arose various stocks of primitive men, proving everything and +holding fast to that which is good. There were the Palaeolithic peoples, +with rude stone implements, a strong vigorous race, but probably, in +most cases, supplanted by fresh experiments. These may have arisen as +shoots from the growing point of the old race, or as a fresh offshoot +from more generalised members at a lower level. This is the eternal +possible victory alike of aristocracy and democracy. (7) Palaeolithic men +were involved in the succession of four Great Ice Ages or +Glaciations, and it may be that the human race owes much to the +alternation of hard times and easy times--glacial and interglacial. When +the ice-fields cleared off Neolithic man had his innings. (8) And we +have closed the story, in the meantime, with the Metal Ages. + +[Illustration: _After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor._ + +PILTDOWN MAN, PRECEDING NEANDERTHAL MAN, PERHAPS 100,000 TO 150,000 +YEARS AGO] + +[Illustration: _After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor._ + +THE NEANDERTHAL MAN OF LA CHAPELLE-AUX-SAINTS + +The men of this race lived in Europe from the Third Interglacial period +through the Fourth Glacial. They disappeared somewhat suddenly, being +replaced by the Modern Man type, such as the Cromagnards. Many regard +the Neanderthal Men as a distinct species.] + +It seems not unfitting that we should at this point sound another +note--that of the man of feeling. It is clear in William James's words: + + Bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh, are these half-brutish + prehistoric brothers. Girdled about with the immense darkness of + this mysterious universe even as we are, they were born and died, + suffered and struggled. Given over to fearful crime and passion, + plunged in the blackest ignorance, preyed upon by hideous and + grotesque delusions, yet steadfastly serving the profoundest of + ideals in their fixed faith that existence in any form is better + than non-existence, they ever rescued triumphantly from the jaws of + ever imminent destruction the torch of life which, thanks to them, + now lights the world for us. + + +Races of Mankind + +Given a variable stock spreading over diverse territory, we expect to +find it splitting up into varieties which may become steadied into races +or incipient species. Thus we have races of hive-bees, "Italians," +"Punics," and so forth; and thus there arose races of men. Certain types +suited certain areas, and periods of in-breeding tended to make the +distinctive peculiarities of each incipient race well-defined and +stable. When the original peculiarities, say, of negro and Mongol, +Australian and Caucasian, arose as brusque variations or "mutations," +then they would have great staying power from generation to generation. +They would not be readily swamped by intercrossing or averaged off. +Peculiarities and changes of climate and surroundings, not to speak of +other change-producing factors, would provoke new departures from age to +age, and so fresh racial ventures were made. Moreover, the occurrence +of out-breeding when two races met, in peace or in war, would certainly +serve to induce fresh starts. Very important in the evolution of human +races must have been the alternating occurrence of periods of +in-breeding (endogamy), tending to stability and sameness, and periods +of out-breeding (exogamy), tending to changefulness and diversity. + +Thus we may distinguish several more or less clearly defined primitive +races of mankind--notably the African, the Australian, the Mongolian, +and the Caucasian. The woolly-haired African race includes the negroes +and the very primitive bushmen. The wavy-to curly-haired Australian race +includes the Jungle Tribes of the Deccan, the Vedda of Ceylon, the +Jungle Folk or Semang, and the natives of unsettled parts of +Australia--all sometimes slumped together as "Pre-Dravidians." The +straight-haired Mongols include those of Tibet, Indo-China, China, and +Formosa, those of many oceanic islands, and of the north from Japan to +Lapland. The Caucasians include Mediterraneans, Semites, Nordics, +Afghans, Alpines, and many more. + +There are very few corners of knowledge more difficult than that of the +Races of Men, the chief reason being that there has been so much +movement and migration in the course of the ages. One physical type has +mingled with another, inducing strange amalgams and novelties. If we +start with what might be called "zoological" races or strains differing, +for instance, in their hair (woolly-haired Africans, straight-haired +Mongols, curly-or wavy-haired Pre-Dravidians and Caucasians), we find +these replaced by _peoples_ who are mixtures of various races, "brethren +by civilisation more than by blood." As Professor Flinders Petrie has +said, the only meaning the term "race" now can have is that of a group +of human beings whose type has been unified by their rate of +assimilation exceeding the rate of change produced by the infiltration +of foreign elements. It is probable, however, that the progress of +precise anthropology will make it possible to distinguish the various +racial "strains" that make up any people. For the human sense of race +is so strong that it convinces us of reality even when scientific +definition is impossible. It was this the British sailor expressed in +his answer to the question "What is a Dago?" "Dagoes," he replied, "is +anything wot isn't our sort of chaps." + +[Illustration: RESTORATION BY A. FORESTIER OF THE RHODESIAN MAN WHOSE +SKULL WAS DISCOVERED IN 1921 + +Attention may be drawn to the beetling eyebrow ridges, the projecting +upper lip, the large eye-sockets, the well-poised head, the strong +shoulders. + +The squatting figure is crushing seeds with a stone, and a crusher is +lying on the rock to his right.] + +[Illustration: RESTORATION BY A. FORESTIER OF THE RHODESIAN MAN WHOSE +SKULL WAS DISCOVERED IN 1921 + +The figure in the foreground, holding a staff, shows the erect attitude +and the straight legs. His left hand holds a flint implement. + +On the left, behind the sitting figure, is seen the entrance to the +cave. This new Rhodesian cave-man may be regarded as a southern +representative of a Neanderthal race, or as an extinct type intermediate +between the Neanderthal Men and the Modern Man type.] + + +Steps in Human Evolution + +Real men arose, we believe, by variational uplifts of considerable +magnitude which led to big and complex brains and to the power of +reasoned discourse. In some other lines of mammalian evolution there +were from time to time great advances in the size and complexity of the +brain, as is clear, for instance, in the case of horses and elephants. +The same is true of birds as compared with reptiles, and everyone +recognises the high level of excellence that has been attained by their +vocal powers. How these great cerebral advances came about we do not +know, but it has been one of the main trends of animal evolution to +improve the nervous system. Two suggestions may be made. First, the +prolongation of the period of ante-natal life, in intimate physiological +partnership with the mother, may have made it practicable to start the +higher mammal with a much better brain than in the lower orders, like +Insectivores and Rodents, and still more Marsupials, where the period +before birth (gestation) is short. Second, we know that the individual +development of the brain is profoundly influenced by the internal +secretions of certain ductless glands notably the thyroid. When this +organ is not functioning properly the child's brain development is +arrested. It may be that increased production of certain +hormones--itself, of course, to be accounted for--may have stimulated +brain development in man's remote ancestors. + +Given variability along the line of better brains and given a process of +discriminate sifting which would consistently offer rewards to alertness +and foresight, to kin-sympathy and parental care, there seems no great +difficulty in imagining how Man would evolve. We must not think of an +Aristotle or a Newton except as fine results which justify all the +groaning and travailing; we must think of average men, of primitive +peoples to-day, and of our forbears long ago. We must remember how much +of man's advance is dependent on the external registration of the social +heritage, not on the slowly changing natural inheritance. + +Looking backwards it is impossible, we think, to fail to recognise +progress. There is a ring of truth in the fine description AEschylus gave +of primitive men that-- + + first, beholding they beheld in vain, and, hearing, heard not, but, + like shapes in dreams, mixed all things wildly down the tedious + time, nor knew to build a house against the sun with wicketed sides, + nor any woodwork knew, but lived like silly ants, beneath the + ground, in hollow caves unsunned. There came to them no steadfast + sign of winter, nor of spring flower-perfumed, nor of summer full of + fruit, but blindly and lawlessly they did all things. + +Contrast this picture with the position of man to-day. He has mastered +the forces of Nature and is learning to use their resources more and +more economically; he has harnessed electricity to his chariot and he +has made the ether carry his messages. He tapped supplies of material +which seemed for centuries unavailable, having learned, for instance, +how to capture and utilise the free nitrogen of the air. With his +telegraph and "wireless" he has annihilated distance, and he has added +to his navigable kingdom the depths of the sea and the heights of the +air. He has conquered one disease after another, and the young science +of heredity is showing him how to control in his domesticated animals +and cultivated plants the nature of the generations yet unborn. With all +his faults he has his ethical face set in the right direction. The main +line of movement is towards the fuller embodiment of the true, the +beautiful, and the good in healthy lives which are increasingly a +satisfaction in themselves. + +[Illustration: _Photo: British Museum (Natural History)._ + +SIDE-VIEW OF A PREHISTORIC HUMAN SKULL DISCOVERED IN 1921 IN BROKEN HILL +CAVE, NORTHERN RHODESIA + +Very striking are the prominent eyebrow ridges and the broad massive +face. The skull looks less domed than that of modern man, but its +cranial capacity is far above the lowest human limit. The teeth are +interesting in showing marked rotting or "caries," hitherto unknown in +prehistoric skulls. In all probability the Rhodesian man was an African +representative of the extinct Neanderthal species hitherto known only +from Europe.] + +[Illustration: _After the restoration modelled by J. H. McGregor._ + +A CROMAGNON MAN OR CROMAGNARD, REPRESENTATIVE OF A STRONG ARTISTIC RACE +LIVING IN THE SOUTH OF FRANCE IN THE UPPER PLEISTOCENE, PERHAPS 25,000 +YEARS AGO + +They seemed to have lived for a while contemporaneously with the +Neanderthal Men, and there may have been interbreeding. Some Cromagnards +probably survive, but the race as a whole declined, and there was +repopulation of Europe from the East.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission from Osborn's "Men of the Old +Stone Age."_ + +PHOTOGRAPH SHOWING A NARROW PASSAGE IN THE CAVERN OF FONT-DE-GAUME ON +THE BEUNE + +Throughout the cavern the walls are crowded with engravings; on the left +wall, shown in the photograph, are two painted bison. In the great +gallery there may be found not less than eighty figures--bison, +reindeer, and mammoths. A specimen of the last is reproduced below.] + +[Illustration: A MAMMOTH DRAWN ON THE WALL OF THE FONT-DE-GAUME CAVERN + +The mammoth age was in the Middle Pleistocene, while Neanderthal Men +still flourished, probably far over 30,000 years ago.] + +[Illustration: A GRAZING BISON, DELICATELY AND CAREFULLY DRAWN, ENGRAVED +ON A WALL OF THE ALTAMIRA CAVE, NORTHERN SPAIN + +This was the work of a Reindeer Man or Cromagnard, in the Upper or +Post-Glacial Pleistocene, perhaps 25,000 years ago. Firelight must have +been used in making these cave drawings and engravings.] + + +Factors in Human Progress + +Many, we believe, were the gains that rewarded the arboreal +apprenticeship of man's ancestors. Many, likewise, were the results of +leaving the trees and coming down to the solid earth--a transition which +marked the emergence of more than tentative men. What great steps +followed? + +Some of the greatest were--the working out of a spoken language and of +external methods of registration; the invention of tools; the discovery +of the use of fire; the utilisation of iron and other metals; the taming +of wild animals such as dog and sheep, horses and cattle; the +cultivation of wild plants such as wheat and rice; and the irrigation of +fields. All through the ages necessity has been the mother of invention +and curiosity its father; but perhaps we miss the heart of the matter if +we forget the importance of some leisure time--wherein to observe and +think. If our earth had been so clouded that the stars were hidden from +men's eyes the whole history of our race would have been different. For +it was through his leisure-time observations of the stars that early man +discovered the regularity of the year and got his fundamental +impressions of the order of Nature--on which all his science is founded. + +If we are to think clearly of the factors of human progress we must +recall the three great biological ideas--the living organism, its +environment, and its functioning. For man these mean (1) the living +creature, the outcome of parents and ancestors, a fresh expression of a +bodily and mental inheritance; (2) the surroundings, including climate +and soil, the plants and animals these allow; and (3) the activities of +all sorts, occupations and habits, all the actions and reactions between +man and his milieu. In short, we have to deal with FOLK, PLACE, WORK; +the _Famille_, _Lieu_, _Travail_ of the LePlay school. + +As to FOLK, human progress depends on intrinsic racial +qualities--notably health and vigour of body, clearness and alertness of +mind, and an indispensable sociality. The most powerful factors in the +world are clear ideas in the minds of energetic men of good will. The +differences in bodily and mental health which mark races, and stocks +within a people, just as they mark individuals, are themselves traceable +back to germinal variations or mutations, and to the kind of sifting to +which the race or stock has been subjected. Easygoing conditions are not +only without stimulus to new departures, they are without the sifting +which progress demands. + +As to PLACE, it is plain that different areas differ greatly in their +material resources and in the availability of these. Moreover, even when +abundant material resources are present, they will not make for much +progress unless the climate is such that they can be readily utilised. +Indeed, climate has been one of the great factors in civilisation, here +stimulating and there depressing energy, in one place favouring certain +plants and animals important to man, in another place preventing their +presence. Moreover, climate has slowly changed from age to age. + +As to WORK, the form of a civilisation is in some measure dependent on +the primary occupations, whether hunting or fishing, farming or +shepherding; and on the industries of later ages which have a profound +moulding effect on the individual at least. We cannot, however, say more +than that the factors of human progress have always had these three +aspects, Folk, Place, Work, and that if progress is to continue on +stable lines it must always recognise the essential correlation of +fitter folk in body and mind: improved habits and functions, alike in +work and leisure; and bettered surroundings in the widest and deepest +sense. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + DARWIN, CHARLES, _Descent of Man_. + HADDON, A. C., _Races of Men_. + HADDON, A. C., _History of Anthropology_. + KEANE, A. H., _Man Past and Present_. + KEITH, ARTHUR, _Antiquity of Man_. + LULL, R. S., _Organic Evolution_. + MCCABE, JOSEPH, _Evolution of Civilization_. + MARETT, R. R., _Anthropology_ (Home University Library). + OSBORN, H. F., _Men of the Early Stone Age_. + SOLLAS, W. J., _Ancient Hunters and their Modern Representatives_. + TYLOR, E. B., _Anthropology and Primitive Culture_. + + + + +VI + +EVOLUTION GOING ON + + + + +EVOLUTION GOING ON + + +Evolution, as we have seen in a previous chapter, is another word for +race-history. It means the ceaseless process of Becoming, linking +generation to generation of living creatures. The Doctrine of Evolution +states the fact that the present is the child of the past and the parent +of the future. It comes to this, that the living plants and animals we +know are descended from ancestors on the whole simpler, and these from +others likewise simpler, and so on, back and back--till we reach the +first living creatures, of which, unfortunately, we know nothing. +Evolution is a process of racial change in a definite direction, whereby +new forms arise, take root, and flourish, alongside of or in the place +of their ancestors, which were in most cases rather simpler in structure +and behaviour. + +The rock-record, which cannot be wrong, though we may read it wrongly, +shows clearly that there was once a time in the history of the Earth +when the only backboned animals were Fishes. Ages passed, and there +evolved Amphibians, with fingers and toes, scrambling on to dry land. +Ages passed, and there evolved Reptiles, in bewildering profusion. There +were fish-lizards and sea-serpents, terrestrial dragons and flying +dragons, a prolific and varied stock. From the terrestrial Dinosaurs it +seems that Birds and Mammals arose. In succeeding ages there evolved all +the variety of Birds and all the variety of Mammals. Until at last arose +the Man. The question is whether similar processes of evolution are +still going on. + +We are so keenly aware of rapid changes in mankind, though these +concern the social heritage much more than the flesh-and-blood natural +inheritance, that we find no difficulty in the idea that evolution is +going on in mankind. We know the contrast between modern man and +primitive man, and we are convinced that in the past, at least, progress +has been a reality. That degeneration may set in is an awful +possibility--involution rather than evolution--but even if going back +became for a time the rule, we cannot give up the hope that the race +would recover itself and begin afresh to go forward. For although there +have been retrogressions in the history of life, continued through +unthinkably long ages, and although great races, the Flying Dragons for +instance, have become utterly extinct, leaving no successors whatsoever, +we feel sure that there has been on the whole a progress towards nobler, +more masterful, more emancipated, more intelligent, and _better_ forms +of life--a progress towards what mankind at its best has always regarded +as best, i.e. affording most enduring satisfaction. So we think of +evolution going on in mankind, evolution chequered by involution, but on +the whole _progressive evolution_. + + +Evolutionary Prospect for Man + +It is not likely that man's body will admit of _great_ change, but there +is room for some improvement, e.g. in the superfluous length of the +food-canal and the overcrowding of the teeth. It is likely, however, +that there will be constitutional changes, e.g. of prolonged +youthfulness, a higher standard of healthfulness, and a greater +resistance to disease. It is justifiable to look forward to great +improvements in intelligence and in control. The potentialities of the +human brain, as it is, are far from being utilised to the full, and new +departures of promise are of continual occurrence. What is of great +importance is that the new departures or variations which emerge in fine +children should be fostered, not nipped in the bud, by the social +environment, education included. The evolutionary prospect for man is +promising. + +[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH OF A MEDIAN SECTION THROUGH THE SHELL OF THE +PEARLY NAUTILUS + +It is only the large terminal chamber that is occupied by the animal.] + +[Illustration: PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ENTIRE SHELL OF THE PEARLY NAUTILUS + +The headquarters of the Nautilus are in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. +They sometimes swim at the surface of the sea, but they usually creep +slowly about on the floor of comparatively shallow water.] + +[Illustration: NAUTILUS + +A section through the Pearly Nautilus, _Nautilus pompilius_, common from +Malay to Fiji. The shell is often about 9 inches long. The animal lives +in the last chamber only, but a tube (S) runs through the empty +chambers, perforating the partitions (SE). The bulk of the animal is +marked VM; the eye is shown at E; a hood is marked H; round the mouth +there are numerous lobes (L) bearing protrusible tentacles, some of +which are shown. When the animal is swimming near the surface the +tentacles radiate out in all directions, and it has been described as "a +shell with something like a cauliflower sticking out of it." The Pearly +Nautilus is a good example of a conservative type, for it began in the +Triassic Era. But the family of Nautiloids to which it belongs +illustrates very vividly what is meant by a dwindling race. The +Nautiloids began in the Cambrian, reached their golden age in the +Silurian, and began to decline markedly in the Carboniferous. There are +2,500 extinct or fossil species of Nautiloids, and only 4 living +to-day.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge._ + +SHOEBILL + +A bird of a savage nature, never mixing with other marsh birds. +According to Dr. Chalmers Mitchell, it shows affinities to herons, +storks, pelicans, and gannets, and is a representative of a type equal +to both herons and storks and falling between the two.] + +But it is very important to realise that among plant and animals +likewise, _Evolution is going on_. + + +The Fountain of Change: Variability + +On an ordinary big clock we do not readily see that even the minute hand +is moving, and if the clock struck only once in a hundred years we can +conceive of people arguing whether the hands did really move at all. So +it often is with the changes that go on from generation to generation in +living creatures. The flux is so slow, like the flowing of a glacier, +that some people fail to be convinced of its reality. And it must, of +course, be admitted that some kinds of living creatures, like the +Lamp-shell _Ligula_ or the Pearly Nautilus, hardly change from age to +age, whereas others, like some of the birds and butterflies, are always +giving rise to something new. The Evening Primrose among plants, and the +Fruit-fly, Drosophila, among animals, are well-known examples of +organisms which are at present in a sporting or mutating mood. + +Certain dark varieties of moth, e.g. of the Peppered Moth, are taking +the place of the paler type in some parts of England, and the same is +true of some dark forms of Sugar-bird in the West Indian islands. Very +important is the piece of statistics worked out by Professor R. C. +Punnett, that "if a population contains .001 per cent of a new variety, +and if that variety has even a 5 per cent selection advantage over the +original form, the latter will almost completely disappear in less than +a hundred generations." This sort of thing has been going on all over +the world for untold ages, and the face of animate nature has +consequently changed. + +We are impressed by striking novelties that crop up--a clever dwarf, a +musical genius, a calculating boy, a cock with a 10 ft. tail, a +"wonder-horse" with a mane reaching to the ground, a tailless cat, a +white blackbird, a copper beech, a Greater Celandine with much cut up +leaves; but this sort of mutation is common, and smaller, less brusque +variations are commoner still. _They form the raw materials of possible +evolution._ We are actually standing before an apparently inexhaustible +fountain of change. This is evolution going on. + + +The Sporting Jellyfish + +It is of interest to consider a common animal like the jellyfish +Aurelia. It is admirably suited for a leisurely life in the open sea, +where it swims about by contracting its saucer-shaped body, thus driving +water out from its concavity. By means of millions of stinging cells on +its four frilled lips and on its marginal tentacles it is able to +paralyse and lasso minute crustaceans and the like, which it then wafts +into its mouth. It has a very eventful life-history, for it has in its +early youth to pass through a fixed stage, fastened to rock or seaweed, +but it is a successful animal, well suited for its habitat, and +practically cosmopolitan in its distribution. It is certainly an +old-established creature. Yet it is very variable in colour and in size, +and even in internal structure. Very often it is the size of a saucer or +a soup-plate, but giants over two feet in diameter are well known. Much +more important, however, than variation in colour and size are the +inborn changes in structure. Normally a jellyfish has its parts in four +or multiples of four. Thus it has four frilled lips, four tufts of +digestive filaments in its stomach, and four brightly coloured +reproductive organs. It has eight sense-organs round the margin of its +disc, eight branched and eight unbranched radial canals running from the +central stomach to a canal round the circumference. The point of giving +these details is just this, that every now and then we find a jellyfish +with its parts in sixes, fives, or threes, and with a multitude of minor +idiosyncrasies. _Even in the well-established jellyfish there is a +fountain of change._ + + +Sec. 1 + +Evolution of Plants + +It is instructive to look at the various kinds of cabbages, such as +cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, kale and curly greens, and remember +that they are all scions of the not very promising wild cabbage found on +our shores. And are not all the aristocrat apple-trees of our orchards +descended from the plebeian crab-apple of the roadside? We know far too +little about the precise origin of our cultivated plants, but there is +no doubt that after man got a hold of them he took advantage of their +variability to establish race after race, say, of rose and +chrysanthemum, of potato and cereal. The evolution of cultivated plants +is continuing before our eyes, and the creations of Mr. Luther Burbank, +such as the stoneless plum and the primus berry, the spineless cactus +and the Shasta daisy, are merely striking instances of what is always +going on. + +There is reason to believe that the domestic dog has risen three times, +from three distinct ancestors--a wolf, a jackal, and a coyote. So a +multiple pedigree must be allowed for in the case of the dog, and the +same is true in regard to some other domesticated animals. But the big +fact is the great variety of breeds that man has been able to fix, after +he once got started with a domesticated type. There are over 200 +well-marked breeds of domestic pigeons, and there is very strong +evidence that all are descended from the wild rock-dove, just as the +numerous kinds of poultry are descended from the jungle-fowl of some +parts of India and the Malay Islands. Even more familiar is the way in +which man has, so to speak, unpacked the complex fur of the wild rabbit, +and established all the numerous colour-varieties which we see among +domestic rabbits. And apart from colour-varieties there are long-haired +Angoras and quaint lop-eared forms, and many more besides. All this +points to evolution going on. + + +The Romance of the Wheat + +It is well-known that Neolithic man grew wheat, and some authorities +have put the date of the first wheat harvest at between fifteen thousand +and ten thousand years ago. The ancient civilisations of Babylonia, +Egypt, Crete, Greece, and Rome were largely based on wheat, and it is +highly probable that the first great wheatfields were in the fertile +land between the Tigris and the Euphrates. The oldest Egyptian tombs +that contain wheat, which, by the way, never germinates after its +millennia of rest, belong to the First Dynasty, and are about six +thousand years old. But there must have been a long history of wheat +before that. + +Now it is a very interesting fact that the almost certain ancestor of +the cultivated wheat is at present living on the arid and rocky slopes +of Mount Hermon. It is called _Triticum hermonis_, and it is varying +notably to-day, as it did long ago when it gave rise to the emmer, which +was cultivated in the Neolithic Age and is the ancestor of all our +ordinary wheats. We must think of Neolithic man noticing the big seeds +of this Hermon grass, gathering some of the heads, breaking the brittle +spikelet-bearing axis in his fingers, knocking off the rough awns or +bruising the spikelets in his hand till the glumes or chaff separated +off and could be blown away, chewing a mouthful of the seeds--and +resolving to sow and sow again. + +That was the beginning of a long story, in the course of which man took +advantage of the numerous variations that cropped up in this sporting +stock and established one successful race after another on his fields. +Virgil refers in the "Georgics" to the gathering of the largest and +fullest ears of wheat in order to get good seed for another sowing, but +it was not till the first quarter of the nineteenth century that the +great step was taken, by men like Patrick Sheriff of Haddington, of +deliberately selecting individual ears of great excellence and +segregating their progeny from mingling with mediocre stock. This is the +method which has been followed with remarkable success in modern times. + +One of the factors that assisted the Allies in overcoming the food +crisis in the darkest period of the war was the virtue of Marquis Wheat, +a very prolific, early ripening, hard red spring wheat with excellent +milling and baking qualities. It is now the dominant spring wheat in +Canada and the United States, and it has enormously increased the real +wealth of the world in the last ten years (1921). Now our point is +simply that this Marquis Wheat is a fine example of evolution going on. +In 1917 upwards of 250,000,000 bushels of this wheat were raised in +North America, and in 1918 upwards of 300,000,000 bushels; yet the whole +originated from a single grain planted in an experimental plot at Ottawa +by Dr. Charles E. Saunders so recently as the spring of 1903. + +[Illustration: THE WALKING-FISH OR MUD-SKIPPER (PERIOPHTHALMUS), COMMON +AT THE MOUTHS OF RIVERS IN TROPICAL AFRICA, ASIA, AND NORTH-WEST +AUSTRALIA + +It skips about by means of its strong pectoral fins on the mud-flats; it +jumps from stone to stone hunting small shore-animals; it climbs up the +roots of the mangrove-trees. The close-set eyes protrude greatly and are +very mobile. The tail seems to help in respiration.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: "The Times."_ + +THE AUSTRALIAN MORE-PORK OR PODARGUS + +A bird with a frog-like mouth, allied to the British Nightjar. Now in +the London Zoological Gardens. + +The capacious mouth is well suited for engulfing large insects such as +locusts and mantises, which are mostly caught on the trees. During the +day the More-pork or Frog-mouth sleeps upright on a branch, and its +mottled brown plumage makes it almost invisible.] + +[Illustration: PELICAN'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR CATCHING AND STORING FISHES + +There is an enormous dilatable sac beneath the lower jaw.] + +[Illustration: HORNBILL'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR EXCAVATING A NEST IN A TREE, +AND ALSO FOR SEIZING AND BREAKING DIVERSE FORMS OF FOOD, FROM MAMMALS TO +TORTOISES, FROM ROOTS TO FRUITS + +The use of the helmet or casque is obscure.] + +[Illustration: SPOONBILL'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR SIFTING THE MUD AND +CATCHING THE SMALL ANIMALS, E.G. FISHES, CRUSTACEANS, INSECT LARVAE, +WHICH LIVE THERE] + +[Illustration: FALCON'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR SEIZING, KILLING, AND TEARING +SMALL MAMMALS AND BIRDS] + +[Illustration: AVOCET'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR A CURIOUS SIDEWAYS SCOOPING IN +THE SHORE-POOLS AND CATCHING SMALL ANIMALS] + +[Illustration: PUFFIN'S BILL, ADAPTED FOR CATCHING SMALL FISHES NEAR THE +SURFACE OF THE SEA, AND FOR HOLDING THEM WHEN CAUGHT AND CARRYING THEM +TO THE NEST + +The scaly covering is moulted in the autumn.] + +We must not dwell too long on this particular instance of evolution, +though it has meant much to our race. We wish, however, following +Professor Buller's _Essays on Wheat_ (1919), to explain the method by +which this good seed was discovered. From one we may learn all. The +parent of Marquis Wheat on the male side was the mid-Europe Red Fife--a +first-class cereal. The parent on the female side was less promising, a +rather nondescript, not pure-bred wheat, called Red Calcutta, which was +imported from India into Canada about thirty years ago. The father was +part of a cargo that came from the Baltic to Glasgow, and was happily +included in a sample sent on to David Fife in Ontario about 1842. From +one kernel of this sample David Fife started his stock of Red Fife, +which was crossed by Dr. Saunders with Hard Red Calcutta. The result of +the cross was a medley of types, nearly a hundred varieties altogether, +and it was in scrutinising these that Dr. Saunders hit upon Marquis. He +worked steadily through the material, studying head after head of what +resulted from sowing, and selecting out those that gave most promise. +Each of the heads selected was propagated; most of the results were +rejected; the elect were sifted again and yet again, and finally Marquis +Wheat emerged, rich in constructive possibilities, probably the most +valuable food-plant in the world. It is like a romance to read that "the +first crop of the wheat that was destined within a dozen years to +overtax the mightiest elevators in the land was stored away in the +winter of 1904-5 in a paper packet no larger than an envelope." + +Thus from the Wild Wheat of Mount Hermon there evolved one of the most +important food-plants of the world. This surely is _Evolution going on_. + + +Sec. 2 + +Changes in the Animal Life of a Country + +Nothing gives us a more convincing impression of evolution in being than +a succession of pictures of the animal life of a country in different +ages. Dr. James Ritchie, a naturalist of distinction, has written a +masterly book, _The Influence of Man on Animal Life in Scotland_ (1920), +in which we get this succession of pictures. "Within itself," he says, +"a fauna is in a constant state of uneasy restlessness, an assemblage of +creatures which in its parts ebbs and flows as one local influence or +another plays upon it." There are temporary and local changes, endless +disturbances and readjustments of the "balance of nature." One year +there is a plague of field-voles, perhaps next year "grouse disease" is +rife; in one place there is huge increase of starlings, in another place +of rabbits; here cockchafers are in the ascendant, and there the moles +are spoiling the pasture. "But while the parts fluctuate, the fauna as a +whole follows a path of its own. As well as internal tides which swing +to and fro about an average level, there is a drift which carries the +fauna bodily along an 'irretraceable course.'" This is partly due to +considerable changes of climate, for climate calls the tune to which +living creatures dance, but it is also due to new departures among the +animals themselves. We need not go back to the extinct animals and lost +faunas of past ages--for Britain has plenty of relics of these--which +"illustrate the reality of the faunal drift," but it may be very useful, +in illustration of evolution in being, to notice what has happened in +Scotland since the end of the Great Ice Age. + +Some nine thousand years ago or more, certain long-headed, +square-jawed, short-limbed, but agile hunters and fishermen, whom we +call Neolithic Man, established themselves in Scotland. What was the +state of the country then? + + It was a country of swamps, low forests of birch, alder, and willow, + fertile meadows, and snow-capped mountains. Its estuaries penetrated + further inland than they now do, and the sea stood at the level of + the Fifty-Foot Beach. On its plains and in its forests roamed many + creatures which are strange to the fauna of to-day--the Elk and the + Reindeer, Wild Cattle, the Wild Boar and perhaps Wild Horses, a + fauna of large animals which paid toll to the European Lynx, the + Brown Bear and the Wolf. In all likelihood, the marshes resounded to + the boom of the Bittern and the plains to the breeding calls of the + Crane and the Great Bustard. + +Such is Dr. Ritchie's initial picture. + +[Illustration: LIFE-HISTORY OF A FROG + +1, Before hatching; 2, newly hatched larvae hanging on to water-weed; 3, +with external gills; 4, external gills are covered over and are +absorbed; 5, limbless larva about a month old with internal gills; 6, +tadpole with hind-legs, about two months old; 7, with the fore-limbs +emerging; 8, with all four legs free; 9, a young frog, about three +months old, showing the almost complete absorption of the tail and the +change of the tadpole mouth into a frog mouth.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: J. J. Ward. F.E.S._ + +HIND-LEG OF WHIRLIGIG BEETLE WHICH HAS BECOME BEAUTIFULLY MODIFIED FOR +AQUATIC LOCOMOTION + +The flattened tips form an expanding "fan" or paddle, which opens and +closes with astonishing rapidity. The closing of the "fan," like the +"feathering" of an oar, reduces friction when the leg is being moved +forwards for the next stroke.] + +[Illustration: THE BIG ROBBER-CRAB (_Birgus Latro_), THAT CLIMBS THE +COCO-NUT PALM AND BREAKS OFF THE NUTS + +It occurs on islands in the Indian Ocean and Pacific, and is often found +far above sea-level. It is able to breathe dry air. One is seen emerging +from its burrow, which is often lined with coco-nut fibre. The empty +coco-nut shell is sometimes used by the Robber-Crab for the protection +of its tail.] + +Now what happened in this kingdom of Caledonia which Neolithic Man had +found? He began to introduce domesticated animals, and that meant a +thinning of the ranks of predacious creatures. "Safety first" was the +dangerous motto in obedience to which man exterminated the lynx, the +brown bear, and the wolf. Other creatures, such as the great auk, were +destroyed for food, and others like the marten for their furs. Small +pests were destroyed to protect the beginnings of agriculture; larger +animals like the boar were hunted out of existence; others, like the +pearl-bearing river-mussels, yielded to subtler demands. No doubt there +was protection also--protection for sport, for utility, for aesthetic +reasons, and because of humane sentiments; even wholesome superstitions +have safeguarded the robin redbreast and the wren. There were +introductions too--the rabbit for utility, the pheasant for sport, and +the peacock for amenity. And every introduction, every protection, every +killing out had its far-reaching influences. + +But if we are to picture the evolution going on, we must think also of +man's indirect interference with animal life. He destroyed the forests, +he cultivated the wild, he made bridges, he allowed aliens, like rats +and cockroaches, to get in unawares. Of course, he often did good, as +when he drained swamps and got rid of the mosquitoes which once made +malaria rife in Scotland. + +What has been the net result? Not, as one might think for a moment, a +reduction in the _number_ of different kinds of animals. Fourteen or so +species of birds and beasts have been banished from Scotland since man +interfered, but as far as numbers go they have been more than replaced +by deliberate introductions like fallow deer, rabbit, squirrel, and +pheasant, and by accidental introductions like rats and cockroaches. But +the change is rather in _quality_ than in quantity; the smaller have +taken the place of the larger, rather paltry pigmies of noble giants. +Thus we get a vivid idea that evolution, especially when man interferes, +is not necessarily progressive. That depends on the nature of the sieves +with which the living materials are sifted. As Dr. Ritchie well says, +the standard of the wild fauna as regards size has fallen and is +falling, and it is not in size only that there is loss, there is a +deterioration of quality. "For how can the increase of Rabbits and +Sparrows and Earthworms and Caterpillars, and the addition of millions +of Rats and Cochroaches and Crickets and Bugs, ever take the place of +those fine creatures round the memories of which the glamour of +Scotland's past still plays--the Reindeer and the Elk, the Wolf, the +Brown Bear, the Lynx, and the Beaver, the Bustard, the Crane, the +Bumbling Bittern, and many another, lost or disappearing." Thus we see +again that evolution is going on. + + +Sec. 3 + +The Adventurers + +All through the millions of years during which animals have tenanted the +earth and the waters under the earth, there has been a search for new +kingdoms to conquer, for new corners in which to make a home. And this +still goes on. _It has been and is one of the methods of evolution to +fill every niche of opportunity._ There is a spider that lives inside a +pitcher-plant, catching some of the inquisitive insects which slip down +the treacherous internal surface of the trap. There is another that +makes its home in crevices among the rocks on the shore of the +Mediterranean, or even in empty tubular shells, keeping the water out, +more or less successfully, by spinning threads of silk across the +entrance to its retreat. The beautiful brine-shrimp, _Artemia salina_, +that used to occur in British salterns has found a home in the dense +waters of the Great Salt Lake of Utah. Several kinds of earthworms have +been found up trees, and there is a fish, Arges, that climbs on the +stones of steep mountain torrents of the Andes. The intrepid explorers +of the _Scotia_ voyage found quite a number of Arctic terns spending our +winter within the summer of the Antarctic Circle--which means girdling +the globe from pole to pole; and every now and then there are incursions +of rare birds, like Pallas's Sand-grouse, into Britain, just as if they +were prospecting in search of a promised land. Twice or thrice the +distinctively North American Killdeer Plover has been found in Britain, +having somehow or other got across the Atlantic. We miss part of the +meaning of evolution if we do not catch this note of insurgence and +adventure, which some animal or other never ceases to sound, though many +establish themselves in a security not easily disturbed, and though a +small minority give up the struggle against the stream and are content +to acquiesce, as parasites or rottenness eaters, in a drifting life of +ease. + +More important than very peculiar cases is the broad fact that over and +over again in different groups of animals there have been attempts to +master different kinds of haunts--such as the underground world, the +trees, the freshwaters, and the air. There are burrowing amphibians, +burrowing reptiles, burrowing birds, and burrowing mammals; there are +tree-toads, tree-snakes, tree-lizards, tree-kangaroos, tree-sloths, +tree-shrews, tree-mice, tree-porcupines, and so on; enough of a list to +show, without mentioning birds, how many different kinds of animals +have entered upon an arboreal apprenticeship--an apprenticeship often +with far-reaching consequences. What the freeing of the hand from being +an organ of terrestrial support has meant in the evolution of monkeys is +a question that gives a spur to our imagination. + + +The Case of the Robber Crab + +On some of the coral islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans there +lives a land-crab, Birgus, which has learned to breathe on land. It +breathes dry air by means of curious blood-containing tufts in the upper +part of its gill-cavity, and it has also rudimentary gills. It is often +about a foot long, and it has very heavy great claws, especially on the +left-hand side. With this great claw it hammers on the "eye-hole" of a +coconut, from which it has torn off the fibrous husk. It hammers until a +hole is made by which it can get at the pulp. Part of the shell is +sometimes used as a protection for the soft abdomen--for the +robber-crab, as it is called, is an offshoot from the hermit-crab stock. +Every year this quaint explorer, which may go far up the hills and climb +the coco-palms, has to go back to the sea to spawn. The young ones are +hatched in the same state as in our common shore-crab. That is to say, +they are free-swimming larvae which pass through an open-water period +before they settle down on the shore, and eventually creep up on to dry +land. Just as open-water turtles lay their eggs on sandy shores, going +back to their old terrestrial haunt, so the robber-crab, which has +almost conquered the dry land, has to return to the seashore to breed. +There is a peculiar interest in the association of the robber-crab with +the coco-palm, for that tree is not a native of these coral islands, but +has been introduced, perhaps from Mexico, by the Polynesian mariners +before the discovery of America by Columbus. So the learning to deal +with coconuts is a recent achievement, and we are face to face with a +very good example of evolution going on. + +[Illustration: EARLY LIFE-HISTORY OF THE SALMON + +1. The fertilised egg, shed in the gravelly bed of the river. + +2. The embryo within the egg, just before hatching. The embryo has been +constricted off from the yolk-laden portion of the egg. + +3. The newly hatched salmon, or alevin, encumbered with its legacy of +yolk (Y.S.). + +4 and 5. The larval salmon, still being nourished from the yolk-sac +(Y.S.), which is diminishing in size as the fish grows larger. + +6. The salmon fry about six weeks old, with the yolk fully absorbed, so +that the young fish has now to feed for itself. The fry become parr, +which go to the sea as smolts, and return as grilse. + +In all cases the small figures to the right indicate the natural size.] + +[Illustration: THE SALMON LEAPING AT THE FALL IS A MOST FASCINATING +SPECTACLE + +Again and again we see them jumping out of the seething foam beneath the +fall, casting themselves into the curtain of the down-rushing water, +only to be carried back by it into the depths whence they have risen. +One here and another there makes its effort good, touches the upper lip +of the cataract, gives a swift stroke of its tail, and rushes on towards +those upper reaches which are the immemorial spawning beds of its +race.] + + +The Story of the Salmon + +In late autumn or in winter the salmon spawn in the rivers. The female +makes a shallow trough in the gravel by moving her tail from side to +side, and therein lays many eggs. The male, who is in attendance, +fertilises these with the milt, and then the female covers them deeply +with gravel. The process is repeated over and over again for a week or +more till all the eggs are shed. For three to four months the eggs +develop, and eventually there emerge the larvae or _alevins_, which lurk +among the pebbles. They cannot swim much, for they are encumbered by a +big legacy of yolk. In a few weeks, perhaps eight, the protruding bag of +yolk has disappeared and the _fry_, about an inch long, begin to move +about more actively and to fend for themselves. By the end of the year +they have grown to be rather trout-like _parr_, about four inches long. +In two years these are double that length. Usually in the second year, +but it may be earlier or later, the parr become silvery _smolts_, which +go out to sea, usually about the month of May. They feed on young +herring and the like and grow large and strong. When they are about +three and a half years old they come up the rivers as _grilse_ and may +spawn. Or they may pass through the whole grilse stage in the sea and +come up the rivers with all the characters of the full-grown fish. In +many cases the salmon spawn only once, and some (they are called _kelts_ +after spawning) are so much exhausted by starting a new generation that +they die or fall a victim to otters and other enemies. In the case of +the salmon of the North Pacific (in the genus _Oncorhynchus_, not +_Salmo_) all the individuals die after spawning, none being able to +return to the sea. It must be remembered that full-grown salmon do not +as a rule feed in fresh water, though they may be unable to resist +snapping at the angler's strange creations. A very interesting fact is +that the salmon keeps as it were a diary of its movements, which vary a +good deal in different rivers. This diary is written in the scales, and +a careful reading of the concentric lines on the scales shows the age of +the fish, and when it went out to sea, and whether it has spawned or +not, and more besides. + + +Interpretation of the Salmon's Story + +When an animal frequents two different haunts, in one of which it +breeds, it is very often safe to say that the breeding-place represents +the original home. The flounder is quite comfortable far up the rivers, +but it has to go to the shore-waters to spawn, and there is no doubt +that the flounder is a marine fish which has recently learned to +colonise the fresh waters. Its relatives, like plaice and sole, are +strictly marine. But it is impossible to make a dogma of the rule that +the breeding-place corresponds to the original home. Thus some kinds of +bass, which belong to the marine family of sea-perches, live in the sea +or in estuaries, while two have become permanent residents in fresh +water. Or, again, the members of the herring family are very +distinctively marine, but the shad, which belong to this family, spawn +in rivers and may spend their lives there. + +So there are two different ways of interpreting the life-history of the +salmon. Some authorities regard the salmon as a marine fish which is +establishing itself in fresh water. But others read the story the other +way and regard the salmon as a member of a freshwater race, that has +taken to the sea for feeding purposes. In regard to trout, we know that +the ranks of those in rivers and lakes are continually being reinforced +by migrants from the sea, and that some trout go down to the sea while +others remain in the freshwater. We know also in regard to a related +fish, the char, that while the great majority of kinds are now permanent +residents in cold and deep, isolated northern lakes, there are Arctic +forms which live in the sea but enter the rivers to spawn. These facts +favour the view that the salmon was originally a marine fish. But there +are arguments on both sides, and, for our present purpose, the important +fact is that the salmon is conquering _two_ haunts. Its evolution is +going on. + + +The Romance of the Eel + +Early in summer, at dates varying with the distance of the rivers from +the open Atlantic, crowds of young eels or elvers come up-stream. +Sometimes the procession or eel-fare includes thousands of individuals, +each about the length of our first finger, and as thick as a stout +knitting needle. They obey an inborn impulse to swim against the stream, +seeking automatically to have both sides of their body equally +stimulated by the current. So they go straight ahead. The obligation +works only during the day, for when the sun goes down behind the hills +the elvers snuggle under stones or beneath the bank and rest till dawn. +In the course of time they reach the quiet upper reaches of the river or +go up rivulets and drainpipes to the isolated ponds. Their impulse to go +on must be very imperious, for they may wriggle up the wet moss by the +side of a waterfall or even make a short excursion in a damp meadow. + +In the quiet-flowing stretches of the river or in the ponds they feed +and grow for years and years. They account for a good many young fishes. +Eventually, after five or six years in the case of the males, six to +eight years in the case of the females, the well-grown fishes, perhaps a +foot and a half to two feet long, are seized by a novel restlessness. +They are beginning to be mature. They put on a silvery jacket and become +large of eye, and they return to the sea. In getting away from the pond +it may be necessary to wriggle through the damp meadow-grass before +reaching the river. They travel by night and rather excitedly. The +Arctic Ocean is too cold for them and the North Sea too shallow. They +must go far out to sea, to where the old margin of the once larger +continent of Europe slopes down to the great abysses, from the Hebrides +southwards. Eels seem to spawn in the deep dark water; but the just +liberated eggs have not yet been found. The young fry rises to near the +surface and becomes a knife-blade-like larva, transparent all but its +eye. It lives for many months in this state, growing to be about three +inches long, rising and sinking in the water, and swimming gently. +These open-sea young eels are known as Leptocephali, a name given to +them before their real nature was proved. They gradually become shorter, +and the shape changes from knife-blade-like to cylindrical. During this +change they fast, and the weight of their delicate body decreases. They +turn into glass-eels, about 2-1/2 inches long, like a knitting-needle in +girth. They begin to move towards the distant shores and rivers, and +they may be a year and a half old before they reach their destination +and go up-stream as elvers. Those that ascend the rivers of the Eastern +Baltic must have journeyed three thousand miles. It is certain that no +eel ever matures or spawns in fresh water. It is practically certain +that all the young eels ascending the rivers of North Europe have come +in from the Atlantic, some of them perhaps from the Azores or further +out still. It is interesting to inquire how the young eels circumvent +the Falls of the Rhine and get into Lake Constance, or how their kindred +on the other side of the Atlantic overcome the obstacle of Niagara; but +it is more important to lay emphasis on the variety of habitats which +this fish is trying--the deep waters, the open sea, the shore, the +river, the pond, and even, it may be, a little taste of solid earth. It +seems highly probable that the common eel is a deep-water marine fish +which has learned to colonise the freshwaters. It has been adventurous +and it has succeeded. The only shadow on the story of achievement is +that there seems to be no return from the spawning. There is little +doubt that death is the nemesis of their reproduction. In any case, no +adult eel ever comes back from the deep sea. We are minded of Goethe's +hard saying: "Death is Nature's expert advice to get plenty of life." + + +Sec. 4 + +Forming New Habits + +There is a well-known mudfish of Australia, Neoceratodus by name, which +has turned its swim-bladder into a lung and comes to the surface to +spout. It expels vitiated air with considerable force and takes fresh +gulps. At the same time, like an ordinary fish, it has gills which allow +the usual interchange of gases between the blood and the water. Now this +Australian mudfish or double-breather (Dipnoan), which may be a long way +over a yard in length, is a direct and little-changed descendant of an +ancient extinct fish, Ceratodus, which lived in Mesozoic times, as far +back as the Jurassic, which probably means over five millions of years +ago. The Queensland mudfish is an antiquity, and there has not been much +change in its lineage for millions of years. We might take it as an +illustration of the inertia of evolution. And yet, though its structure +has changed but little, the fish probably illustrates evolution in +process, for it is a fish that is learning to breathe dry air. It cannot +leave the water; but it can live comfortably in pools which are foul +with decomposing animal and vegetable matter. In partially dried-up and +foul waterholes, full of dead fishes of various kinds, Neoceratodus has +been found vigorous and lively. Unless we take the view, which is +_possible_, that the swim-bladder of fishes was originally a lung, the +mud-fishes are learning to breathe dry air. They illustrate evolution +agoing. + +[Illustration: DIAGRAM OF THE LIFE HISTORY OF THE COMMON EEL (_Anguilla +Vulgalis_) + +1. The transparent open-sea knife-blade-like larva called a +Leptocephalus. + +2 and 3. The gradual change of shape from knife-blade-like to +cylindrical. The body becomes shorter and loses weight. + +4. The young elver, at least a year old, which makes its way from the +open sea to the estuaries and rivers. It is 2/3 inches long and almost +cylindrical. + +5. The fully-formed eel.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Gambier Bolton._ + +CASSOWARY + +Its bare head is capped with a helmet. Unlike the plumage of most birds +its feathers are loose and hair-like, whilst its wings are merely +represented by a few black quills. It is flightless and entirely +dependent on its short powerful legs to carry it out of danger.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Gambier Bolton._ + +THE KIWI, ANOTHER FLIGHTLESS BIRD, OF REMARKABLE APPEARANCE, HABITS, AND +STRUCTURE] + +The herring-gull is by nature a fish-eater; but of recent years, in some +parts of Britain, it has been becoming in the summer months more and +more of a vegetarian, scooping out the turnips, devouring potatoes, +settling on the sheaves in the harvest field and gorging itself with +grain. Similar experiments, usually less striking, are known in many +birds; but the most signal illustration is that of the kea or Nestor +parrot of New Zealand, which has taken to lighting on the loins of the +sheep, tearing away the fleece, cutting at the skin, and gouging out +fat. Now the parrot belongs to a vegetarian or frugivorous stock, and +this change of diet in the relatively short time since sheep-ranches +were established in New Zealand is very striking. Here, since we know +the dates, we may speak of evolution going on under our eyes. It must be +remembered that variations in habit may give an animal a new +opportunity to test variations in structure which arise mysteriously +from within, as expressions of germinal changefulness rather than as +imprints from without. For of the transmissibility of the latter there +is little secure evidence. + + +Experiments in Locomotion + +It is very interesting to think of the numerous types of locomotion +which animals have discovered--pulling and punting, sculling and rowing, +and of the changes that are rung on these four main methods. How +striking is the case of the frilled lizard (Chlamydosaurus) of +Australia, which at the present time is, as it were, experimenting in +bipedal progression--always a rather eventful thing to do. It gets up on +its hind-legs and runs totteringly for a few feet, just like a baby +learning to walk. + +How beautiful is the adventure which has led our dipper or +water-ouzel--a bird allied to the wrens--to try walking and flying under +water! How admirable is the volplaning of numerous parachutists--"flying +fish," "flying frog," "flying dragon," "flying phalanger," "flying +squirrel," and more besides, which take great leaps through the air. For +are these not the splendid failures that might have succeeded in +starting new modes of flight? + +Most daring of all, perhaps, are the aerial journeys undertaken by many +small spiders. On a breezy morning, especially in the autumn, they mount +on gate-posts and palings and herbage, and, standing with their head to +the wind, pay out three or four long threads of silk. When the wind tugs +at these threads, the spinners let go, and are borne, usually back +downwards, on the wings of the wind from one parish to another. It is +said that if the wind falls they can unfurl more sail, or furl if it +rises. In any case, these wingless creatures make aerial journeys. When +tens of thousands of the used threads sink to earth, there is a "shower +of gossamer." On his _Beagle_ voyage Darwin observed that vast numbers +of small gossamer spiders were borne on to the ship when it was sixty +miles distant from the land. + +[Illustration: THE AUSTRALIAN FRILLED LIZARD, WHICH IS AT PRESENT TRYING +TO BECOME A BIPED + +When it gets up on its hind-legs and runs for a short distance it folds +its big collar round its neck.] + +[Illustration: A CARPET OF GOSSAMER + +The silken threads used by thousands of gossamer spiders in their +migrations are here seen entangled in the grass, forming what is called +a shower of gossamer. At the edge of the grass the gossamer forms a +curtain, floating out and looking extraordinarily like waves breaking on +a seashore.] + +[Illustration: THE WATER-SPIDER + +The spider is seen just leaving its diving-bell to ascend to the surface +to capture air. + +The spider jerks its body and legs out at the surface and then dives-- + +--carrying with it what looks like a silvery air-bubble--air entangled +in the hair. + +The spider reaches its air-dome. Note how the touch of its legs indents +the inflated balloon. + +Running down the side of the nest, the spider + +--brushes off the air at the entrance, and the bubble ascends into the +silken balloon. + +_Photos: J. J. Ward, F.E.S._] + + +New Devices + +It is impossible, we must admit, to fix dates, except in a few cases, +relatively recent; but there is a smack of modernity in some striking +devices which we can observe in operation to-day. Thus no one will +dispute the statement that spiders are thoroughly terrestrial animals +breathing dry air, but we have the fact of the water-spider conquering +the under-water world. There are a few spiders about the seashore, and a +few that can survive douching with freshwater, but the particular case +of the true water-spider, _Argyroneta natans_, stands by itself because +the creature, as regards the female at least, has _conquered_ the +sub-aquatic environment. A flattish web is woven, somehow, underneath +the water, and pegged down by threads of silk. Along a special vertical +line the mother spider ascends to the surface and descends again, having +entangled air in the hairs of her body. She brushes off this air +underneath her web, which is thereby buoyed up into a sort of dome. She +does this over and over again, never getting wet all the time, until the +domed web has become like a diving-bell, full of dry air. In this +eloquent anticipation of man's rational device, this creature--far from +being endowed with reason--lays her eggs and looks after her young. The +general significance of the facts is that when competition is keen, a +new area of exploitation is a promised land. Thus spiders have spread +over all the earth except the polar areas. But here is a spider with +some spirit of adventure, which has endeavoured, instead of trekking, to +find a new corner near at home. It has tackled a problem surely +difficult for a terrestrial animal, the problem of living in great part +under water, and it has solved it in a manner at once effective and +beautiful. + + +In Conclusion + +We have given but a few representative illustrations of a great theme. +When we consider the changefulness of living creatures, the +transformations of cultivated plants and domesticated animals, the +gradual alterations in the fauna of a country, the search after new +haunts, the forming of new habits, and the discovery of many inventions, +are we not convinced that Evolution is going on? And why should it +stop? + + + + +VII + +THE DAWN OF MIND + + + + +THE DAWN OF MIND + + +In the story of evolution there is no chapter more interesting than the +emergence of mind in the animal kingdom. But it is a difficult chapter +to read, partly because "mind" cannot be seen or measured, only +_inferred_ from the outward behaviour of the creature, and partly +because it is almost impossible to avoid reading ourselves into the much +simpler animals. + + +Sec. 1 + +Two Extremes to be Avoided + +The one extreme is that of uncritical generosity which credits every +animal, like Brer Rabbit--who, by the way, was the hare--with human +qualities. The other extreme is that of thinking of the animal as if it +were an automatic machine, in the working of which there is no place or +use for mind. Both these extremes are to be avoided. + +When Professor Whitman took the eggs of the Passenger Pigeon (which +became extinct not long ago with startling rapidity) and placed them a +few inches to one side of the nest, the bird looked a little uneasy and +put her beak under her body as if to feel for something that was not +there. But she did not try to retrieve her eggs, close at hand as they +were. In a short time she flew away altogether. This shows that the mind +of the pigeon is in some respects very different from the mind of man. +On the other hand, when a certain clever dog, carrying a basket of eggs, +with the handle in his mouth, came to a stile which had to be +negotiated, he laid the basket on the ground, pushed it gently through a +low gap to the other side, and then took a running leap over. We dare +not talk of this dog as an automatic machine. + + +A Caution in Regard to Instinct + +In studying the behaviour of animals, which is the only way of getting +at their mind, for it is only of our own mind that we have direct +knowledge, it is essential to give prominence to the fact that there has +been throughout the evolution of living creatures a strong tendency to +enregister or engrain capacities of doing things effectively. Thus +certain abilities come to be inborn; they are parts of the inheritance, +which will express themselves whenever the appropriate trigger is +pulled. The newly born child does not require to learn its breathing +movements, as it afterwards requires to learn its walking movements. The +ability to go through the breathing movements is inborn, engrained, +enregistered. + +In other words, there are hereditary pre-arrangements of nerve-cells and +muscle-cells which come into activity almost as easily as the beating of +the heart. In a minute or two the newborn pigling creeps close to its +mother and sucks milk. It has not to learn how to do this any more than +we have to learn to cough or sneeze. Thus animals have many useful +ready-made, or almost ready-made, capacities of doing apparently clever +things. In simple cases of these inborn pre-arrangements we speak of +reflex actions; in more complicated cases, of instinctive behaviour. Now +the caution is this, that while these inborn capacities usually work +well in natural conditions, they sometimes work badly when the ordinary +routine is disturbed. We see this when a pigeon continues sitting for +many days on an empty nest, or when it fails to retrieve its eggs only +two inches away. But it would be a mistake to call the pigeon, because +of this, an unutterably stupid bird. We have only to think of the +achievements of homing pigeons to know that this cannot be true. We must +not judge animals in regard to those kinds of behaviour which have been +handed over to instinct, and go badly agee when the normal routine is +disturbed. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the enregistered +instinctive capacities work well, and the advantage of their becoming +stereotyped was to leave the animal more free for adventures at a higher +level. Being "a slave of instinct" may give the animal a security that +enables it to discover some new home or new food or new joy. Somewhat in +the same way, a man of methodical habits, which he has himself +established, may gain leisure to make some new departure of racial +profit. + +[Illustration: _Photo: O. J. Wilkinson._ + +JACKDAW BALANCING ON A GATEPOST + +The jackdaw is a big-brained, extremely alert, very educable, loquacious +bird.] + +[Illustration: _From Ingersoll's "The Wit of the Wild."_ + +TWO OPOSSUMS FEIGNING DEATH + +The Opossums are mainly arboreal marsupials, insectivorous and +carnivorous, confined to the American Continent from the United States +to Patagonia. Many have no pouch and carry their numerous young ones on +their back, the tail of the young twined round that of the mother. The +opossums are agile, clever creatures, and famous for "playing 'possum," +lying inert just as if they were dead.] + +[Illustration: MALE OF THREE-SPINED STICKLEBACK, MAKING A NEST OF +WATER-WEED, GLUED TOGETHER BY VISCID THREADS SECRETED FROM THE KIDNEYS +AT THE BREEDING SEASON] + +[Illustration: A FEMALE STICKLEBACK ENTERS THE NEST WHICH THE MALE HAS +MADE, LAYS THE EGGS INSIDE, AND THEN DEPARTS + +In many cases two or three females use the same nest, the stickleback +being polygamous. Above the nest the male, who mounts guard, is seen +driving away an intruder.] + +When we draw back our finger from something very hot, or shut our eye to +avoid a blow from a rebounding branch, we do not will the action; and +this is more or less the case, probably, when a young mammal sucks its +mother for the first time. Some Mound-birds of Celebes lay their eggs in +warm volcanic ash by the shore of the sea, others in a great mass of +fermenting vegetation; it is inborn in the newly hatched bird to +struggle out as quickly as it can from such a strange nest, else it will +suffocate. If it stops struggling too soon, it perishes, for it seems +that the trigger of the instinct cannot be pulled twice. Similarly, when +the eggs of the turtle, that have been laid in the sand of the shore, +hatch out, the young ones make _instinctively_ for the sea. Some of the +crocodiles bury their eggs two feet or so below the surface among sand +and decaying vegetation--an awkward situation for a birthplace. When the +young crocodile is ready to break out of the egg-shell, just as a chick +does at the end of the three weeks of brooding, it utters +_instinctively_ a piping cry. On hearing this, the watchful mother digs +away the heavy blankets, otherwise the young crocodile would be buried +alive at birth. Now there is no warrant for believing that the young +Mound-birds, young crocodiles, and young turtles have an intelligent +appreciation of what they do when they are hatched. They act +instinctively, "as to the manner born." But this is not to say that +their activity is not backed by endeavour or even suffused with a +certain amount of awareness. Of course, it is necessarily difficult for +man, who is so much a creature of intelligence, to get even an inkling +of the mental side of instinctive behaviour. + +In many of the higher reaches of animal instinct, as in courtship or +nest-building, in hunting or preparing the food, it looks as if the +starting of the routine activity also "rang up" the higher centres of +the brain and put the intelligence on the _qui vive_, ready to interpose +when needed. So the twofold caution is this: (1) We must not depreciate +the creature too much if, in unusual circumstances, it acts in an +ineffective way along lines of behaviour which are normally handed over +to instinct; and (2) we must leave open the possibility that even +routine instinctive behaviour may be suffused with awareness and backed +by endeavour. + + +Sec. 2 + +A Useful Law + +But how are we to know when to credit the animal with intelligence and +when with something less spontaneous? Above all, how are we to know when +the effective action, like opening the mouth the very instant it is +touched by food in the mother's beak, is just a physiological action +like coughing or sneezing, and when there is behind it--a mind at work? +The answer to this question is no doubt that given by Prof. Lloyd +Morgan, who may be called the founder of comparative psychology, that we +must describe the piece of behaviour very carefully, just as it +occurred, without reading anything into it, and that we must not ascribe +it to a higher faculty if it can be satisfactorily accounted for in +terms of a lower one. In following this principle we may be sometimes +niggardly, for the behaviour may have a mental subtlety that we have +missed; but in nine cases out of ten our conclusions are likely to be +sound. It is the critical, scientific way. + +Bearing this law in mind, let us take a survey of the emergence of mind +among backboned animals. + + +Senses of Fishes + +Fishes cannot shut their eyes, having no true lids; but the eyes +themselves are very well developed and the vision is acute, especially +for moving objects. Except in gristly fishes, the external opening to +the ear has been lost, so that sound-waves and coarser vibrations must +influence the inner ear, which is well developed, through the +surrounding flesh and bones. It seems that the main use of the ear in +fishes is in connection with balancing, not with hearing. In many cases, +however, the sense of hearing has been demonstrated; thus fishes will +come to the side of a pond to be fed when a bell is rung or when a +whistle is blown by someone not visible from the water. The fact that +many fishes pay no attention at all to loud noises does not prove that +they are deaf, for an animal may hear a sound and yet remain quite +indifferent or irresponsive. This merely means that the sound has no +vital interest for the animal. Some fishes, such as bullhead and +dogfish, have a true sense of smell, detecting by their nostrils very +dilute substances permeating the water from a distance. Others, such as +members of the cod family, perceive their food in part at least by the +sense of taste, which is susceptible to substances near at hand and +present in considerable quantity. This sense of taste may be located on +the fins as well as about the mouth. At this low level the senses of +smell and taste do not seem to be very readily separated. The chief use +of the sensitive line or lateral line seen on each side of a bony fish +is to make the animal aware of slow vibrations and changes of pressure +in the water. The skin responds to pressures, the ear to vibrations of +high frequency; the lateral line is between the two in its function. + + +Interesting Ways of Fishes + +The brain of the ordinary bony fish is at a very low level. Thus the +cerebral hemispheres, destined to become more and more the seat of +intelligence, are poorly developed. In gristly fishes, like skates and +sharks, the brain is much more promising. But although the state of the +brain does not lead one to expect very much from a bony fish like trout +or eel, haddock or herring, illustrations are not wanting of what might +be called pretty pieces of behaviour. Let us select a few cases. + + +The Stickleback's Nest + +The three-spined and two-spined sticklebacks live equally well in fresh +or salt water; the larger fifteen-spined stickleback is entirely marine. +In all three species the male fish makes a nest, in fresh or brackish +water in the first two cases, in shore-pools in the third case. The +little species use the leaves and stems of water-plants; the larger +species use seaweed and zoophyte. The leaves or fronds are entangled +together and fastened by glue-like threads, secreted, strange to say, by +the kidneys. It is just as if a temporary diseased condition had been +regularised and turned to good purpose. Going through the nest several +times, the male makes a little room in the middle. Partly by coercion +and partly by coaxing he induces a female--first one and then +another--to pass through the nest with two doors, depositing eggs during +her short sojourn. The females go their way, and the male mounts guard +over the nest. He drives off intruding fishes much bigger than himself. +When the young are hatched, the male has for a time much to do, keeping +his charges within bounds until they are able to move about with +agility. It seems that sticklebacks are short-lived fishes, probably +breeding only once; and it is reasonable to suppose that their success +as a race depends to some extent on the paternal care. Now if we could +believe that the nesting behaviour had appeared suddenly in its present +form, we should be inclined to credit the fish with considerable mental +ability. But we are less likely to be so generous if we reflect that the +routine has been in all likelihood the outcome of a long racial process +of slight improvements and critical testings. The secretion of the glue +probably came about as a pathological variation; its utilisation was +perhaps discovered by accident; the types that had wit enough to take +advantage of this were most successful; the routine became enregistered +hereditarily. The stickleback is not so clever as it looks. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Imperial War Museum._ + +HOMING PIGEON + +A blue chequer hen, which during the War (in September of 1918) flew 22 +miles in as many minutes, saving the crew of an aeroplane in +difficulties.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Imperial War Museum._ + +CARRIER PIGEON + +Carrier pigeons were much used in the War to carry messages. The +photograph shows how the message is fixed to the carrier pigeon's leg, +in the form of light rings.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: James's Press Agency._ + +YELLOW-CROWNED PENGUIN + +Notice the flightless wings turned into flippers, which are often +flapped very vigorously. The very strong feet are also noteworthy. +Penguins are mostly confined to the Far South.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Cagcombe & Co._ + +PENGUINS ARE "A PECULIAR PEOPLE" + +Their wings have been turned into flippers for swimming in the sea and +tobogganing on snow. The penguins come back over hundreds of miles of +trackless waste to their birthplace, where they breed. When they reach +the Antarctic shore they walk with determination to a suitable site, +often at the top of a steep cliff. Some species waddle 130 steps per +minute, 6 inches per step, two-thirds of a mile per hour.] + + +The Mind of a Minnow + +To find solid ground on which to base an appreciation of the behaviour +of fishes, it is necessary to experiment, and we may refer to Miss +Gertrude White's interesting work on American minnows and sticklebacks. +After the fishes had become quite at home in their artificial +surroundings, their lessons began. Cloth packets, one of which contained +meat and the other cotton, were suspended at opposite ends of the +aquarium. The mud-minnows did not show that they perceived either +packet, though they swam close by them; the sticklebacks were intrigued +at once. Those that went towards the packet containing meat darted +furiously upon it and pulled at it with great excitement. Those that +went towards the cotton packet turned sharply away when they were within +about two inches off. They then perceived what those at the other end +were after and joined them--a common habit amongst fishes. Although the +minnows were not interested in the tiny "bags of mystery," they were +even more alert than the sticklebacks in perceiving moving objects in or +on the water, and there is no doubt that both these shallow-water +species discover their food largely by sense of sight. + +The next set of lessons had to do with colour-associations. The fishes +were fed on minced snail, chopped earthworm, fragments of liver, and the +like, and the food was given to them from the end of forceps held above +the surface of the water, so that the fishes could not be influenced by +smell. They had to leap out of the water to take the food from the +forceps. Discs of coloured cardboard were slipped over the end of the +forceps, so that what the fishes saw was a morsel of food in the centre +of a coloured disc. After a week or so of preliminary training, they +were so well accustomed to the coloured discs that the presentation of +one served as a signal for the fishes to dart to the surface and spring +out of the water. When baits of paper were substituted for the food, the +fishes continued to jump at the discs. When, however, a blue disc was +persistently used for the paper bait and a red disc for the real food, +or _vice versa_, some of the minnows learned to discriminate infallibly +between shadow and substance, both when these were presented alternately +and when they were presented simultaneously. This is not far from the +dawn of mind. + +In the course of a few lessons, both minnows and sticklebacks learned to +associate particular colours with food, and other associations were also +formed. A kind of larva that a minnow could make nothing of after +repeated trials was subsequently ignored. The approach of the +experimenter or anyone else soon began to serve as a food-signal. There +can be no doubt that in the ordinary life of fishes there is a process +of forming useful associations and suppressing useless responses. Given +an inborn repertory of profitable movements that require no training, +given the power of forming associations such as those we have +illustrated, and given a considerable degree of sensory alertness along +certain lines, fishes do not require much more. And in truth they have +not got it. Moving with great freedom in three dimensions in a medium +that supports them and is very uniform and constant, able in most cases +to get plenty of food without fatiguing exertions and to dispense with +it for considerable periods if it is scarce, multiplying usually in +great abundance so that the huge infantile mortality hardly counts, +rarely dying a natural death but usually coming with their strength +unabated to a violent end, fishes hold their own in the struggle for +existence without much in the way of mental endowment. Their brain has +more to do with motion than with mentality, and they have remained at a +low psychical level. + +Yet just as we should greatly misjudge our own race if we confined our +attention to everyday routine, so in our total, as distinguished from +our average, estimate of fishes, we must remember the salmon surmounting +the falls, the wary trout eluding the angler's skill, the common +mud-skipper (Periophthalmus) of many tropical shores which climbs on the +rocks and the roots of the mangrove-trees, or actively hunts small +shore-animals. We must remember the adventurous life-history of the eel +and the quaint ways in which some fishes, males especially, look after +their family. The male sea-horse puts the eggs in his breast-pocket; the +male Kurtus carries them on the top of his head; the cock-paidle or +lumpsucker guards them and aerates them in a corner of a shore-pool. + + +Sec. 3 + +The Mind of Amphibians + +Towards the end of the age of the Old Red Sandstone or Devonian, a great +step in evolution was taken--the emergence of Amphibians. The earliest +representatives had fish-like characters even more marked than those +which may be discerned in the tadpoles of our frogs and toads, and there +is no doubt that amphibians sprang from a fish stock. But they made +great strides, associated in part with their attempts to get out of the +water on to dry land. From fossil forms we cannot say much in regard to +soft parts; but if we consider the living representatives of the class, +we may credit amphibians with such important acquisitions as fingers and +toes, a three-chambered heart, true ventral lungs, a drum to the ear, a +mobile tongue, and vocal cords. When animals began to be able to grasp +an object and when they began to be able to utter sufficient sounds, two +new doors were opened. Apart from insects, whose instrumental music had +probably begun before the end of the Devonian age, amphibians were the +first animals to have a voice. The primary meaning of this voice was +doubtless, as it is to-day in our frogs, a sex-call; but it was the +beginning of what was destined to play a very important part in the +evolution of the mind. In the course of ages the significance of the +voice broadened out; it became a parental call; it became an infant's +cry. Broadening still, it became a very useful means of recognition +among kindred, especially in the dark and in the intricacies of the +forest. Ages passed, and the voice rose on another turn of the +evolutionary spiral to be expressive of particular emotions beyond the +immediate circle of sex--emotions of joy and of fear, of jealousy and of +contentment. Finally, we judge, the animal--perhaps the bird was +first--began to give utterance to particular "words," indicative not +merely of emotions, but of particular things with an emotional halo, +such as "food," "enemy," "home." Long afterwards, words became _in man_ +the medium of reasoned discourse. Sentences were made and judgments +expressed. But was not the beginning in the croaking of Amphibia? + + +Senses of Amphibians + +Frogs have good eyes, and the toad's eyes are "jewels." There is +evidence of precise vision in the neat way in which a frog catches a +fly, flicking out its tongue, which is fixed in front and loose behind. +There is also experimental proof that a frog discriminates between red +and blue, or between red and white, and an interesting point is that +while our skin is sensitive to heat rays but not to light, the skin of +the frog answers back to light rays as well. Professor Yerkes +experimented with a frog which had to go through a simple labyrinth if +it wished to reach a tank of water. At the first alternative between two +paths, a red card was placed on the wrong side and a white one on the +other. When the frog had learned to take the correct path, marked by the +white card, Prof. Yerkes changed the cards. The confusion of the frog +showed how thoroughly it had learned its lesson. + +We know very little in regard to sense of smell or taste in amphibians; +but the sense of hearing is well developed, more developed than might be +inferred from the indifference that frogs show to almost all sounds +except the croaking of their kindred and splashes in the water. + +The toad looks almost sagacious when it is climbing up a bank, and some +of the tree-frogs are very alert; but there is very little that we dare +say about the amphibian mind. We have mentioned that frogs may learn the +secret of a simple maze, and toads sometimes make for a particular +spawning-pond from a considerable distance. But an examination of their +brains, occupying a relatively small part of the broad, flat skull, +warns us not to expect much intelligence. On the other hand, when we +take frogs along a line that is very vital to them, namely, the +discrimination of palatable and unpalatable insects, we find, by +experiment, that they are quick to learn and that they remember their +lessons for many days. Frogs sometimes deposit their eggs in very +unsuitable pools of water; but perhaps that is not quite so stupid as it +looks. The egg-laying is a matter that has been, as it were, handed over +to instinctive registration. + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge._ + +HARPY-EAGLE + +"Clean and dainty and proud as a Spanish Don." + +It is an arboreal and cliff-loving bird, feeding chiefly on mammals, +very fierce and strong. The under parts are mostly white, with a greyish +zone on the chest. The upper parts are blackish-grey. The harpy occurs +from Mexico to Paraguay and Bolivia.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge, F.Z.S._ + +THE DINGO OR WILD DOG OF AUSTRALIA, PERHAPS AN INDIGENOUS WILD SPECIES, +PERHAPS A DOMESTICATED DOG THAT HAS GONE WILD OR FERAL + +It does much harm in destroying sheep. It is famous for its persistent +"death-feigning," for an individual has been known to allow part of its +skin to be removed, in the belief that it was dead, before betraying its +vitality.] + +[Illustration: WOODPECKER, HAMMERING AT A COTTON-REEL, ATTACHED TO A +TREE + +Notice how the stiff tail-feathers braced against the stem help the bird +to cling on with its toes. The original hole, in which this woodpecker +inserted nuts for the purposes of cracking the shell and extracting the +kernel, is seen towards the top of the tree. But the taker of the +photograph tied on a hollowed-out cotton-reel as a receptacle for a nut, +and it was promptly discovered and used by the bird.] + + +Experiments in Parental Care + +It must be put to the credit of amphibians that they have made many +experiments in methods of parental care, as if they were feeling their +way to new devices. A common frog lays her clumps of eggs in the cradle +of the water, sometimes far over a thousand together; the toad winds two +long strings round and between water-weeds; and in both cases that is +all. There is no parental care, and the prolific multiplication covers +the enormous infantile mortality. This is the spawning solution of the +problem of securing the continuance of the race. But there is another +solution, that of parental care associated with an economical reduction +of the number of eggs. Thus the male of the Nurse-Frog (Alytes), not +uncommon on the Continent, fixes a string of twenty to fifty eggs to the +upper part of his hind-legs, and retires to his hole, only coming out at +night to get some food and to keep up the moisture about the eggs. In +three weeks, when the tadpoles are ready to come out, he plunges into +the pond and is freed from his living burden and his family cares. In +the case of the thoroughly aquatic Surinam Toad (Pipa), the male helps +to press the eggs, perhaps a hundred in number, on to the back of the +female, where each sinks into a pocket of skin with a little lid. By and +by fully formed young toads jump out of the pockets. + +In the South American tree-frogs called Nototrema there is a pouch on +the back of the female in which the eggs develop, and it is interesting +to find that in some species what come out are ordinary tadpoles, while +in other species the young emerge as miniatures of their parents. +Strangest of all, perhaps, is the case of Darwin's Frog (Rhinoderma of +Chili), where the young, about ten to fifteen in number, develop in the +male's croaking-sacs, which become in consequence enormously distended. +Eventually the strange spectacle is seen of miniature frogs jumping out +of their father's mouth. Needless to say we are not citing these methods +of parental care as examples of intelligence; but perhaps they correct +the impression of amphibians as a rather humdrum race. Whatever be the +mental aspect of the facts, there has certainly been some kind of +experimenting, and the increase of parental care, so marked in many +amphibians, with associated reduction of the number of offspring is a +finger-post on the path of progress. + + +Sec. 4 + +The Reptilian Mind + +We speak of the wisdom of the serpent; but it is not very easy to +justify the phrase. Among all the multitude of reptiles--snakes, +lizards, turtles, and crocodiles, a motley crowd--we cannot see much +more than occasional traces of intelligence. The inner life remains a +tiny rill. + +No doubt many reptiles are very effective; but it is an instinctive +rather than an intelligent efficiency. The well-known "soft-shell" +tortoise of the United States swims with powerful strokes and runs so +quickly that it can hardly be overtaken. It hunts vigorously for +crayfish and insect larvae in the rivers. It buries itself in the mud +when cold weather comes. It may lie on a floating log ready to slip into +the water at a moment's notice; it may bask on a sunny bank or in the +warm shallows. Great wariness is shown in choosing times and places for +egg-laying. The mother tramps the earth down upon the buried eggs. All +is effective. Similar statements might be made in regard to scores of +other reptiles; but what we see is almost wholly of the nature of +instinctive routine, and we get little glimpse of more than efficiency +and endeavour. + +In a few cases there is proof of reptiles finding their way back to +their homes from a considerable distance, and recognition of persons is +indubitable. Gilbert White remarks of his tortoise: "Whenever the good +old lady came in sight who had waited on it for more than thirty years, +it always hobbled with awkward alacrity towards its benefactress, while +to strangers it was altogether inattentive." Of definite learning there +are a few records. Thus Professor Yerkes studied a sluggish turtle of +retiring disposition, taking advantage of its strong desire to efface +itself. On the path of the darkened nest of damp grass he interposed a +simple maze in the form of a partitioned box. After wandering about +constantly for thirty-five minutes the turtle found its way through the +maze by chance. Two hours afterwards it reached the nest in fifteen +minutes; and after another interval of two hours it only required five +minutes. After the third trial, the routes became more direct, there was +less aimless wandering. The time of the twentieth trial was forty-five +seconds; that of the thirtieth, forty seconds. In the thirtieth case, +the path followed was quite direct, and so it was on the fiftieth trip, +which only required thirty-five seconds. Of course, the whole thing did +not amount to very much; but there was a definite learning, _a learning +from experience_, which has played an important part in the evolution of +animal behaviour. + +Comparing reptiles with amphibians, we may recognise an increased +masterliness of behaviour and a hint of greater plasticity. The records +of observers who have made pets of reptiles suggest that the life of +feeling or emotion is growing stronger, and so do stories, if they can +be accepted, which suggest the beginning of conjugal affection. + +The error must be guarded against of interpreting in terms of +intelligence what is merely the outcome of long-continued structure +adaptation. When the limbless lizard called the Slow-worm is suddenly +seized by the tail, it escapes by surrendering the appendage, which +breaks across a preformed weak plane. But this is a reflex action, not a +reflective one. It is comparable to our sudden withdrawal of our finger +from a very hot cinder. The Egg-eating African snake Dasypeltis gets the +egg of a bird into its gullet unbroken, and cuts the shell against +downward-projecting sharp points of the vertebrae. None of the precious +contents is lost and the broken "empties" are returned. It is admirable, +indeed unsurpassable; but it is not intelligent. + + +Sec. 5 + +Mind in Birds + +Sight and hearing are highly developed in birds, and the senses, besides +pulling the triggers of inborn efficiencies, supply the raw materials +for intelligence. There is some truth, though not the whole truth, in +the old philosophical dictum, that there is nothing in the intellect +which was not previously in the senses. Many people have admired the +certainty and alacrity with which gulls pick up a fragment of biscuit +from the white wake of a steamer, and the incident is characteristic. In +their power of rapidly altering the focus of the eye, birds are +unsurpassed. + +To the sense of sight in birds, the sense of hearing comes a good +second. A twig breaks under our feet, and out sounds the danger-call of +the bird we were trying to watch. Many young birds, like partridges, +respond when two or three hours old to the anxious warning note of the +parents, and squat motionless on the ground, though other sounds, such +as the excited clucking of a foster-mother hen, leave them indifferent. +They do not know what they are doing when they squat; they are obeying +the living hand of the past which is within them. Their behaviour is +instinctive. But the present point is the discriminating quality of the +sense of hearing; and that is corroborated by the singing of birds. +It is emotional art, expressing feelings in the medium of sound. On the +part of the females, who are supposed to listen, it betokens a +cultivated ear. + +[Illustration: THE BEAVER + +The beaver will gnaw through trees a foot in diameter; to save itself +more trouble than is necessary, it will stop when it has gnawed the +trunk till there is only a narrow core left, having the wit to know that +the autumn gales will do the rest.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: F. R. Hinkins & Son._ + +THE THRUSH AT ITS ANVIL + +The song-thrush takes the snail's shell in its bill, and knocks it +against a stone until it breaks, making the palatable flesh available. + +Many broken shells are often found around the anvil.] + +As to the other senses, touch is not highly developed except about the +bill, where it reaches a climax in birds like the wood-cock, which probe +for unseen earthworms in the soft soil. Taste seems to be poorly +developed, for most birds bolt their food, but there is sometimes an +emphatic rejection of unpalatable things, like toads and caterpillars. +Of smell in birds little is known, but it has been proved to be present +in certain cases, e.g. in some nocturnal birds of prey. It seems certain +that it is by sight, not by smell, that the eagles gather to the +carcass; but perhaps there is more smell in birds than they are usually +credited with. One would like to experiment with the oil from the preen +gland of birds to see whether the scent of this does not help in the +recognition of kin by kin at night or amid the darkness of the forest. +There may be other senses in birds, such as a sense of temperature and a +sense of balance; but no success has attended the attempts made to +demonstrate a magnetic sense, which has been impatiently postulated by +students of bird migration in order to "explain" how the birds find +their way. The big fact is that in birds there are two widely open +gateways of knowledge, the sense of sight and the sense of hearing. + + +Instinctive Aptitudes + +Many a young water-bird, such as a coot, swims right away when it is +tumbled into water for the first time. So chicks peck without any +learning or teaching, very young ducklings catch small moths that flit +by, and young plovers lie low when the danger-signal sounds. But birds +seem strangely limited as regards many of these instinctive +capacities--limited when compared with the "little-brained" ants and +bees, which have from the first such a rich repertory of ready-made +cleverness. The limitation in birds is of great interest, for it means +that intelligence is coming to its own and is going to take up the +reins at many corners of the daily round. Professor Lloyd Morgan +observed that his chickens incubated in the laboratory had no +instinctive awareness of the significance of their mother's cluck when +she was brought outside the door. Although thirsty and willing to drink +from a moistened finger-tip, they did not instinctively recognize water, +even when they walked through a saucerful. Only when they happened to +peck their toes as they stood in the water did they appreciate water as +the stuff they wanted, and raise their bills up to the sky. Once or +twice they actually stuffed their crops with "worms" of red worsted! + +Instinctive aptitudes, then, the young birds have, but these are more +limited than in ants, bees, and wasps; and the reason is to be found in +the fact that the brain is now evolving on the tack of what Sir Ray +Lankester has called "educability." Young birds _learn_ with prodigious +rapidity; the emancipation of the mind from the tyranny of hereditary +obligations has begun. Young birds make mistakes, like the red worsted +mistake, but they do not make the same mistakes often. They are able to +profit by experience in a very rapid way. We do not mean that creatures +of the little-brain type, like ants, bees, and wasps, are unable to +profit by experience or are without intelligence. There are no such +hard-and-fast lines. We mean that in the ordinary life of insects the +enregistered instinctive capacities are on the whole sufficient for the +occasion, and that intelligent educability is very slightly developed. +Nor do we mean that birds are quite emancipated from the tyranny of +engrained instinctive obligations, and can always "ring up" intelligence +in a way that is impossible for the stereotyped bee. The sight of a +pigeon brooding on an empty nest, while her two eggs lie disregarded +only a couple of inches away, is enough to show that along certain lines +birds may find it impossible to get free from the trammels of instinct. +The peculiar interest of birds is that they have many instincts and yet +a notable power of learning intelligently. + + +Intelligence co-operating with Instinct + +Professor Lloyd Morgan was foster-parent to two moorhens which grew up +in isolation from their kindred. They swam instinctively, but they would +not dive, neither in a large bath nor in a current. But it happened one +day when one of these moorhens was swimming in a pool on a Yorkshire +stream, that a puppy came barking down the bank and made an awkward +feint towards the young bird. In a moment the moorhen dived, disappeared +from view, and soon partially reappeared, his head just peeping above +the water beneath the overhanging bank. This was the first time the bird +had dived, and the performance was absolutely true to type. + +There can be little doubt as to the meaning of this observation. The +moorhen has an hereditary or instinctive capacity for swimming and +diving, but the latter is not so easily called into activity as the +former. The particular moorhen in question had enjoyed about two months +of swimming experience, which probably counted for something, but in the +course of that experience nothing had pulled the trigger of the diving +capacity. On an eventful day the young moorhen saw and heard the dog; it +was emotionally excited; it probably did to some extent intelligently +appreciate a novel and meaningful situation. Intelligence cooperated +with instinct, and the bird dived appropriately. + +Birds have inborn predispositions to certain effective ways of pecking, +scratching, swimming, diving, flying, crouching, lying low, +nest-building, and so on; but they are marked off from the much more +purely instinctive ants and bees by the extent to which individual +"nurture" seems to mingle with the inherited "nature." The two together +result in the fine product which we call the bird's behaviour. After +Lloyd Morgan's chicks had tried a few conspicuous and unpalatable +caterpillars, they had no use for any more. They learned in their early +days with prodigious rapidity, illustrating the deep difference between +the "big-brain" type, relatively poor in its endowment of instinctive +capacities, but eminently "educable," and the "little-brain" type, say, +of ants and bees, richly endowed with instinctive capacities, but very +far from being quick or glad to learn. We owe it to Sir Ray Lankester to +have made it clear that these two types of brain are, as it were, on +different tacks of evolution, and should not be directly pitted against +one another. The "little-brain" type makes for a climax in the ant, +where instinctive behaviour reaches a high degree of perfection; the +"big-brain" type reaches its climax in horse and dog, in elephant and +monkey. The particular interest that attaches to the behaviour of birds +is in the combination of a good deal of instinct with a great deal of +intelligent learning. This is well illustrated when birds make a nest +out of new materials or in some quite novel situation. It is clearly +seen when birds turn to some new kind of food, like the Kea parrot, +which attacks the sheep in New Zealand. + +Some young woodpeckers are quite clever in opening fir cones to get at +the seeds, and this might be hastily referred to a well-defined +hereditary capacity. But the facts are that the parents bring their +young ones first the seeds themselves, then partly opened cones, and +then intact ones. There is an educative process, and so it is in scores +of cases. + + +Using their Wits + +When the Greek eagle lifts the Greek tortoise in its talons, and lets it +fall from a height so that the strong carapace is broken and the flesh +exposed, it is making intelligent use of an expedient. Whether it +discovered the expedient by experimenting, as is possible, or by chance, +as is more likely, it uses it intelligently. In the same way +herring-gulls lift sea-urchins and clams in their bills, and let them +fall on the rocks so that the shells are broken. In the same way rooks +deal with freshwater mussels. + + +The Thrush's Anvil + +A very instructive case is the behaviour of the song-thrush when it +takes a wood-snail in its beak and hammers it against a stone, its +so-called anvil. To a young thrush, which she had brought up by hand, +Miss Frances Pitt offered some wood-snails, but it took no interest in +them until one put out its head and began to move about. The bird then +pecked at the snail's horns, but was evidently puzzled when the creature +retreated within the shelter of the shell. This happened over and over +again, the thrush's inquisitive interest increasing day by day. It +pecked at the shell and even picked it up by the lip, but no real +progress was made till the sixth day, when the thrush seized the snail +and beat it on the ground as it would a big worm. On the same day it +picked up a shell and knocked it repeatedly against a stone, trying +first one snail and then another. After fifteen minutes' hard work, the +thrush managed to break one, and after that it was all easy. A certain +predisposition to beat things on the ground was doubtless present, but +the experiment showed that the use of an anvil could be arrived at by an +untutored bird. After prolonged trying it found out how to deal with a +difficult situation. It may be said that in more natural conditions this +might be picked up by imitation, but while this is quite possible, it is +useful to notice that experiments with animals lead us to doubt whether +imitation counts for nearly so much as used to be believed. + + +Sec. 6 + +The Mind of the Mammal + +When we watch a collie at a sheep-driving competition, or an elephant +helping the forester, or a horse shunting waggons at a railway siding, +we are apt to be too generous to the mammal mind. For in the cases we +have just mentioned, part of man's mind has, so to speak, got into the +animal's. On the other hand, when we study rabbits and guinea-pigs, we +are apt to be too stingy, for these rodents are under the average of +mammals, and those that live in domestication illustrate the stupefying +effect of a too sheltered life. The same applies to domesticated sheep +contrasted with wild sheep, or even with their own lambs. If we are to +form a sound judgment on the intelligence of mammals we must not attend +too much to those that have profited by man's training, nor to those +whose mental life has been dulled by domestication. + + +Instinctive Aptitudes + +What is to be said of the behaviour of beavers who gnaw the base of a +tree with their chisel-edged teeth till only a narrow core is left--to +snap in the first gale, bringing the useful branches down to the ground? +What is to be said of the harvest-mouse constructing its nest, or of the +squirrel making cache after cache of nuts? These and many similar pieces +of behaviour are fundamentally instinctive, due to inborn +predispositions of nerve-cells and muscle-cells. But in mammals they +seem to be often attended by a certain amount of intelligent attention, +saving the creature from the tyranny of routine so marked in the ways of +ants and bees. + + +Sheer Dexterity + +Besides instinctive aptitudes, which are exhibited in almost equal +perfection by all the members of the same species, there are acquired +dexterities which depend on individual opportunities. They are also +marked by being outside and beyond ordinary routine--not that any +rigorous boundary line can be drawn. We read that at Mathura on the +Jumna doles of food are provided by the piety of pilgrims for the sacred +river-tortoises, which are so crowded when there is food going that +their smooth carapaces form a more or less continuous raft across the +river. On that unsteady slippery bridge the Langur monkeys +(_Semnopithecus entellus_) venture out and in spite of vicious snaps +secure a share of the booty. This picture of the monkeys securing a +footing on the moving mass of turtle-backs is almost a diagram of sheer +dexterity. It illustrates the spirit of adventure, the will to +experiment, which is, we believe, the main motive-force in new +departures in behaviour. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Lafayette_ + +ALSATIAN WOLF-DOG + +An animal of acute senses and great intelligence. It was of great +service in the war. + +(The dog shown, Arno von Indetal, is a trained police dog and did +service abroad during the war.)] + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge._ + +THE POLAR BEAR OF THE FAR NORTH + +An animal of extraordinary strength, able with a stroke of its paw to +lift a big seal right out of the water and send it crashing along the +ice. The food consists chiefly of seals. The sexes wander separately. A +hole is often dug as a winter retreat, but there is no hibernation. A +polar bear in captivity has been seen making a current with its paw in +the water of its pool in order to secure floating buns without +trouble--an instance of sheer intelligence.] + +[Illustration: _From the Smithsonian Report_, 1914 + +AN ALLIGATOR "YAWNING" IN EXPECTATION OF FOOD + +Note the large number of sharp conical teeth fixed in sockets along the +jaws.] + + +Power of Association + +A bull-terrier called Jasper, studied by Prof. J. B. Watson, showed +great power of associating certain words with certain actions. From a +position invisible to the dog the owner would give certain commands, +such as "Go into the next room and bring me a paper lying on the floor." +Jasper did this at once, and a score of similar things. + +Lord Avebury's dog Van was accustomed to go to a box containing a small +number of printed cards and select the card TEA or OUT, as the occasion +suggested. It had established an association between certain black marks +on a white background and the gratification of certain desires. It is +probable that some of the extraordinary things horses and dogs have been +known to do in the way of stamping a certain number of times in supposed +indication of an answer to an arithmetical question (in the case of +horses), or of the name of an object drawn (in the case of dogs), are +dependent on clever associations established by the teacher between +minute signs and a number of stampings. What is certain is that mammals +have in varying degrees a strong power of establishing associations. +There is often some delicacy in the association established. Everyone +knows of cases where a dog, a cat, or a horse will remain quite +uninterested, to all appearance, in its owner's movements until some +little detail, such as taking a key from its peg, pulls the trigger. Now +the importance of this in the wild life of the fox or the hare, the +otter or the squirrel, is obviously that the young animals learn to +associate certain sounds in their environment with definite +possibilities. They have to learn an alphabet of woodcraft, the letters +of which are chiefly sounds and scents. + + +The Dancing Mouse as a Pupil + +The dancing or waltzing mouse is a Japanese variety with many +peculiarities, such as having only one of the three semicircular canals +of the ear well developed. It has a strong tendency to waltz round and +round in circles without sufficient cause and to trip sideways towards +its dormitory instead of proceeding in the orthodox head-on fashion. But +this freak is a very educable creature, as Professor Yerkes has shown. +In a careful way he confronted his mouse-pupil with alternative pathways +marked by different degrees of illumination, or by different colours. If +the mouse chose compartment A, it found a clear passage direct to its +nest; if it chose compartment B, it was punished by a mild electric +shock and it had to take a roundabout road home. Needless to say, the A +compartment was sometimes to the right hand, sometimes to the left, else +mere position would have been a guide. The experiments showed that the +dancing mice learn to discriminate the right path from the wrong, and +similar results have been got from other mammals, such as rats and +squirrels. There is no proof of learning by ideas, but there is proof of +learning by experience. And the same must be true in wild life. + +Many mammals, such as cats and rats, learn how to manipulate +puzzle-boxes and how to get at the treasure at the heart of a Hampton +Court maze. Some of the puzzle-boxes, with a reward of food inside, are +quite difficult, for the various bolts and bars have to be dealt with in +a particular order, and yet many mammals master the problem. What is +plain is that they gradually eliminate useless movements, that they make +fewer and fewer mistakes, that they eventually succeed, and that they +register the solution within themselves so that it remains with them for +a time. It looks a little like the behaviour of a man who learns a game +of skill without thinking. It is a learning by experience, not by ideas +or reflection. Thus it is very difficult to suppose that a rat or a cat +could form any idea or even picture of the Hampton Court maze--which +they nevertheless master. + + +Learning Tricks + +Given sufficient inducement many of the cleverer mammals will learn to +do very sensible things, and no one is wise enough to say that they +never understand what they are doing. Yet it is certain that trained +animals often exhibit pieces of behaviour which are not nearly so clever +as they look. The elephant at the Belle Vue Gardens in Manchester used +to collect pennies from benevolent visitors. When it got a penny in its +trunk it put it in the slot of an automatic machine which delivered up a +biscuit. When a visitor gave the elephant a halfpenny it used to throw +it back with disgust. At first sight this seemed almost wise, and there +was no doubt some intelligent appreciation of the situation. But it was +largely a matter of habituation, the outcome of careful and prolonged +training. The elephant was laboriously taught to put the penny in the +slot and to discriminate between the useful pennies and the useless +halfpennies. It was not nearly so clever as it looked. + + +Using their Wits + +In the beautiful Zoological Park in Edinburgh the Polar Bear was wont to +sit on a rocky peninsula of a water-filled quarry. The visitors threw in +buns, some of which floated on the surface. It was often easy for the +Polar Bear to collect half a dozen by plunging into the pool. But it had +discovered a more interesting way. At the edge of the peninsula it +scooped the water gently with its huge paw and made a current which +brought the buns ashore. This was a simple piece of behaviour, but it +has the smack of intelligence--of putting two and two together in a +novel way. It suggests the power of making what is called a "perceptual +inference." + +On the occasion of a great flood in a meadow it was observed that a +number of mares brought their foals to the top of a knoll, and stood +round about them protecting them against the rising water. A dog has +been known to show what was at any rate a plastic appreciation of a +varying situation in swimming across a tidal river. It changed its +starting-point, they say, according to the flow or ebb of the tide. +Arctic foxes and some other wild mammals show great cleverness in +dealing with traps, and the manipulative intelligence of elephants is +worthy of all our admiration. + + +Sec. 7 + +Why is there not more Intelligence? + +When we allow for dexterity and power of association, when we recognise +a certain amount of instinctive capacity and a capacity for profiting by +experience in an intelligent way, we must admit a certain degree of +disappointment when we take a survey of the behaviour of mammals, +especially of those with very fine brains, from which we should +naturally expect great things. Why is there not more frequent exhibition +of intelligence in the stricter sense? + +The answer is that most mammals have become in the course of time very +well adapted to the ordinary conditions of their life, and tend to leave +well alone. They have got their repertory of efficient answers to the +ordinary questions of everyday life, and why should they experiment? In +the course of the struggle for existence what has been established is +efficiency in normal circumstances, and therefore even the higher +animals tend to be no cleverer than is necessary. So while many mammals +are extraordinarily efficient, they tend to be a little dull. Their +mental equipment is adequate for the everyday conditions of their life, +but it is not on sufficiently generous lines to admit of, let us say, an +interest in Nature or adventurous experiment. Mammals always tend to +"play for safety." + +We hasten, however, to insert here some very interesting saving clauses. + + +Experimentation in Play + +A glimpse of what mammals are capable of, were it necessary, may be +obtained by watching those that are playful, such as lambs and kids, +foals and calves, young foxes and others. For these young creatures let +themselves go irresponsibly, they are still unstereotyped, they test +what they and their fellows can do. The experimental character of much +of animal play is very marked. + +It is now recognised by biologists that play among animals is the young +form of work, and that the playing period, often so conspicuous, is +vitally important as an apprenticeship to the serious business of life +and as an opportunity for learning the alphabet of Nature. But the +playing period is much more; it is one of the few opportunities animals +have of making experiments without too serious responsibilities. Play is +Nature's device for allowing elbow-room for new departures +(behaviour-variations) which may form part of the raw materials of +progress. Play, we repeat, gives us a glimpse of the possibilities of +the mammal mind. + + +Other Glimpses of Intelligence + +A squirrel is just as clever as it needs to be and no more; and of some +vanishing mammals, like the beaver, not even this can be said. Humdrum +non-plastic efficiency is apt to mean stagnation. Now we have just seen +that in the play of young mammals there is an indication of unexhausted +possibilities, and we get the same impression when we think of three +other facts. (_a_) In those mammals, like dog and horse, which have +entered into active cooperative relations with man, we see that the mind +of the mammal is capable of much more than the average would lead us to +think. When man's sheltering is too complete and the domesticated +creature is passive in his grip, the intelligence deteriorates. (_b_) +When we study mammals, like the otter, which live a versatile life in a +very complex and difficult environment, we get an inspiriting picture of +the play of wits. (_c_) Thirdly, when we pass to monkeys, where the +fore-limb has become a free hand, where the brain shows a relatively +great improvement, where "words" are much used, we cannot fail to +recognise the emergence of something new--a restless inquisitiveness, a +desire to investigate the world, an unsatisfied tendency to experiment. +We are approaching the Dawn of Reason. + + +THE MIND OF MONKEYS + +Sec. 8 + +There is a long gamut between the bushy-tailed, almost squirrel-like +marmosets and the big-brained chimpanzee. There is great variety of +attainment at different levels in the Simian tribe. + + +Keen Senses + +To begin at the beginning, it is certain that monkeys have a first-class +sensory equipment, especially as regards sight, hearing, and touch. The +axes of the two eyes are directed forwards as in man, and a large +section of the field of vision is common to both eyes. In other words, +monkeys have a more complete stereoscopic vision than the rest of the +mammals enjoy. They look more and smell less. They can distinguish +different colours, apart from different degrees of brightness in the +coloured objects. They are quick to discriminate differences in the +shapes of things, e.g. boxes similar in size but different in shape, for +if the prize is always put in a box of the same shape they soon learn +(by association) to select the profitable one. They learn to +discriminate cards with short words or with signs printed on them, +coming down when the "Yes" card is shown, remaining on their perch when +the card says "No." Bred to a forest life where alertness is a +life-or-death quality, they are quick to respond to a sudden movement or +to pick out some new feature in their surroundings. And what is true of +vision holds also for hearing. + + +Power of Manipulation + +Another quality which separates monkeys very markedly from ordinary +mammals is their manipulative expertness, the co-ordination of hand +and eye. This great gift follows from the fact that among monkeys the +fore-leg has been emancipated. It has ceased to be indispensable as an +organ of support; it has become a climbing, grasping, lifting, handling +organ. The fore-limb has become a free hand, and everyone who knows +monkeys at all is aware of the zest with which they use their tool. They +enjoy pulling things to pieces--a kind of dissection--or screwing the +handle off a brush and screwing it on again. + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. P. Dando_ + +BABY ORANG + +Notice the small ears and the suggestion of good temper. The mother +orang will throw prickly fruits and pieces of branches at those who +intrude on her maternal care.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Gambier Bolton._ + +ORANG-UTAN + +A large and heavy ape, frequenting forests in Sumatra and Borneo, living +mainly in trees, where a temporary nest is made. The expression is +melancholy, the belly very protuberant, the colour yellow-brown, the +movements are cautious and slow.] + +[Illustration: 1. CHIMPANZEE + +2. BABY ORANG-UTAN + +3. ORANG-UTAN + +4. BABY CHIMPANZEES + +_Photos: James's Press Agency._ + +In his famous book on _The Expression of the Emotions in Man and +Animals_ (1872) Charles Darwin showed that many forms of facial +expression familiar in man have their counterparts in apes and other +mammals. He also showed how important the movements of expression are as +means of communication between mother and offspring, mate and mate, kith +and kin. + +The anthropoid apes show notable differences of temperament as the +photographs show. The chimpanzee is lively, cheerful, and educable. The +orang is also mild of temper, but often and naturally appears melancholy +in captivity. This is not suggested, however, by our photograph of the +adult. Both chimpanzee and orang are markedly contrasted with the fierce +and gloomy gorilla.] + + +Activity for Activity's Sake + +Professor Thorndike hits the nail on the head when he lays stress on the +intensity of activity in monkeys--activity both of body and mind. They +are pent-up reservoirs of energy, which almost any influence will tap. +Watch a cat or a dog, Professor Thorndike says; it does comparatively +few things and is content for long periods to do nothing. It will be +splendidly active in response to some stimulus such as food or a friend +or a fight, but if nothing appeals to its special make-up, which is very +utilitarian in its interests, it will do nothing. "Watch a monkey and +you cannot enumerate the things he does, cannot discover the stimuli to +which he reacts, cannot conceive the _raison d'etre_ of his pursuits. +Everything appeals to him. He likes to be active for the sake of +activity." + +This applies to mental activity as well, and the quality is one of +extraordinary interest, for it shows the experimenting mood at a higher +turn of the spiral than in any other creature, save man. It points +forward to the scientific spirit. We cannot, indeed, believe in the +sudden beginning of any quality, and we recall the experimenting of +playing mammals, such as kids and kittens, or of inquisitive adults like +Kipling's mongoose, Riki-Tiki-Tavi, which made it his business in life +to find out about things. But in monkeys the habit of restless +experimenting rises to a higher pitch. They appear to be curious about +the world. The psychologist whom we have quoted tells of a monkey which +happened to hit a projecting wire so as to make it vibrate. He went on +repeating the performance hundreds of times during the next few days. Of +course, he got nothing out of it, save fun, but it was grist to his +mental mill. "The fact of mental life is to monkeys it own reward." The +monkey's brain is "tender all over, functioning throughout, set off in +action by anything and everything." + + +Sheer Quickness + +Correlated with the quality of restless inquisitiveness and delight in +activity for its own sake there is the quality of quickness. We mean not +merely the locomotor agility that marks most monkeys, but quickness of +perception and plan. It is the sort of quality that life among the +branches will engender, where it is so often a case of neck or nothing. +It is the quality which we describe as being on the spot, though the +phrase has slipped from its original moorings. Speaking of his Bonnet +Monkey, an Indian macaque, second cousin to the kind that lives on the +Rock of Gibraltar, Professor S. J. Holmes writes: "For keenness of +perception, rapidity of action, facility in forming good practical +judgments about ways and means of escaping pursuit and of attaining +various other ends, Lizzie had few rivals in the animal world.... Her +perceptions and decisions were so much more rapid than my own that she +would frequently transfer her attention, decide upon a line of action, +and carry it into effect before I was aware of what she was about. Until +I came to guard against her nimble and unexpected manoeuvres, she +succeeded in getting possession of many apples and peanuts which I had +not intended to give her except upon the successful performance of some +task." + + +Quick to Learn + +Quite fundamental to any understanding of animal behaviour is the +distinction so clearly drawn by Sir Ray Lankester between the +"little-brain" type, rich in inborn or instinctive capacities, but +relatively slow to learn, and the "big-brain" type, with a relatively +poor endowment of specialised instincts, but with great educability. The +"little-brain" type finds its climax in ants and bees; the "big-brain" +type in horses and dogs, elephants and monkeys. And of all animals +monkeys are the quickest to learn, if we use the word "learn" to mean +the formation of useful associations between this and that, between a +given sense-presentation and a particular piece of behaviour. + + +The Case of Sally + +Some of us remember Sally, the chimpanzee at the "Zoo" with which Dr. +Romanes used to experiment. She was taught to give her teacher the +number of straws he asked for, and she soon learned to do so up to five. +If she handed a number not asked for, her offer was refused; if she gave +the proper number, she got a piece of fruit. If she was asked for five +straws, she picked them up individually and placed them in her mouth, +and when she had gathered five she presented them together in her hand. +Attempts to teach her to give six to ten straws were not very +successful. For Sally "above six" meant "many," and besides, her limits +of patience were probably less than her range of computation. This was +hinted at by the highly interesting circumstance that when dealing with +numbers above five she very frequently doubled over a straw so as to +make it present two ends and thus appear as two straws. The doubling of +the straw looked like an intelligent device to save time, and it was +persistently resorted to in spite of the fact that her teacher always +refused to accept a doubled straw as equivalent to two straws. Here we +get a glimpse of something beyond the mere association of a +sound--"Five"--and that number of straws. + + +The Case of Lizzie + +The front of the cage in which Professor Holmes kept Lizzie was made of +vertical bars which allowed her to reach out with her arm. On a board +with an upright nail as handle, there was placed an apple--out of +Lizzie's reach. She reached immediately for the nail, pulled the board +in and got the apple. "There was no employment of the method of trial +and error; there was direct appropriate action following the perception +of her relation to board, nail, and apple." Of course her ancestors may +have been adepts at drawing a fruit-laden branch within their reach, but +the simple experiment was very instructive. All the more instructive +because in many other cases the experiments indicate a gradual sifting +out of useless movements and an eventful retention of the one that pays. +When Lizzie was given a vaseline bottle containing a peanut and closed +with a cork, she at once pulled the cork out with her teeth, obeying the +instinct to bite at new objects, but she never learned to turn the +bottle upside down and let the nut drop out. She often got the nut, and +after some education she got it more quickly than she did at first, but +there was no indication that she ever perceived the fit and proper way +of getting what she wanted. "In the course of her intent efforts her +mind seemed so absorbed with the object of desire that it was never +focussed on the means of attaining that object. There was no +deliberation, and no discrimination between the important and the +unimportant elements in her behaviour. The gradually increasing facility +of her performances depended on the apparently unconscious elimination +of useless movements." This may be called learning, but it is learning +at a very low level; it is far from learning by ideas; it is hardly even +learning by experiment; it is not more than learning by experience, it +is not more than fumbling at learning! + + +Trial and Error + +A higher note is struck in the behaviour of some more highly endowed +monkeys. In many experiments, chiefly in the way of getting into boxes +difficult to open, there is evidence (1) of attentive persistent +experiment (2) of the rapid elimination of ineffective movements, and +(3) of remembering the solution when it was discovered. Kinnaman taught +two macaques the Hampton Court Maze, a feat which probably means a +memory of movements, and we get an interesting glimpse in his +observation that they began to smack their lips audibly when they +reached the latter part of their course, and began to feel, dare one +say, "We are right this time." + +In getting into "puzzle-boxes" and into "combination-boxes" (where the +barriers must be overcome in a definite order), monkeys learn by the +trial and error method much more quickly than cats and dogs do, and a +very suggestive fact emphasized by Professor Thorndike is "a process of +sudden acquisition by a rapid, often apparently instantaneous +abandonment of the unsuccessful movements and selection of the +appropriate one, which rivals in suddenness the selections made by human +beings in similar performances." A higher note still was sounded by one +of Thorndike's monkeys which opened a puzzle-box at once, eight months +after his previous experience with it. For here was some sort of +registration of a solution. + + +Imitation + +Two chimpanzees in the Dublin Zoo were often to be seen washing the two +shelves of their cupboard and "wringing" the wet cloth in the approved +fashion. It was like a caricature of a washerwoman, and someone said, +"What mimics they are!" Now we do not know whether that was or was not +the case with the chimpanzees, but the majority of the experiments that +have been made do not lead us to attach to imitation so much importance +as is usually given to it by the popular interpreter. There are +instances where a monkey that had given up a puzzle in despair returned +to it when it had seen its neighbour succeed, but most of the +experiments suggested that the creature has to find out for itself. Even +with such a simple problem as drawing food near with a stick, it often +seems of little use to show the monkey how it is done. Placing a bit of +food outside his monkey's cage, Professor Holmes "poked it about with +the stick so as to give her a suggestion of how the stick might be +employed to move the food within reach, but although the act was +repeated many times Lizzie never showed the least inclination to use the +stick to her advantage." Perhaps the idea of a "tool" is beyond the +Bonnet Monkey, yet here again we must be cautious, for Professor L. T. +Hobhouse had a monkey of the same macaque genus which learned in the +course of time to use a crooked stick with great effect. + + +The Case of Peter + +Perhaps the cleverest monkey as yet studied was a performing chimpanzee +called Peter, which has been generally described by Dr. Lightner Witmer. +Peter could skate and cycle, thread needles and untie knots, smoke a +cigarette and string beads, screw in nails and unlock locks. But what +Peter was thinking about all the time it was hard to guess, and there is +very little evidence to suggest that his rapid power of putting two and +two together ever rose above a sort of concrete mental experimenting, +which Dr. Romanes used to call perceptual inference. Without supposing +that there are hard-and-fast boundary lines, we cannot avoid the general +conclusion that, while monkeys are often intelligent, they seldom, if +ever, show even hints of reason, i.e. of working or playing with general +ideas. That remains Man's prerogative. + + +The Bustle of the Mind + +In mammals like otters, foxes, stoats, hares, and elephants, what a +complex of tides and currents there must be in the brain-mind! We may +think of a stream with currents at different levels. Lowest there are +the _basal appetites_ of hunger and sex, often with eddies rising to the +surface. Then there are the _primary emotions_, such as fear of +hereditary enemies and maternal affection for offspring. Above these are +_instinctive aptitudes_, inborn powers of doing clever things without +having to learn how. But in mammals these are often expressed along +with, or as it were through, the controlled life of _intelligent +activity_, where there is more clear-cut perceptual influence. + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. P. Dando._ + +CHIMPANZEE + +An African ape, at home in the equatorial forests, a lively and playful +creature, eminently educable.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: W. S. Berridge._ + +YOUNG CHEETAHS, OR HUNTING LEOPARDS + +Trained to hunt from time immemorial and quite easily tamed. Cheetahs +occur in India, Persia, Turkestan, and Africa.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: C. Reid._ + +COMMON OTTER + +One of the most resourceful of animals and the "most playsomest crittur +on God's earth." It neither stores nor hibernates, but survives in +virtue of its wits and because of the careful education of the young. +The otter is a roving animal, often with more than one resting-place; it +has been known to travel fifteen miles in a night.] + +Higher still are the records or memories of individual experience and +the registration of individual habits, while on the surface is the +instreaming multitude of messages from the outside world, like raindrops +and hailstones on the stream, some of them penetrating deeply, being, as +we say, full of meaning. The mind of the higher animal is in some +respects like a child's mind, in having little in the way of clear-cut +ideas, in showing no reason in the strict sense, and in its +extraordinary educability, but it differs from the child's mind entirely +in the sure effectiveness of a certain repertory of responses. It is +efficient to a degree. + + +"Until at last arose the Man." + +Man's brain is more complicated than that of the higher apes--gorilla, +orang, and chimpanzee--and it is relatively larger. But the improvements +in structure do not seem in themselves sufficient to account for man's +great advance in intelligence. The rill of inner life has become a swift +stream, sometimes a rushing torrent. Besides perceptual inference or +_Intelligence_--a sort of picture-logic, which some animals likewise +have--there is conceptual inference--or _Reason_--an internal +experimenting with general ideas. Even the cleverest animals, it would +seem, do not get much beyond playing with "particulars"; man plays an +internal game of chess with "universals." Intelligent behaviour may go a +long way with mental images; rational conduct demands general ideas. It +may be, however, that "percepts" and "concepts" differ rather in degree +than in kind, and that the passage from one to the other meant a higher +power of forming associations. A clever dog has probably a generalised +percept of man, as distinguished from a memory-image of the particular +men it has known, but man alone has the concept Man, or Mankind, or +Humanity. Experimenting with concepts or general ideas is what we call +Reason. + +Here, of course, we get into deep waters, and perhaps it is wisest not +to attempt too much. So we shall content ourselves here with pointing +out that Man's advance in intelligence and from intelligence to reason +is closely wrapped up with his power of speech. What animals began--a +small vocabulary--he has carried to high perfection. But what is +distinctive is not the vocabulary so much as the habit of making +sentences, of expressing judgments in a way which admitted of +communication between mind and mind. The multiplication of words meant +much, the use of words as symbols of general ideas meant even more, for +it meant the possibility of playing the internal game of thinking; but +perhaps the most important advance of all was the means of comparing +notes with neighbours, of corroborating individual experience by social +intercourse. With words, also, it became easier to enregister outside +himself the gains of the past. It is not without significance that the +Greek Logos, which may be translated "the word," may also be translated +Mind. + + +Sec. 9 + +Looking Backwards + +When we take a survey of animal behaviour we see a long inclined plane. +The outer world provokes simple creatures to answer back; simple +creatures act experimentally on their surroundings. From the beginning +this twofold process has been going on, receiving stimuli from the +environment and acting upon the environment, and according to the +efficiency of the reactions and actions living creatures have been +sifted for millions of years. One main line of advance has been opening +new gateways of knowledge--the senses, which are far more than five in +number. The other main line of advance has been in most general terms, +experimenting or testing, probing and proving, trying one key after +another till a door is unlocked. There is progress in multiplying the +gateways of knowledge and making them more discriminating, and there is +progress in making the modes of experimenting more wide-awake, more +controlled, and more resolute. But behind both of these is the +characteristically vital power of enregistering within the organism the +lessons of the past. In the life of the individual these enregistrations +are illustrated by memories and habituations and habits; in the life of +the race they are illustrated by reflex actions and instinctive +capacities. + + +Body and Mind + +We must not shirk the very difficult question of the relation between +the bodily and the mental side of behaviour. + +(_a_) Some great thinkers have taught that the mind is a reality by +itself which plays upon the instrument of the brain and body. As the +instrument gets worn and dusty the playing is not so good as it once +was, but the player is still himself. This theory of the essential +independence of the mind is a very beautiful one, but those who like it +when applied to themselves are not always so fond of it when it is +applied to other intelligent creatures like rooks and elephants. It may +be, however, that there is a gradual emancipation of the mind which has +gone furthest in Man and is still progressing. + +(_b_) Some other thinkers have taught that the inner life of thought and +feeling is only, as it were, an echo of the really important +activity--that of the body and brain. Ideas are just foam-bells on the +hurrying streams and circling eddies of matter and energy that make up +our physiological life. To most of us this theory is impossible, because +we are quite sure that ideas and feelings and purposes, which cannot be +translated into matter and motion, are the clearest realities in our +experience, and that they count for good and ill all through our life. +They are more than the tickings of the clock; they make the wheels go +round. + +(_c_) There are others who think that the most scientific position is +simply to recognise both the bodily and the mental activities as equally +important, and so closely interwoven that they cannot be separated. +Perhaps they are just the outer and the inner aspects of one +reality--the life of the creature. Perhaps they are like the concave and +convex curves of a dome, like the two sides of a shield. Perhaps the +life of the organism is always a unity, at one time appearing more +conspicuously as Mind-body, at another time as Body-mind. The most +important fact is that neither aspect can be left out. By no jugglery +with words can we get Mind out of Matter and Motion. And since we are in +ourselves quite sure of our Mind, we are probably safe in saying that in +the beginning was Mind. This is in accordance with Aristotle's saying +that there is nothing in the end which was not also in kind present in +the beginning--whatever we mean by beginning. + + +In conclusion + +What has led to the truly wonderful result which we admire in a creature +like a dog or an otter, a horse or a hare? In general, we may say, just +two main processes--(1) testing all things, and (2) holding fast that +which is good. New departures occur and these are tested for what they +are worth. Idiosyncrasies crop up and they are sifted. New cards come +mysteriously from within into the creature's hand, and they are +played--for better or for worse. So by new variations and their sifting, +by experimenting and enregistering the results, the mind has gradually +evolved and will continue to evolve. + + + + +VIII + +FOUNDATIONS OF THE UNIVERSE + + + + +THE WORLD OF ATOMS + + +Most people have heard of the oriental race which puzzled over the +foundations of the universe, and decided that it must be supported on +the back of a giant elephant. But the elephant? They put it on the back +of a monstrous tortoise, and there they let the matter end. If every +animal in nature had been called upon, they would have been no nearer a +foundation. Most ancient peoples, indeed, made no effort to find a +foundation. The universe was a very compact little structure, mainly +composed of the earth and the great canopy over the earth which they +called the sky. They left it, as a whole, floating in nothing. And in +this the ancients were wiser than they knew. Things do not fall down +unless they are pulled down by that mysterious force which we call +gravitation. The earth, it is true, is pulled by the sun, and would fall +into it; but the earth escapes this fiery fate by circulating at great +speed round the sun. The stars pull each other; but it has already been +explained that they meet this by travelling rapidly in gigantic orbits. +Yet we do, in a new sense of the word, need foundations of the universe. +Our mind craves for some explanation of the matter out of which the +universe is made. For this explanation we turn to modern Physics and +Chemistry. Both these sciences study, under different aspects, matter +and energy; and between them they have put together a conception of the +fundamental nature of things which marks an epoch in the history of +human thought. + + +Sec. 1 + +The Bricks of the Cosmos + +More than two thousand years ago the first men of science, the Greeks of +the cities of Asia Minor, speculated on the nature of matter. You can +grind a piece of stone into dust. You can divide a spoonful of water +into as many drops as you like. Apparently you can go on dividing as +long as you have got apparatus fine enough for the work. But there must +be a limit, these Greeks said, and so they supposed that all matter was +ultimately composed of minute particles which were indivisible. That is +the meaning of the Greek word "atom." + +Like so many other ideas of these brilliant early Greek thinkers, the +atom was a sound conception. We know to-day that matter is composed of +atoms. But science was then so young that the way in which the Greeks +applied the idea was not very profound. A liquid or a gas, they said, +consisted of round, smooth atoms, which would not cling together. Then +there were atoms with rough surfaces, "hooky" surfaces, and these stuck +together and formed solids. The atoms of iron or marble, for instance, +were so very hooky that, once they got together, a strong man could not +tear them apart. The Greeks thought that the explanation of the universe +was that an infinite number of these atoms had been moving and mixing in +an infinite space during an infinite time, and had at last hit by chance +on the particular combination which is our universe. + +This was too simple and superficial. The idea of atoms was cast aside, +only to be advanced again in various ways. It was the famous Manchester +chemist, John Dalton, who restored it in the early years of the +nineteenth century. He first definitely formulated the atomic theory as +a scientific hypothesis. The whole physical and chemical science of that +century was now based upon the atom, and it is quite a mistake to +suppose that recent discoveries have discredited "atomism." An atom is +the smallest particle of a chemical element. No one has ever seen an +atom. Even the wonderful new microscope which has just been invented +cannot possibly show us particles of matter which are a million times +smaller than the breadth of a hair; for that is the size of atoms. We +can weigh them and measure them, though they are invisible, and we know +that all matter is composed of them. It is a new discovery that atoms +are not indivisible. They consist themselves of still smaller particles, +as we shall see. But the atoms exist all the same, and we may still say +that they are the bricks of which the material universe is built. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Elliott & Fry._ + +SIR ERNEST RUTHERFORD + +One of our most eminent physicists who has succeeded Sir J. J. Thomson +as Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge. The +modern theory of the structure of the atom is largely due to him.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Rischgitz Collection._ + +J. CLERK-MAXWELL + +One of the greatest scientific men who have ever lived. He +revolutionised physics with his electro-magnetic theory of light, and +practically all modern researches have had their origin, direct or +indirect, in his work. Together with Faraday he constitutes one of the +main scientific glories of the nineteenth century.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Ernest H. Mills._ + +SIR WILLIAM CROOKES + +Sir William Crookes experimented on the electric discharge in vacuum +tubes and described the phenomena as a "fourth state of matter." He was +actually observing the flight of electrons, but he did not fully +appreciate the nature of his experiments.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Photo Press_ + +PROFESSOR SIR W. H. BRAGG + +One of the most distinguished physicists of the present day.] + +But if we had some magical glass by means of which we could see into the +structure of material things, we should not see the atoms put evenly +together as bricks are in a wall. As a rule, two or more atoms first +come together to form a larger particle, which we call a "molecule." +Single atoms do not, as a rule, exist apart from other atoms; if a +molecule is broken up, the individual atoms seek to unite with other +atoms of another kind or amongst themselves. For example, three atoms of +oxygen form what we call ozone; two atoms of hydrogen uniting with one +atom of oxygen form water. It is molecules that form the mass of matter; +a molecule, as it has been expressed, is a little building of which +atoms are the bricks. + +In this way we get a useful first view of the material things we handle. +In a liquid the molecules of the liquid cling together loosely. They +remain together as a body, but they roll over and away from each other. +There is "cohesion" between them, but it is less powerful than in a +solid. Put some water in a kettle over the lighted gas, and presently +the tiny molecules of water will rush through the spout in a cloud of +steam and scatter over the kitchen. The heat has broken their bond of +association and turned the water into something like a gas; though we +know that the particles will come together again, as they cool, and form +once more drops of water. + +In a gas the molecules have full individual liberty. They are in a +state of violent movement, and they form no union with each other. If we +want to force them to enter into the loose sort of association which +molecules have in a liquid, we have to slow down their individual +movements by applying severe cold. That is how a modern man of science +liquefies gases. No power that we have will liquefy air at its ordinary +temperature. In _very_ severe cold, on the other hand, the air will +spontaneously become liquid. Some day, when the fires of the sun have +sunk very low, the temperature of the earth will be less than -200 deg. C.: +that is to say, more than two hundred degrees Centigrade below +freezing-point. It will sink to the temperature of the moon. Our +atmosphere will then be an ocean of liquid air, 35 feet deep, lying upon +the solidly frozen masses of our water-oceans. + +In a solid the molecules cling firmly to each other. We need a force +equal to twenty-five tons to tear asunder the molecules in a bar of iron +an inch thick. Yet the structure is not "solid" in the popular sense of +the word. If you put a piece of solid gold in a little pool of mercury, +the gold will take in the mercury _between_ its molecules, as if it were +porous like a sponge. The hardest solid is more like a lattice-work than +what we usually mean by "solid"; though the molecules are not fixed, +like the bars of a lattice-work, but are in violent motion; they vibrate +about equilibrium positions. If we could see right into the heart of a +bit of the hardest steel, we should see billions of separate molecules, +at some distance from each other, all moving rapidly to and fro. + +This molecular movement can, in a measure, be made visible. It was +noticed by a microscopist named Brown that, in a solution containing +very fine suspended particles, the particles were in constant movement. +Under a powerful microscope these particles are seen to be violently +agitated; they are each independently darting hither and thither +somewhat like a lot of billiard balls on a billiard table, colliding and +bounding about in all directions. Thousands of times a second these +encounters occur, and this lively commotion is always going on, this +incessant colliding of one molecule with another is the normal +condition of affairs; not one of them is at rest. The reason for this +has been worked out, and it is now known that these particles move about +because they are being incessantly bombarded by the molecules of the +liquid. The molecules cannot, of course, be seen, but the fact of their +incessant movement is revealed to the eye by the behaviour of the +visible suspended particles. This incessant movement in the world of +molecules is called the Brownian movement, and is a striking proof of +the reality of molecular motions. + + +Sec. 2 + +The Wonder-World of Atoms + +The exploration of this wonder-world of atoms and molecules by the +physicists and chemists of to-day is one of the most impressive triumphs +of modern science. Quite apart from radium and electrons and other +sensational discoveries of recent years, the study of ordinary matter is +hardly inferior, either in interest or audacity, to the work of the +astronomer. And there is the same foundation in both cases--marvellous +apparatus, and trains of mathematical reasoning that would have +astonished Euclid or Archimedes. Extraordinary, therefore, as are some +of the facts and figures we are now going to give in connection with the +minuteness of atoms and molecules, let us bear in mind that we owe them +to the most solid and severe processes of human thought. + +Yet the principle can in most cases be made so clear that the reader +will not be asked to take much on trust. It is, for instance, a matter +of common knowledge that gold is soft enough to be beaten into gold +leaf. It is a matter of common sense, one hopes, that if you beat a +measured cube of gold into a leaf six inches square, the mathematician +can tell the thickness of that leaf without measuring it. As a matter of +fact, a single grain of gold has been beaten into a leaf seventy-five +inches square. Now the mathematician can easily find that when a single +grain of gold is beaten out to that size, the leaf must be 1/367,000 of +an inch thick, or about a thousand times thinner than the paper on +which these words are printed; yet the leaf must be several molecules +thick. + +The finest gold leaf is, in fact, too thick for our purpose, and we turn +with a new interest to that toy of our boyhood the soap-bubble. If you +carefully examine one of these delicate films of soapy water, you notice +certain dark spots or patches on them. These are their thinnest parts, +and by two quite independent methods--one using electricity and the +other light--we have found that at these spots the bubble is less than +the three-millionth of an inch thick! But the molecules in the film +cling together so firmly that they must be at least twenty or thirty +deep in the thinnest part. A molecule, therefore, must be far less than +the three-millionth of an inch thick. + +We found next that a film of oil on the surface of water may be even +thinner than a soap-bubble. Professor Perrin, the great French authority +on atoms, got films of oil down to the fifty-millionth of an inch in +thickness! He poured a measured drop of oil upon water. Then he found +the exact limits of the area of the oil-sheet by blowing upon the water +a fine powder which spread to the edge of the film and clearly outlined +it. The rest is safe and simple calculation, as in the case of the +beaten grain of gold. Now this film of oil must have been at least two +molecules deep, so a single molecule of oil is considerably less than a +hundred-millionth of an inch in diameter. + +Innumerable methods have been tried, and the result is always the same. +A single grain of indigo, for instance, will colour a ton of water. This +obviously means that the grain contains billions of molecules which +spread through the water. A grain of musk will scent a room--pour +molecules into every part of it--for several years, yet not lose +one-millionth of its mass in a year. There are a hundred ways of showing +the minuteness of the ultimate particles of matter, and some of these +enable us to give definite figures. On a careful comparison of the best +methods we can say that the average molecule of matter is less than +the 1/125,000,000 of an inch in diameter. In a single cubic centimetre +of air--a globule about the size of a small marble--there are thirty +million trillion molecules. And since the molecule is, as we saw, a +group or cluster of atoms, the atom itself is smaller. Atoms, for +reasons which we shall see later, differ very greatly from each other in +size and weight. It is enough to say that some of them are so small that +it would take 400,000,000 of them, in a line, to cover an inch of space; +and that it takes at least a quintillion atoms of gold to weigh a single +gramme. Five million atoms of helium could be placed in a line across +the diameter of a full stop. + +[Illustration: An atom is the smallest particle of a chemical element. +Two or more atoms come together to form a molecule: thus molecules form +the mass of matter. A molecule of water is made up of two atoms of +hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. Molecules of different substances, +therefore, are of different sizes according to the number and kind of +the particular atoms of which they are composed. A starch molecule +contains no less than 25,000 atoms. + +Molecules, of course, are invisible. The above diagram illustrates the +_comparative_ sizes of molecules.] + +[Illustration: INCONCEIVABLE NUMBERS AND INCONCEIVABLY SMALL PARTICLES + +The molecules, which are inconceivably small, are, on the other hand, so +numerous that if one was able to place, end to end, all those contained +in, for example, a cubic centimetre of gas (less than a fifteenth of a +cubic inch), one would obtain a line capable of passing two hundred +times round the earth.] + +[Illustration: WHAT IS A MILLION? + +In dealing with the infinitely small, it is difficult to apprehend the +vast figures with which scientists confront us. A million is one +thousand thousand. We may realise what this implies if we consider that +a clock, beating seconds, takes approximately 278 hours (i.e. one week +four days fourteen hours) to tick one million times. A billion is one +million million. To tick a billion the clock would tick for over 31,735 +years. + +(In France and America a thousand millions is called a billion.)] + +[Illustration: THE BROWNIAN MOVEMENT + +A diagram, constructed from actual observations, showing the erratic +paths pursued by very fine particles suspended in a liquid, when +bombarded by the molecules of the liquid. This movement is called the +Brownian movement, and it furnishes a striking illustration of the truth +of the theory that the molecules of a body are in a state of continual +motion.] + + +The Energy of Atoms + +And this is only the beginning of the wonders that were done with +"ordinary matter," quite apart from radium and its revelations, to which +we will come presently. Most people have heard of "atomic energy," and +the extraordinary things that might be accomplished if we could harness +this energy and turn it to human use. A deeper and more wonderful source +of this energy has been discovered in the last twenty years, but it is +well to realise that the atoms themselves have stupendous energy. The +atoms of matter are vibrating or gyrating with extraordinary vigour. The +piece of cold iron you hold in your hand, the bit of brick you pick up, +or the penny you take from your pocket is a colossal reservoir of +energy, since it consists of trillions of moving atoms. To realise the +total energy, of course, we should have to witness a transformation such +as we do in atoms of radio-active elements, about which we shall have +something to say presently. + +If we put a grain of indigo in a glass of water, or a grain of musk in a +perfectly still room, we soon realise that molecules travel. Similarly, +the fact that gases spread until they fill every "empty" available space +shows definitely that they consist of small particles travelling at +great speed. The physicist brings his refined methods to bear on these +things, and he measures the energy and velocity of these infinitely +minute molecules. He tells us that molecules of oxygen, at the +temperature of melting ice, travel at the rate of about 500 yards a +second--more than a quarter of a mile a second. Molecules of hydrogen +travel at four times that speed, or three times the speed with which a +bullet leaves a rifle. Each molecule of the air, which seems so still in +the house on a summer's day, is really travelling faster than a rifle +bullet does at the beginning of its journey. It collides with another +molecule every twenty-thousandth of an inch of its journey. It is turned +from its course 5,000,000,000 times in every second by collisions. If we +could stop the molecules of hydrogen gas, and utilise their energy, as +we utilise the energy of steam or the energy of the water at Niagara, we +should find enough in every gramme of gas (about two-thousandths of a +pound) to raise a third of a ton to a height of forty inches. + +I have used for comparison the speed of a rifle bullet, and in an +earlier generation people would have thought it impossible even to +estimate this. It is, of course, easy. We put two screens in the path of +the bullet, one near the rifle and the other some distance away. We +connect them electrically and use a fine time-recording machine, and the +bullet itself registers the time it takes to travel from the first to +the second screen. + +Now this is very simple and superficial work in comparison with the +system of exact and minute measurements which the physicist and chemist +use. In one of his interesting works Mr. Charles R. Gibson gives a +photograph of two exactly equal pieces of paper in the opposite pans of +a fine balance. A single word has been written in pencil on one of these +papers, and that little scraping of lead has been enough to bring down +the scale! The spectroscope will detect a quantity of matter four +million times smaller even than this; and the electroscope is a million +times still more sensitive than the spectroscope. We have a +heat-measuring instrument, the bolometer, which makes the best +thermometer seem Early Victorian. It records the millionth of a degree +of temperature. It is such instruments, multiplied by the score, +which enable us to do the fine work recorded in these pages. + +[Illustration: _Reproduced from "The Forces of Nature" (Messrs. +Macmillan)._ + +A SOAP BUBBLE + +The iridescent colours sometimes seen on a soap bubble, as in the +illustration, may also be seen in very fine sections of crystals, in +glass blown into extremely fine bulbs, on the wings of dragon-flies and +the surface of oily water. The different colours correspond to different +thicknesses of the surface. Part of the light which strikes these thin +coatings is reflected from the upper surface, but another part of the +light penetrates the transparent coating and is reflected from the lower +surface. It is the mixture of these two reflected rays, their +"interference" as it is called, which produces the colours observed. The +"black spots" on a soap bubble are the places where the soapy film is +thinnest. At the black spots the thickness of the bubble is about the +three-millionth part of an inch. If the whole bubble were as thin as +this it would be completely invisible.] + + +Sec. 3 + +THE DISCOVERY OF X-RAYS AND RADIUM + +The Discovery of Sir Wm. Crookes + +But these wonders of the atom are only a prelude to the more romantic +and far-reaching discoveries of the new physics--the wonders of the +electron. Another and the most important phase of our exploration of the +material universe opened with the discovery of radium in 1898. + +In the discovery of radio-active elements, a new property of matter was +discovered. What followed on the discovery of radium and of the X-rays +we shall see. + +As Sir Ernest Rutherford, one of our greatest authorities, recently +said, the new physics has dissipated the last doubt about the reality of +atoms and molecules. The closer examination of matter which we have been +able to make shows positively that it is composed of atoms. But we must +not take the word now in its original Greek meaning (an "indivisible" +thing). The atoms are not indivisible. They can be broken up. They are +composed of still smaller particles. + +The discovery that the atom was composed of smaller particles was the +welcome realisation of a dream that had haunted the imagination of the +nineteenth century. Chemists said that there were about eighty different +kinds of atoms--different kinds of matter--but no one was satisfied with +the multiplicity. Science is always aiming at simplicity and unity. It +may be that science has now taken a long step in the direction of +explaining the fundamental unity of all the matter. The chemist was +unable to break up these "elements" into something simpler, so he called +their atoms "indivisible" in that sense. But one man of science after +another expressed the hope that we would yet discover some fundamental +matter of which the various atoms were composed--_one primordial +substance from which all the varying forms of matter have been evolved +or built up_. Prout suggested this at the very beginning of the century, +when atoms were rediscovered by Dalton. Father Secchi, the famous Jesuit +astronomer said that all the atoms were probably evolved from ether; and +this was a very favoured speculation. Sir William Crookes talked of +"prothyl" as the fundamental substance. Others thought hydrogen was the +stuff out of which all the other atoms were composed. + +The work which finally resulted in the discovery of radium began with +some beautiful experiments of Professor (later Sir William) Crookes in +the eighties. + +It had been noticed in 1869 that a strange colouring was caused when an +electric charge was sent through a vacuum tube--the walls of the glass +tube began to glow with a greenish phosphorescence. A vacuum tube is one +from which nearly all the air has been pumped, although we can never +completely empty the tube. Crookes used such ingenious methods that he +reduced the gas in his tubes until it was twenty million times thinner +than the atmosphere. He then sent an electric discharge through, and got +very remarkable results. The negative pole of the electric current (the +"cathode") _gave off rays which faintly lit the molecules of the thin +gas in the tube_, and caused a pretty fluorescence on the glass walls of +the tube. What were these Rays? Crookes at first thought they +corresponded to a "new or fourth state of matter." Hitherto we had only +been familiar with matter in the three conditions of solid, liquid, and +gaseous. + +Now Crookes really had the great secret under his eyes. But about twenty +years elapsed before the true nature of these rays was finally and +independently established by various experiments. The experiments proved +"that the rays consisted of a stream of negatively charged particles +travelling with enormous velocities from 10,000 to 100,000 miles a +second. In addition, it was found that the mass of each particle was +exceedingly small, about 1/1800 of the mass of a hydrogen atom, the +lightest atom known to science." _These particles or electrons, as they +are now called, were being liberated from the atom._ The atoms of matter +were breaking down in Crookes tubes. At that time, however, it was +premature to think of such a thing, and Crookes preferred to say that +the particles of the gas were electrified and hurled against the walls +of the tube. He said that it was ordinary matter in a new +state--"radiant matter." Another distinguished man of science, Lenard, +found that, when he fitted a little plate of aluminum in the glass wall +of the tube, the mysterious rays passed through this as if it were a +window. They must be waves in the ether, he said. + +[Illustration: _From "Scientific Ideas of To-day_." + +DETECTING A SMALL QUANTITY OF MATTER + +In the left-hand photograph the two pieces of paper exactly balance. The +balance used is very sensitive, and when the single word "atoms" has +been written with a lead pencil upon one of the papers the additional +weight is sufficient to depress one of the pans as shown in the second +photograph. The spectroscope will detect less than one-millionth of the +matter contained in the word pencilled above.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission of X-Rays Ltd._ + +THIS X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH IS THAT OF A HAND OF A SOLDIER WOUNDED IN THE +GREAT WAR + +Note the pieces of shrapnel which are revealed.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: National Physical Laboratory._ + +AN X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH OF A GOLF BALL, REVEALING AN IMPERFECT CORE] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission of X-Rays Ltd._ + +A WONDERFUL X-RAY PHOTOGRAPH + +Note the fine details revealed, down to the metal tags of the bootlace +and the nails in the heel of the boot.] + + +Sec. 4 + +The Discovery of X-rays + +So the story went on from year to year. We shall see in a moment to what +it led. Meanwhile the next great step was when, in 1895, Roentgen +discovered the X-rays, which are now known to everybody. He was +following up the work of Lenard, and he one day covered a "Crookes tube" +with some black stuff. To his astonishment a prepared chemical screen +which was near the tube began to glow. _The rays had gone through the +black stuff; and on further experiment he found that they would go +through stone, living flesh, and all sorts of "opaque" substances._ In a +short time the world was astonished to learn that we could photograph +the skeleton in a living man's body, locate a penny in the interior of a +child that had swallowed one, or take an impression of a coin through a +slab of stone. + +And what are these X-rays? They are not a form of matter; they are not +material particles. X-rays were found to be a new variety of _light_ +with a remarkable power of penetration. We have seen what the +spectroscope reveals about the varying nature of light wave-lengths. +Light-waves are set up by vibrations in ether,[2] and, as we shall see, +these ether disturbances are all of the same kind; they only differ as +regards wave-lengths. The X-rays which Roentgen discovered, then, are +light, but a variety of light previously unknown to us; they are ether +waves of very short length. X-rays have proved of great value in many +directions, as all the world knows, but that we need not discuss at this +point. Let us see what followed Roentgen's discovery. + + [2] We refer throughout to the "ether" because, although modern + theories dispense largely with this conception, the theories of + physics are so inextricably interwoven with it that it is necessary, + in an elementary exposition, to assume its existence. The modern + view will be explained later in the article on Einstein's Theory. + +While the world wondered at these marvels, the men of science were +eagerly following up the new clue to the mystery of matter which was +exercising the mind of Crookes and other investigators. In 1896 +Becquerel brought us to the threshold of the great discovery. + +Certain substances are phosphorescent--they become luminous after they +have been exposed to sunlight for some time, and Becquerel was trying to +find if any of these substances give rise to X-rays. One day he chose a +salt of the metal uranium. He was going to see if, after exposing it to +sunlight, he could photograph a cross with it through an opaque +substance. He wrapped it up and laid it aside, to wait for the sun, but +he found the uranium salt did not wait for the sun. Some strong +radiation from it went through the opaque covering and made an +impression of the cross upon the plate underneath. Light or darkness was +immaterial. The mysterious rays streamed night and day from the salt. +This was something new. Here was a substance which appeared to be +producing X-rays; the rays emitted by uranium would penetrate the same +opaque substances as the X-rays discovered by Roentgen. + + +Discovery of Radium + +Now, at the same time as many other investigators, Professor Curie and +his Polish wife took up the search. They decided to find out whether +the emission came from the uranium itself or _from something associated +with it_, and for this purpose they made a chemical analysis of great +quantities of minerals. They found a certain kind of pitchblende which +was very active, and they analysed tons of it, concentrating always on +the radiant element in it. After a time, as they successively worked out +the non-radiant matter, the stuff began to glow. In the end they +extracted from eight tons of pitchblende about half a teaspoonful of +something _that was a million times more radiant than uranium_. There +was only one name for it--Radium. + +That was the starting-point of the new development of physics and +chemistry. From every laboratory in the world came a cry for radium +salts (as pure radium was too precious), and hundreds of brilliant +workers fastened on the new element. The inquiry was broadened, and, as +year followed year, one substance after another was found to possess the +power of emitting rays, that is, to be radio-active. We know to-day that +nearly every form of matter can be stimulated to radio-activity; which, +as we shall see, means that _its atoms break up into smaller and +wonderfully energetic particles which we call "electrons."_ This +discovery of electrons has brought about a complete change in our ideas +in many directions. + +So, instead of atoms being indivisible, they are actually dividing +themselves, spontaneously, and giving off throughout the universe tiny +fragments of their substance. We shall explain presently what was later +discovered about the electron; meanwhile we can say that every glowing +metal is pouring out a stream of these electrons. Every arc-lamp is +discharging them. Every clap of thunder means a shower of them. Every +star is flooding space with them. We are witnessing the spontaneous +breaking up of atoms, atoms which had been thought to be indivisible. +The sun not only pours out streams of electrons from its own atoms, but +the ultra-violet light which it sends to the earth is one of the most +powerful agencies for releasing electrons from the surface-atoms of +matter on the earth. It is fortunate for us that our atmosphere absorbs +most of this ultra-violet or invisible light of the sun--a kind of light +which will be explained presently. It has been suggested that, if we +received the full flood of it from the sun, our metals would +disintegrate under its influence and this "steel civilisation" of ours +would be impossible! + +But we are here anticipating, we are going beyond radium to the +wonderful discoveries which were made by the chemists and physicists of +the world who concentrated upon it. The work of Professor and Mme. Curie +was merely the final clue to guide the great search. How it was followed +up, how we penetrated into the very heart of the minute atom and +discovered new and portentous mines of energy, and how we were able to +understand, not only matter, but electricity and light, will be told in +the next chapter. + + +THE DISCOVERY OF THE ELECTRON AND HOW IT EFFECTED A REVOLUTION IN IDEAS + +What the discovery of radium implied was only gradually realised. Radium +captivated the imagination of the world; it was a boon to medicine, but +to the man of science it was at first a most puzzling and most +attractive phenomenon. It was felt that some great secret of nature was +dimly unveiled in its wonderful manifestations, and there now +concentrated upon it as gifted a body of men--conspicuous amongst them +Sir J. J. Thomson, Sir Ernest Rutherford, Sir W. Ramsay, and Professor +Soddy--as any age could boast, with an apparatus of research as far +beyond that of any other age as the _Aquitania_ is beyond a Roman +galley. Within five years the secret was fairly mastered. Not only were +all kinds of matter reduced to a common basis, but the forces of the +universe were brought into a unity and understood as they had never been +understood before. + +[Illustration: ELECTRIC DISCHARGE IN A VACUUM TUBE + +The two ends, marked + and -, of a tube from which nearly all air has +been exhausted are connected to electric terminals, thus producing an +electric discharge in the vacuum tube. This discharge travels straight +along the tube, as in the upper diagram. When a magnetic field is +applied, however, the rays are deflected, as shown in the lower diagram. +The similarity of the behaviour of the electric discharge with the +radium rays (see diagram of deflection of radium rays, _post_) shows +that the two phenomena may be identified. It was by this means that the +characteristics of electrons were first discovered.] + +[Illustration: THE RELATIVE SIZES OF ATOMS AND ELECTRONS + +An atom is far too small to be seen. In a bubble of hydrogen gas no +larger than the letter "O" there are billions of atoms, whilst an +electron is more than a thousand times smaller than the smallest atom. +How their size is ascertained is described in the text. In this diagram +a bubble of gas is magnified to the size of the world. Adopting this +scale, _each atom_ in the bubble would then be as large as a tennis +ball.] + +[Illustration: IF AN ATOM WERE MAGNIFIED TO THE SIZE OF ST. PAUL'S +CATHEDRAL, EACH ELECTRON IN THE ATOM (AS REPRESENTED BY THE CATHEDRAL) +WOULD THEN BE ABOUT THE SIZE OF A SMALL BULLET] + +[Illustration: ELECTRONS STREAMING FROM THE SUN TO THE EARTH + +There are strong reasons for supposing that sun-spots are huge +electronic cyclones. The sun is constantly pouring out vast streams of +electrons into space. Many of these streams encounter the earth, giving +rise to various electrical phenomena.] + + +Sec. 5 + +The Discovery of the Electron + +Physicists did not take long to discover that the radiation from radium +was very like the radiation in a "Crookes tube." It was quickly +recognised, moreover, that both in the tube and in radium (and other +metals) the atoms of matter were somehow breaking down. + +However, the first step was to recognise that there were three distinct +and different rays that were given off by such metals as radium and +uranium. Sir Ernest Rutherford christened them, after the first three +letters of the Greek alphabet, the Alpha, the Beta, and Gamma rays. We +are concerned chiefly with the second group and purpose here to deal +with that group only.[3] + + [3] The "Alpha rays" were presently recognised as atoms of helium + gas, shot out at the rate of 12,000 miles a second. + +The "Gamma rays" are _waves_, like the X-rays, not material particles. +They appear to be a type of X-rays. They possess the remarkable power of +penetrating opaque substances; they will pass through a foot of solid +iron, for example. + +The "Beta rays," as they were at first called, have proved to be one of +the most interesting discoveries that science ever made. They proved +what Crookes had surmised about the radiations he discovered in his +vacuum tube. But it was _not_ a fourth state of matter that had been +found, but a new _property_ of matter, a property common to all atoms of +matter. The Beta rays were later christened Electrons. They are +particles of disembodied electricity, here spontaneously liberated from +the atoms of matter: only when the electron was isolated from the atom +was it recognised for the first time as a separate entity. Electrons, +therefore, are a constituent of the atoms of matter, and we have +discovered that they can be released from the atom by a variety of +agencies. Electrons are to be found everywhere, forming part of every +atom. + +"An electron," Sir William Bragg says, "can only maintain a separate +existence if it is travelling at an immense rate, from one +three-hundredth of the velocity of light upwards, that is to say, at +least 600 _miles a second, or thereabouts_. Otherwise the electron +sticks to the first atom it meets." These amazing particles may travel +with the enormous velocity of from 10,000 to more than 100,000 miles a +second. It was first learned that they are of an electrical nature, +because they are bent out of their normal path if a magnet is brought +near them. And this fact led to a further discovery: to one of those +sensational estimates which the general public is apt to believe to be +founded on the most abstruse speculations. The physicist set up a little +chemical screen for the "Beta rays" to hit, and he so arranged his tube +that only a narrow sheaf of the rays poured on to the screen. He then +drew this sheaf of rays out of its course with a magnet, and he +accurately measured the shift of the luminous spot on the screen where +the rays impinged on it. But when he knows the exact intensity of his +magnetic field--which he can control as he likes--and the amount of +deviation it causes, and the mass of the moving particles, he can tell +the speed of the moving particles which he thus diverts. These particles +were being hurled out of the atoms of radium, or from the negative pole +in a vacuum tube, at a speed which, in good conditions, reached nearly +the velocity of light, i.e. nearly 186,000 miles a second. + +Their speed has, of course, been confirmed by numbers of experiments; +and another series of experiments enabled physicists to determine the +size of the particles. Only one of these need be described, to give the +reader an idea how men of science arrived at their more startling +results. + +Fog, as most people know, is thick in our great cities because the +water-vapour gathers on the particles of dust and smoke that are in the +atmosphere. This fact was used as the basis of some beautiful +experiments. Artificial fogs were created in little glass tubes, by +introducing dust, in various proportions, for supersaturated vapour to +gather on. In the end it was possible to cause tiny drops of rain, each +with a particle of dust at its core, to fall upon a silver mirror and be +counted. It was a method of counting the quite invisible particles of +dust in the tube; and the method was now successfully applied to the new +rays. Yet another method was to direct a slender stream of the particles +upon a chemical screen. The screen glowed under the cannonade of +particles, and a powerful lens resolved the glow into distinct sparks, +which could be counted. + +In short, a series of the most remarkable and beautiful experiments, +checked in all the great laboratories of the world, settled the nature +of these so-called rays. They were streams of particles more than a +thousand times smaller than the smallest known atom. The mass of each +particle is, according to the latest and finest measurements 1/1845 of +that of an atom of hydrogen. The physicist has not been able to find any +character except electricity in them, and the name "electrons" has been +generally adopted. + + +The Key to many Mysteries + +The Electron is an atom, of disembodied electricity; it occupies an +exceedingly small volume, and its "mass" is entirely electrical. These +electrons are the key to half the mysteries of matter. Electrons in +rapid motion, as we shall see, explain what we mean by an "electric +current," not so long ago regarded as one of the most mysterious +manifestations in nature. + +"What a wonder, then, have we here!" says Professor R. K. Duncan. "An +innocent-looking little pinch of salt and yet possessed of special +properties utterly beyond even the fanciful imaginings of men of past +time; for nowhere do we find in the records of thought even the hint of +the possibility of things which we now regard as established fact. This +pinch of salt projects from its surface bodies [i.e. electrons] +possessing the inconceivable velocity of over 100,000 miles a second, a +velocity sufficient to carry them, if unimpeded, five times around the +earth in a second, and possessing with this velocity, masses a thousand +times smaller than the smallest atom known to science. Furthermore, +they are charged with negative electricity; they pass straight through +bodies considered opaque with a sublime indifference to the properties +of the body, with the exception of its mere density; they cause bodies +which they strike to shine out in the dark; they affect a photographic +plate; they render the air a conductor of electricity; they cause clouds +in moist air; they cause chemical action and have a peculiar +physiological action. Who, to-day, shall predict the ultimate service to +humanity of the beta-rays from radium!" + + +Sec. 6 + +THE ELECTRON THEORY, OR THE NEW VIEW OF MATTER + +The Structure of the Atom + +There is general agreement amongst all chemists, physicists, and +mathematicians upon the conclusions which we have so far given. We know +that the atoms of matter are constantly--either spontaneously or under +stimulation--giving off electrons, or breaking up into electrons; and +they therefore contain electrons. Thus we have now complete proof of the +independent existence of atoms and also of electrons. + +When, however, the man of science tries to tell us _how_ electrons +compose atoms, he passes from facts to speculation, and very difficult +speculation. Take the letter "o" as it is printed on this page. In a +little bubble of hydrogen gas no larger than that letter there are +_trillions_ of atoms; and they are not packed together, but are +circulating as freely as dancers in a ball-room. We are asking the +physicist to take one of these minute atoms and tell us how the still +smaller electrons are arranged in it. Naturally he can only make mental +pictures, guesses or hypotheses, which he tries to fit to the facts, and +discards when they will _not_ fit. + +At present, after nearly twenty years of critical discussion, there are +two chief theories of the structure of the atom. At first Sir J. J. +Thomson imagined the electrons circulating in shells (like the layers of +an onion) round the nucleus of the atom. This did not suit, and Sir E. +Rutherford and others worked out a theory that the electrons circulated +round a nucleus rather like the planets of our solar system revolving +round the central sun. Is there a nucleus, then, round which the +electrons revolve? The electron, as we saw, is a disembodied atom of +electricity; we should say, of "negative" electricity. Let us picture +these electrons all moving round in orbits with great velocity. Now it +is suggested that there is a nucleus of "positive" electricity +attracting or pulling the revolving electrons to it, and so forming an +equilibrium, otherwise the electrons would fly off in all directions. +This nucleus has been recently named the proton. We have thus two +electricities in the atom: the positive = the nucleus; the negative = +the electron. Of recent years Dr. Langmuir has put out a theory that the +electrons do not _revolve round_ the nucleus, but remain in a state of +violent agitation of some sort at fixed distances from the nucleus. + +[Illustration: PROFESSOR SIR J. J. THOMSON + +Experimental discoverer of the electronic constitution of matter, in the +Cavendish Physical Laboratory, Cambridge. A great investigator, noted +for the imaginative range of his hypotheses and his fertility in +experimental devices.] + +[Illustration: _From the Smithsonian Report_, 1915. + +ELECTRONS PRODUCED BY PASSAGE OF X-RAYS THROUGH AIR + +A photograph clearly showing that electrons are definite entities. As +electrons leave atoms they may traverse matter or pass through the air +in a straight path The illustration shows the tortuous path of electrons +resulting from collision with atoms.] + +[Illustration: MAGNETIC DEFLECTION OF RADIUM RAYS + +The radium rays are made to strike a screen, producing visible spots of +light. When a magnetic field is applied the rays are seen to be +deflected, as in the diagram. This can only happen if the rays carry an +electric charge, and it was by experiments of this kind that we obtained +our knowledge respecting the electric charges carried by radium rays.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission of "Scientific American."_ + +PROFESSOR R. A. MILLIKAN'S APPARATUS FOR COUNTING ELECTRONS] + +But we will confine ourselves here to the facts, and leave the +contending theories to scientific men. It is now pretty generally +accepted that an atom of matter consists of a number of electrons, or +charges of negative electricity, held together by a charge of positive +electricity. It is not disputed that these electrons are in a state of +violent motion or strain, and that therefore a vast energy is locked up +in the atoms of matter. To that we will return later. Here, rather, we +will notice another remarkable discovery which helps us to understand +the nature of matter. + +A brilliant young man of science who was killed in the war, Mr. Moseley, +some years ago showed that, when the atoms of different substances are +arranged in order of their weight, _they are also arranged in the order +of increasing complexity of structure_. That is to say, the heavier the +atom, the more electrons it contains. There is a gradual building up of +atoms containing more and more electrons from the lightest atom to the +heaviest. Here it is enough to say that as he took element after +element, from the lightest (hydrogen) to the heaviest (uranium) he found +a strangely regular relation between them. If hydrogen were represented +by the figure one, helium by two, lithium three, and so on up to +uranium, then uranium should have the figure ninety-two. This makes it +probable that there are in nature ninety-two elements--we have found +eighty-seven--and that the number Mr. Moseley found is the number of +electrons in the atom of each element; that is to say, the number is +arranged in order of the atomic numbers of the various elements. + + +Sec. 7 + +The New View of Matter + +Up to the point we have reached, then, we see what the new view of +Matter is. Every atom of matter, of whatever kind throughout the whole +universe, is built up of electrons in conjunction with a nucleus. From +the smallest atom of all--the atom of hydrogen--which consists of one +electron, rotating round a positively charged nucleus, to a heavy +complicated atom, such as the atom of gold, constituted of many +electrons and a complex nucleus, _we have only to do with positive and +negative units of electricity_. The electron and its nucleus are +particles of electricity. All Matter, therefore, is nothing but a +manifestation of electricity. The atoms of matter, as we saw, combine +and form molecules. Atoms and molecules are the bricks out of which +nature has built up everything; ourselves, the earth, the stars, the +whole universe. + +But more than bricks are required to build a house. There are other +fundamental existences, such as the various forms of energy, which give +rise to several complex problems. And we have also to remember, that +there are more than eighty distinct elements, each with its own definite +type of atom. We shall deal with energy later. Meanwhile it remains to +be said that, although we have discovered a great deal about the +electron and the constitution of matter, and that while the physicists +of our own day seem to see a possibility of explaining positive and +negative electricity, the nature of them both is unknown. There exists +the theory that the particles of positive and negative electricity, +which make up the atoms of matter, are points or centres of disturbances +of some kind in a universal ether, and that all the various forms of +energy are, in some fundamental way, aspects of the same primary entity +which constitutes matter itself. + +But the discovery of the property of radio-activity has raised many +other interesting questions, besides that which we have just dealt with. +In radio-active elements, such as uranium for example, the element is +breaking down; in what we call radio-activity we have a manifestation of +the spontaneous change of elements. What is really taking place is a +transmutation of one element into another, from a heavier to a lighter. +The element uranium spontaneously becomes radium, and radium passes +through a number of other stages until it, in turn, becomes lead. Each +descending element is of lighter atomic weight than its predecessor. The +changing process, of course, is a very slow one. It may be that all +matter is radio-active, or can be made so. This raises the question +whether all the matter in the universe may not undergo disintegration. + +There is, however, another side of the question, which the discovery of +radio-activity has brought to light, and which has effected a revolution +in our views. We have seen that in radio-active substances the elements +are breaking down. Is there a process of building up at work? If the +more complicated atoms are breaking down into simpler forms, may there +not be a converse process--a building up from simpler elements to more +complicated elements? It is probably the case that both processes are at +work. + +There are some eighty-odd chemical elements on the earth to-day: are +they all the outcome of an inorganic evolution, element giving rise to +element, going back and back to some primeval stuff from which they +were all originally derived infinitely long ago? Is there an evolution +in the inorganic world which may be going on, parallel to that of the +evolution of living things; or is organic evolution a continuation of +inorganic evolution? We have seen what evidence there is of this +inorganic evolution in the case of the stars. We cannot go deeply into +the matter here, nor has the time come for any direct statement that can +be based on the findings of modern investigation. Taking it altogether +the evidence is steadily accumulating, and there are authorities who +maintain that already the evidence of inorganic evolution is convincing +enough. The heavier atoms would appear to behave as though they were +evolved from the lighter. The more complex forms, it is supposed, have +_evolved_ from the simpler forms. Moseley's discovery, to which +reference has been made, points to the conclusion that the elements are +built up one from another. + + +Sec. 8 + +Other New Views + +We may here refer to another new conception to which the discovery of +radio-activity has given rise. Lord Kelvin, who estimated the age of the +earth at twenty million years, reached this estimate by considering the +earth as a body which is gradually cooling down, "losing its primitive +heat, like a loaf taken from the oven, at a rate which could be +calculated, and that the heat radiated by the sun was due to +contraction." Uranium and radio-activity were not known to Kelvin, and +their discovery has upset both his arguments. Radio-active substances, +which are perpetually giving out heat, introduce an entirely new factor. +We cannot now assume that the earth is necessarily cooling down; it may +even, for all we know, be getting hotter. At the 1921 meeting of the +British Association, Professor Rayleigh stated that further knowledge +had extended the probable period during which there had been life on +this globe to about one thousand million years, and the total age of +the earth to some small multiple of that. The earth, he considers, is +not cooling, but "contains an internal source of heat from the +disintegration of uranium in the outer crust." On the whole the estimate +obtained would seem to be in agreement with the geological estimates. +The question, of course, cannot, in the present state of our knowledge, +be settled within fixed limits that meet with general agreement. + +[Illustration: MAKING THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE + +Radium, as explained in the text, emits rays--the "Alpha," the "Beta" +(electrons), and "Gamma" rays. The above illustration indicates the +method by which these invisible rays are made visible, and enables the +nature of the rays to be investigated. To the right of the diagram is +the instrument used, the Spinthariscope, making the impact of radium +rays visible on a screen. + +The radium rays shoot out in all directions; those that fall on the +screen make it glow with points of light. These points of light are +observed by the magnifying lens. + +A. Magnifying lens. B. A zinc sulphite screen. C. A needle on whose +point is placed a speck of radium. + +The lower picture shows the screen and needle magnified.] + +[Illustration: THE THEORY OF ELECTRONS + +An atom of matter is composed of electrons. We picture an atom as a sort +of miniature solar system, the electrons (particles of negative +electricity) rotating round a central nucleus of positive electricity, +as described in the text. In the above pictorial representation of an +atom the whirling electrons are indicated in the outer ring. Electrons +move with incredible speed as they pass from one atom to another.] + +[Illustration: ARRANGEMENTS OF ATOMS IN A DIAMOND + +The above is a model (seen from two points of view) of the arrangement +of the atoms in a diamond. The arrangement is found by studying the +X-ray spectra of the diamond.] + +As we have said, there are other fundamental existences which give rise +to more complex problems. The three great fundamental entities in the +physical universe are matter, ether, and energy; so far as we know, +outside these there is nothing. We have dealt with matter, there remain +ether and energy. We shall see that just as no particle of matter, +however small, may be created or destroyed, and just as there is no such +thing as empty space--ether pervades everything--so there is no such +thing as _rest_. Every particle that goes to make up our solid earth is +in a state of perpetual unremitting vibration; energy "is the universal +commodity on which all life depends." Separate and distinct as these +three fundamental entities--matter, ether, and energy--may appear, it +may be that, after all, they are only different and mysterious phases of +an essential "oneness" of the universe. + + +Sec. 9 + +The Future + +Let us, in concluding this chapter, give just one illustration of the +way in which all this new knowledge may prove to be as valuable +practically as it is wonderful intellectually. We saw that electrons are +shot out of atoms at a speed that may approach 160,000 miles a second. +Sir Oliver Lodge has written recently that a seventieth of a grain of +radium discharges, at a speed a thousand times that of a rifle bullet, +thirty million electrons a second. Professor Le Bon has calculated that +it would take 1,340,000 barrels of powder to give a bullet the speed of +one of these electrons. He shows that the smallest French copper +coin--smaller than a farthing--contains an energy equal to eighty +million horsepower. A few pounds of matter contain more energy than we +could extract from millions of tons of coal. Even in the atoms of +hydrogen at a temperature which we could produce in an electric furnace +the electrons spin round at a rate of nearly a hundred trillion +revolutions a second! + +Every man asks at once: "Will science ever tap this energy?" If it does, +no more smoke, no mining, no transit, no bulky fuel. The energy of an +atom is of course only liberated when an atom passes from one state to +another. The stored up energy is fortunately fast bound by the electrons +being held together as has been described. If it were not so "the earth +would explode and become a gaseous nebula"! It is believed that some day +we shall be able to release, harness, and utilise atomic energy. "I am +of opinion," says Sir William Bragg, "that atom energy will supply our +future need. A thousand years may pass before we can harness the atom, +or to-morrow might see us with the reins in our hands. That is the +peculiarity of Physics--research and 'accidental' discovery go hand in +hand." Half a brick contains as much energy as a small coal-field. The +difficulties are tremendous, but, as Sir Oliver Lodge reminds us, there +was just as much scepticism at one time about the utilisation of steam +or electricity. "Is it to be supposed," he asks, "that there can be no +fresh invention, that all the discoveries have been made?" More than one +man of science encourages us to hope. Here are some remarkable words +written by Professor Soddy, one of the highest authorities on +radio-active matter, in our chief scientific weekly (_Nature_, November +6, 1919): + + The prospects of the successful accomplishment of artificial + transmutation brighten almost daily. The ancients seem to have had + something more than an inkling that the accomplishment of + transmutation would confer upon men powers hitherto the prerogative + of the gods. But now we know definitely that the material aspect of + transmutation would be of small importance in comparison with the + control over the inexhaustible stores of internal atomic energy to + which its successful accomplishment would inevitably lead. It has + become a problem, no longer redolent of the evil associations of the + age of alchemy, but one big with the promise of a veritable physical + renaissance of the whole world. + +If that "promise" is ever realised, the economic and social face of the +world will be transformed. + +Before passing on to the consideration of ether, light, and energy, let +us see what new light the discovery of the electron has thrown on the +nature and manipulation of electricity. + + +WHAT IS ELECTRICITY? + +The Nature of Electricity + +There is at least one manifestation in nature, and so late as twenty +years ago it seemed to be one of the most mysterious manifestations of +all, which has been in great measure explained by the new discoveries. +Already, at the beginning of this century, we spoke of our "age of +electricity," yet there were few things in nature about which we knew +less. The "electric current" rang our bells, drove our trains, lit our +rooms, but none knew what the current was. There was a vague idea that +it was a sort of fluid that flowed along copper wires as water flows in +a pipe. We now suppose that it is _a rapid movement of electrons from +atom to atom_ in the wire or wherever the current is. + +Let us try to grasp the principle of the new view of electricity and see +how it applies to all the varied electrical phenomena in the world about +us. As we saw, the nucleus of an atom of matter consists of positive +electricity which holds together a number of electrons, or charges of +negative electricity.[4] This certainly tells us to some extent what +electricity is, and how it is related to matter, but it leaves us with +the usual difficulty about fundamental realities. But we now know that +electricity, like matter, is atomic in structure; a charge of +electricity is made up of a number of small units or charges of a +definite, constant amount. It has been suggested that the two kinds of +electricity, i.e. positive and negative, are right-handed and +left-handed vortices or whirlpools in ether, or rings in ether, but +there are very serious difficulties, and we leave this to the future. + + [4] The words "positive" and "negative" electricity belong to the + days when it was regarded as a fluid. A body overcharged with the + fluid was called positive; an undercharged body was called negative. + A positively-electrified body is now one whose atoms have lost some + of their outlying electrons, so that the positive charge of + electricity predominates. The negatively-electrified body is one + with more than the normal number of electrons. + + +Sec. 10 + +What an Electric Current is + +The discovery of these two kinds of electricity has, however, enabled us +to understand very fairly what goes on in electrical phenomena. The +outlying electrons, as we saw, may pass from atom to atom, and this, on +a large scale, is the meaning of the electric current. In other words, +we believe an electric current to be a flow of electrons. Let us take, +to begin with, a simple electrical "cell," in which a feeble current is +generated: such a cell as there is in every house to serve its electric +bells. + +In the original form this simple sort of "battery" consisted of a plate +of zinc and a plate of copper immersed in a chemical. Long before +anything was known about electrons it was known that, if you put zinc +and copper together, you produce a mild current of electricity. We know +now what this means. Zinc is a metal the atoms of which are particularly +disposed to part with some of their outlying electrons. Why, we do not +know; but the fact is the basis of these small batteries. Electrons from +the atoms of zinc pass to the atoms of copper, and their passage is a +"current." Each atom gives up an electron to its neighbour. It was +further found long ago that if the zinc and copper were immersed in +certain chemicals, which slowly dissolve the zinc, and the two metals +were connected by a copper wire, the current was stronger. In modern +language, there is a brisker flow of electrons. The reason is that +the atoms of zinc which are stolen by the chemical leave their +detachable electrons behind them, and the zinc has therefore more +electrons to pass on to the copper. + +[Illustration: DISINTEGRATION OF ATOMS + +An atom of Uranium, by ejecting an Alpha particle, becomes Uranium X. +This substance, by ejecting Beta and Gamma rays, becomes Radium. Radium +passes through a number of further changes, as shown in the diagram, and +finally becomes lead. Some radio-active substances disintegrate much +faster than others. Thus Uranium changes very slowly, taking +5,000,000,000 years to reach the same stage of disintegration that +Radium A reaches in 3 minutes. As the disintegration proceeds, the +substances become of lighter and lighter atomic weights. Thus Uranium +has an atomic weight of 238, whereas lead has an atomic weight of only +206. The breaking down of atoms is fully explained in the text.] + +[Illustration: _Reproduced by permission from "The Interpretation of +Radium" (John Murray)._ + +SILK TASSEL ELECTRIFIED + +The separate threads of the tassel, being each electrified with the same +kind of electricity, repel one another, and thus the tassel branches out +as in the photograph.] + +[Illustration: SILK TASSEL DISCHARGED BY THE RAYS FROM RADIUM + +When the radium rays, carrying an opposite electric charge to that on +the tassel, strikes the threads, the threads are neutralised, and hence +fall together again.] + +[Illustration: A HUGE ELECTRIC SPARK + +This is an actual photograph of an electric spark. It is leaping a +distance of about 10 feet, and is the discharge of a million volts. It +is a graphic illustration of the tremendous energy of electrons.] + +[Illustration: _From "Scientific Ideas of To-day_." + +ELECTRICAL ATTRACTION BETWEEN COMMON OBJECTS + +Take an ordinary flower-vase well dried and energetically rub it with a +silk handkerchief. The vase which thus becomes electrified will attract +any light body, such as a feather, as shown in the above illustration.] + +Such cells are now made of zinc and carbon, immersed in sal-ammoniac, +but the principle is the same. The flow of electricity is a flow of +electrons; though we ought to repeat that they do not flow in a body, as +molecules of water do. You may have seen boys place a row of bricks, +each standing on one end, in such order that the first, if it is pushed, +will knock over the second, the second the third, and so on to the last. +There is a flow of _movement_ all along the line, but each brick moves +only a short distance. So an electron merely passes to the next atom, +which sends on an electron to a third atom, and so on. In this case, +however, the movement from atom to atom is so rapid that the ripple of +movement, if we may call it so, may pass along at an enormous speed. We +have seen how swiftly electrons travel. + +But how is this turned into power enough even to ring a bell? The actual +mechanical apparatus by which the energy of the electron current is +turned into sound, or heat, or light will be described in a technical +section later in this work. We are concerned here only with the +principle, which is clear. While zinc is very apt to part with +electrons, copper is just as obliging in facilitating their passage +onward. Electrons will travel in this way in most metals, but copper is +one of the best "conductors." So we lengthen the copper wire between the +zinc and the carbon until it goes as far as the front door and the bell, +which are included in the circuit. When you press the button at the +door, two wires are brought together, and the current of electrons +rushes round the circuit; and at the bell its energy is diverted into +the mechanical apparatus which rings the bell. + +Copper is a good conductor--six times as good as iron--and is therefore +so common in electrical industries. Some other substances are just as +stubborn as copper is yielding, and we call them "insulators," because +they resist the current instead of letting it flow. Their atoms do not +easily part with electrons. Glass, vulcanite, and porcelain are very +good insulators for this reason. + + +What the Dynamo does + +But even several cells together do not produce the currents needed in +modern industry, and the flow is produced in a different manner. As the +invisible electrons pass along a wire they produce what we call a +magnetic field around the wire, they produce a disturbance in the +surrounding ether. To be exact, it is through the ether surrounding the +wire that the energy originated by the electrons is transmitted. To set +electrons moving on a large scale we use a "dynamo." By means of the +dynamo it is possible to transform mechanical energy into electrical +energy. The modern dynamo, as Professor Soddy puts it, may be looked +upon as an electron pump. We cannot go into the subject deeply here, we +would only say that a large coil of copper wire is caused to turn round +rapidly between the poles of a powerful magnet. That is the essential +construction of the "dynamo," which is used for generating strong +currents. We shall see in a moment how magnetism differs from +electricity, and will say here only that round the poles of a large +magnet there is a field of intense disturbance which will start a flow +of electrons in any copper that is introduced into it. On account of the +speed given to the coil of wire its atoms enter suddenly this magnetic +field, and they give off crowds of electrons in a flash. + +It is found that a similar disturbance is caused, though the flow is in +the _opposite_ direction, when the coil of wire leaves the magnetic +field. And as the coil is revolving very rapidly we get a powerful +current of electricity that runs in alternate directions--an +"alternating" current. Electricians have apparatus for converting it +into a continuous current where this is necessary. + +A current, therefore, means a steady flow of the electrons from atom to +atom. Sometimes, however, a number of electrons rush violently and +explosively from one body to another, as in the electric spark or the +occasional flash from an electric tram or train. The grandest and most +spectacular display of this phenomenon is the thunderstorm. As we saw +earlier, a portentous furnace like the sun is constantly pouring floods +of electrons from its atoms into space. The earth intercepts great +numbers of these electrons. In the upper regions of the air the stream +of solar electrons has the effect of separating positively-electrified +atoms from negatively-electrified ones, and the water-vapour, which is +constantly rising from the surface of the sea, gathers more freely round +the positively-electrified atoms, and brings them down, as rain, to the +earth. Thus the upper air loses a proportion of positive electricity, or +becomes "negatively electrified." In the thunderstorm we get both kinds +of clouds--some with large excesses of electrons, and some deficient in +electrons--and the tension grows until at last it is relieved by a +sudden and violent discharge of electrons from one cloud to another or +to the earth--an electric spark on a prodigious scale. + + +Sec. 11 + +Magnetism + +We have seen that an electric current is really a flow of electrons. Now +an electric current exhibits a magnetic effect. The surrounding space is +endowed with energy which we call electro-magnetic energy. A piece of +magnetised iron attracting other pieces of iron to it is the popular +idea of a magnet. If we arrange a wire to pass vertically through a +piece of cardboard and then sprinkle iron filings on the cardboard we +shall find that, on passing an electric current through the wire, the +iron filings arrange themselves in circles round it. The magnetic force, +due to the electric current, seems to exist in circles round the wire, +an ether disturbance being set up. Even a single electron, when in +movement, creates a magnetic "field," as it is called, round its path. +There is no movement of electrons without this attendant field of +energy, and their motion is not stopped until that field of energy +disappears from the ether. The modern theory of magnetism supposes that +all magnetism is produced in this way. All magnetism is supposed to +arise from the small whirling motions of the electrons contained in the +ultimate atoms of matter. We cannot here go into the details of the +theory nor explain why, for instance, iron behaves so differently from +other substances, but it is sufficient to say that here, also, the +electron theory provides the key. This theory is not yet definitely +_proved_, but it furnishes a sufficient theoretical basis for future +research. The earth itself is a gigantic magnet, a fact which makes the +compass possible, and it is well known that the earth's magnetism is +affected by those great outbreaks on the sun called sun-spots. Now it +has been recently shown that a sun-spot is a vast whirlpool of electrons +and that it exerts a strong magnetic action. There is doubtless a +connection between these outbreaks of electronic activity and the +consequent changes in the earth's magnetism. The precise mechanism of +the connection, however, is still a matter that is being investigated. + + +ETHER AND WAVES + +Ether and Waves + +The whole material universe is supposed to be embedded in a vast medium +called the ether. It is true that the notion of the ether has been +abandoned by some modern physicists, but, whether or not it is +ultimately dispensed with, the conception of the ether has entered so +deeply into the scientific mind that the science of physics cannot be +understood unless we know something about the properties attributed to +the ether. The ether was invented to explain the phenomena of light, and +to account for the flow of energy across empty space. Light takes time +to travel. We see the sun at any moment by the light that left it 8 +minutes before. It has taken that 8 minutes for the light from the +sun to travel that 93,000,000 miles odd which separates it from our +earth. Besides the fact that light takes time to travel, it can be shown +that light travels in the form of waves. We know that sound travels in +waves; sound consists of waves in the air, or water or wood or whatever +medium we hear it through. If an electric bell be put in a glass jar and +the air be pumped out of the jar, the sound of the bell becomes feebler +and feebler until, when enough air has been taken out, we do not hear +the bell at all. Sound cannot travel in a vacuum. We continue to _see_ +the bell, however, so that evidently light can travel in a vacuum. The +invisible medium through which the waves of light travel is the ether, +and this ether permeates all space _and all matter_. Between us and the +stars stretch vast regions empty of all matter. But we see the stars; +their light reaches us, even though it may take centuries to do so. We +conceive, then, that it is the universal ether which conveys that light. +All the energy which has reached the earth from the sun and which, +stored for ages in our coal-fields, is now used to propel our trains and +steamships, to heat and light our cities, to perform all the +multifarious tasks of modern life, was conveyed by the ether. Without +that universal carrier of energy we should have nothing but a stagnant, +lifeless world. + +[Illustration: _Photo: Leadbeater._ + +AN ELECTRIC SPARK + +An electric spark consists of a rush of electrons across the space +between the two terminals. A state of tension is established in the +ether by the electric charges, and when this tension passes a certain +limit the discharge takes place.] + +[Illustration: _From "Scientific Ideas of To-day."_ + +AN ETHER DISTURBANCE AROUND AN ELECTRON CURRENT + +In the left-hand photograph an electric current is passing through the +coil, thus producing a magnetic field and transforming the poker into a +magnet. The poker is then able to support a pair of scissors. As soon as +the electric current is broken off, as in the second photograph, the +ether disturbance ceases. The poker loses its magnetism, and the +scissors fall.] + +We have said that light consists of waves. The ether may be considered +as resembling, in some respects, a jelly. It can transmit vibrations. +The waves of light are really excessively small ripples, measuring from +crest to crest. The distance from crest to crest of the ripples in a +pond is sometimes no more than an inch or two. This distance is +enormously great compared to the longest of the wave-lengths that +constitute light. We say the longest, for the waves of light differ in +length; the colour depends upon the length of the light. Red light has +the longest waves and violet the shortest. The longest waves, the waves +of deep-red light, are seven two hundred and fifty thousandths of an +inch in length (7/250,000 inch). This is nearly twice the length of +deep-violet light-waves, which are 1/67,000 inch. But light-waves, the +waves that affect the eye, are not the only waves carried by the ether. +Waves too short to affect the eye can affect the photographic plate, and +we can discover in this way the existence of waves only half the length +of the deep-violet waves. Still shorter waves can be discovered, until +we come to those excessively minute rays, the X-rays. + + +Below the Limits of Visibility + +But we can extend our investigations in the other direction; we find +that the ether carries many waves longer than light-waves. Special +photographic emulsions can reveal the existence of waves five times +longer than violet-light waves. Extending below the limits of visibility +are waves we detect as heat-waves. Radiant heat, like the heat from a +fire, is also a form of wave-motion in the ether, but the waves our +senses recognise as heat are longer than light-waves. There are longer +waves still, but our senses do not recognise them. But we can detect +them by our instruments. These are the waves used in wireless +telegraphy, and their length may be, in some cases, measured in miles. +These waves are the so-called electro-magnetic waves. Light, radiant +heat, and electro-magnetic waves are all of the same nature; they differ +only as regards their wave-lengths. + + +LIGHT--VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE + +If Light, then, consists of waves transmitted through the ether, what +gives rise to the waves? Whatever sets up such wonderfully rapid series +of waves must be something with an enormous vibration. We come back to +the electron: all atoms of matter, as we have seen, are made up of +electrons revolving in a regular orbit round a nucleus. These electrons +may be affected by out-side influences, they may be agitated and their +speed or vibration increased. + + +Electrons and Light + +The particles even of a piece of cold iron are in a state of vibration. +No nerves of ours are able to feel and register the waves they emit, but +your cold poker is really radiating, or sending out a series of +wave-movements, on every side. After what we saw about the nature of +matter, this will surprise none. Put your poker in the fire for a time. +The particles of the glowing coal, which are violently agitated, +communicate some of their energy to the particles of iron in the poker. +They move to and fro more rapidly, and the waves which they create are +now able to affect your nerves and cause a sensation of heat. Put the +poker again in the fire, until its temperature rises to 500 deg. C. It +begins to glow with a dull red. Its particles are now moving very +violently, and the waves they send out are so short and rapid that they +can be picked up by the eye--we have _visible_ light. They would still +not affect a photographic plate. Heat the iron further, and the crowds +of electrons now send out waves of various lengths which blend into +white light. What is happening is the agitated electrons flying round in +their orbits at a speed of trillions of times a second. Make the iron +"blue hot," and it pours out, in addition to light, the _invisible_ +waves which alter the film on the photographic plate. And beyond these +there is a long range of still shorter waves, culminating in the X-rays, +which will pass between the atoms of flesh or stone. + +Nearly two hundred and fifty years ago it was proved that light +travelled at least 600,000 times faster than sound. Jupiter, as we saw, +has moons, which circle round it. They pass behind the body of the +planet, and reappear at the other side. But it was noticed that, when +Jupiter is at its greatest distance from us, the reappearance of the +moon from behind it is 16 minutes and 36 seconds later than when the +planet is nearest to us. Plainly this was because light took so long to +cover the additional distance. The distance was then imperfectly known, +and the speed of light was underrated. We now know the distance, and we +easily get the velocity of light. + +No doubt it seems far more wonderful to discover this within the walls +of a laboratory, but it was done as long ago as 1850. A cogged wheel is +so mounted that a ray of light passes between two of the teeth and is +reflected back from a mirror. Now, slight as is the fraction of a second +which light takes to travel that distance, it is possible to give such +speed to the wheel that the next tooth catches the ray of light on its +return and cuts it off. The speed is increased still further until the +ray of light returns to the eye of the observer through the notch _next_ +to the one by which it had passed to the mirror! The speed of the wheel +was known, and it was thus possible again to gather the velocity of +light. If the shortest waves are 1/67,000 of an inch in length, and +light travels at 186,000 miles a second, any person can work out that +about 800 trillion waves enter the eye in a second when we see "violet." + + +Sorting out Light-waves + +The waves sent out on every side by the energetic electrons become +faintly visible to us when they reach about 1/35,000 of an inch. As they +become shorter and more rapid, as the electrons increase their speed, we +get, in succession, the colours red, orange, yellow, green, blue, +indigo, and violet. Each distinct sensation of colour means a wave of +different length. When they are all mingled together, as in the light of +the sun, we get white light. When this white light passes through glass, +the speed of the waves is lessened; and, if the ray of light falls +obliquely on a triangular piece of glass, the waves of different lengths +part company as they travel through it, and the light is spread out in a +band of rainbow-colour. The waves are sorted out according to their +lengths in the "obstacle race" through the glass. Anyone may see this +for himself by holding up a wedge-shaped piece of crystal between the +sunlight and the eye; the prism separates the sunlight into its +constituent colours, and these various colours will be seen quite +readily. Or the thing may be realised in another way. If the seven +colours are painted on a wheel as shown opposite page 280 (in the +proportion shown), and the wheel rapidly revolved on a pivot, the wheel +will appear a dull white, the several colours will not be seen. But +_omit_ one of the colours, then the wheel, when revolved, will not +appear white, but will give the impression of one colour, corresponding +to what the union of six colours gives. Another experiment will show +that some bodies held up between the eye and a white light will not +permit all the rays to pass through, but will intercept some; a body +that intercepts all the seven rays except red will give the impression +of red, or if all the rays except violet, then violet will be the colour +seen. + +[Illustration: _Photo: H. J. Shepstone._ + +LIGHTNING + +In a thunderstorm we have the most spectacular display in lightning of a +violent and explosive rush of electrons (electricity) from one body to +another, from cloud to cloud, or to the earth. In this wonderful +photograph of an electrical storm note the long branched and undulating +flashes of lightning. Each flash lasts no longer than the one +hundred-thousandth part of a second of time.] + +[Illustration: LIGHT WAVES + +Light consists of waves transmitted through the ether. Waves of light +differ in length. The colour of the light depends on the wave-length. +Deep-red waves (the longest) are 7/250000 inch and deep-violet waves +1/67000 inch. The diagram shows two wave-motions of different +wave-lengths. From crest to crest, or from trough to trough, is the +length of the wave.] + +[Illustration: THE MAGNETIC CIRCUIT OF AN ELECTRIC CURRENT + +The electric current passing in the direction of the arrow round the +electric circuit generates in the surrounding space circular magnetic +circuits as shown in the diagram. It is this property which lies at the +base of the electro-magnet and of the electric dynamo.] + +[Illustration: THE MAGNET + +The illustration shows the lines of force between two magnets. The lines +of force proceed from the north pole of one magnet to the south pole of +the other. They also proceed from the north to the south poles of the +same magnet. These facts are shown clearly in the diagram. The north +pole of a magnet is that end of it which turns to the north when the +magnet is freely suspended.] + + +The Fate of the World + +Professor Soddy has given an interesting picture of what might happen +when the sun's light and heat is no longer what it is. The human eye +"has adapted itself through the ages to the peculiarities of the sun's +light, so as to make the most of that wave-length of which there is +most.... Let us indulge for a moment in these gloomy prognostications, +as to the consequences to this earth of the cooling of the sun with the +lapse of ages, which used to be in vogue, but which radio-activity has +so rudely shaken. Picture the fate of the world when the sun has become +a dull red-hot ball, or even when it has cooled so far that it would no +longer emit light to us. That does not all mean that the world would be +in inky darkness, and that the sun would not emit light to the people +then inhabiting this world, if any had survived and could keep +themselves from freezing. To such, if the eye continued to adapt itself +to the changing conditions, our blues and violets would be ultra-violet +and invisible, but our dark heat would be light and hot bodies would be +luminous to them which would be dark to us." + + +Sec. 12 + +What the Blue "Sky" means + +We saw in a previous chapter how the spectroscope splits up light-waves +into their colours. But nature is constantly splitting the light into +its different-lengthed waves, its colours. The rainbow, where dense +moisture in the air acts as a spectroscope, is the most familiar +example. A piece of mother-of-pearl, or even a film of oil on the street +or on water, has the same effect, owing to the fine inequalities in its +surface. The atmosphere all day long is sorting out the waves. The blue +"sky" overhead means that the fine particles in the upper atmosphere +catch the shorter waves, the blue waves, and scatter them. We can make a +tubeful of blue sky in the laboratory at any time. The beautiful +pink-flush on the Alps at sunrise, the red glory that lingers in the +west at sunset, mean that, as the sun's rays must struggle through +denser masses of air when it is low on the horizon, the long red waves +are sifted out from the other shafts. + +Then there is the varied face of nature which, by absorbing some waves +and reflecting others, weaves its own beautiful robe of colour. Here and +there is a black patch, which _absorbs_ all the light. White surfaces +_reflect_ the whole of it. What is reflected depends on the period of +vibration of the electrons in the particular kind of matter. Generally, +as the electrons receive the flood of trillions of waves, they absorb +either the long or the medium or the short, and they give us the +wonderful colour-scheme of nature. In some cases the electrons continue +to radiate long after the sunlight has ceased to fall upon them. We get +from them "black" or invisible light, and we can take photographs by it. +Other bodies, like glass, vibrate in unison with the period of the +light-waves and let them stream through. + + +Light without Heat + +There are substances--"phosphorescent" things we call them--which give +out a mysterious cold light of their own. It is one of the problems +of science, and one of profound practical interest. If we could produce +light without heat our "gas bill" would shrink amazingly. So much energy +is wasted in the production of heat-waves and ultra-violet waves which +we do not want, that 90 per cent. or more of the power used in +illumination is wasted. Would that the glow-worm, or even the dead +herring, would yield us its secret! Phosphorus is the one thing we know +as yet that suits the purpose, and--it smells! Indeed, our artificial +light is not only extravagant in cost, but often poor in colour. The +unwary person often buys a garment by artificial light, and is disgusted +next morning to find in it a colour which is not wanted. The colour +disclosed by the sun was not in the waves of the artificial light. + +[Illustration: ROTATING DISC OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON FOR MIXING COLOURS + +The Spectroscope sorts out the above seven colours from sunlight (which +is compounded of these seven colours). If painted in proper proportions +on a wheel, as shown in the coloured illustration, and the wheel be +turned rapidly on a pivot through its centre, only a dull white will be +perceived. If one colour be omitted, the result will be one colour--the +result of the union of the remaining six.] + +Beyond the waves of violet light are the still shorter and more rapid +waves--the "ultra-violet" waves--which are precious to the photographer. +As every amateur knows, his plate may safely be exposed to light that +comes through a red or an orange screen. Such a screen means "no +thoroughfare" for the blue and "beyond-blue" waves, and it is these +which arrange the little grains of silver on the plate. It is the same +waves which supply the energy to the little green grains of matter +(chlorophyll) in the plant, preparing our food and timber for us, as +will be seen later. The tree struggles upward and spreads out its leaves +fanwise to the blue sky to receive them. In our coal-measures, the +mighty dead forests of long ago, are vast stores of sunlight which we +are prodigally using up. + +The X-rays are the extreme end, the highest octave, of the series of +waves. Their power of penetration implies that they are excessively +minute, but even these have not held their secret from the modern +physicist. From a series of beautiful experiments, in which they were +made to pass amongst the atoms of a crystal, we learned their length. It +is about the ten-millionth of a millimetre, and a millimetre is about +the 1/25 of an inch! + +One of the most recent discoveries, made during a recent eclipse of the +sun, is that light is subject to gravitation. A ray of light from a star +is bent out of its straight path when it passes near the mass of the +sun. Professor Eddington tells us that we have as much right to speak of +a pound of light as of a pound of sugar. Professor Eddington even +calculates that the earth receives 160 tons of light from the sun every +year! + + +ENERGY: HOW ALL LIFE DEPENDS ON IT + +As we have seen in an earlier chapter, one of the fundamental entities +of the universe is matter. A second, not less important, is called +energy. Energy is indispensable if the world is to continue to exist, +since all phenomena, including life, depend on it. Just as it is humanly +impossible to create or to destroy a particle of matter, so is it +impossible to create or to destroy energy. This statement will be more +readily understood when we have considered what energy is. + +Energy, like matter, is indestructible, and just as matter exists in +various forms so does energy. And we may add, just as we are ignorant of +what the negative and positive particles of electricity which constitute +matter really are, so we are ignorant of the true nature of energy. At +the same time, energy is not so completely mysterious as it once was. It +is another of nature's mysteries which the advance of modern science has +in some measure unveiled. It was only during the nineteenth century that +energy came to be known as something as distinct and permanent as matter +itself. + + +Forms of Energy + +The existence of various forms of energy had been known, of course, for +ages; there was the energy of a falling stone, the energy produced by +burning wood or coal or any other substance, but the essential +_identity_ of all these forms of energy had not been suspected. The +conception of energy as something which, like matter, was constant in +amount, which could not be created nor destroyed, was one of the great +scientific acquisitions of the past century. + +[Illustration: WAVE SHAPES + +Wave-motions are often complex. The above illustration shows some fairly +complicated wave shapes. All such wave-motions can be produced by +superposing a number of simple wave forms.] + +[Illustration: THE POWER OF A MAGNET + +The illustration is that of a "Phoenix" electric magnet lifting scrap +from railway trucks. The magnet is 52 inches in diameter and lifts a +weight of 26 tons. The same type of magnet, 62 inches in diameter, lifts +a weight of 40 tons.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: The Locomotive Publishing Co., Ltd._ + +THE SPEED OF LIGHT + +A train travelling at the rate of sixty miles per hour would take rather +more than seventeen and a quarter days to go round the earth at the +equator, i.e. a distance of 25,000 miles. Light, which travels at the +rate of 186,000 miles per second, would take between one-seventh and +one-eighth of a second to go the same distance.] + +[Illustration: ROTATING DISC OF SIR ISAAC NEWTON FOR MIXING COLOURS + +The Spectroscope sorts out the above seven colours from sunlight (which +is compounded of these seven colours). If painted in proper proportions +on a wheel, as shown in the coloured illustration, and the wheel turned +rapidly on a pivot through its centre, only a dull white will be +perceived. If one colour be omitted, the result will be one colour--the +result of the union of the remaining six.] + +It is not possible to enter deeply into this subject here. It is +sufficient if we briefly outline its salient aspects. Energy is +recognised in two forms, kinetic and potential. The form of energy which +is most apparent to us is the _energy of motion_; for example, a rolling +stone, running water, a falling body, and so on. We call the energy of +motion _kinetic energy_. Potential energy is the energy a body has in +virtue of its position--it is its capacity, in other words, to acquire +kinetic energy, as in the case of a stone resting on the edge of a +cliff. + +Energy may assume different forms; one kind of energy may be converted +directly or indirectly into some other form. The energy of burning coal, +for example, is converted into heat, and from heat energy we have +mechanical energy, such as that manifested by the steam-engine. In this +way we can transfer energy from one body to another. There is the energy +of the great waterfalls of Niagara, for instance, which are used to +supply the energy of huge electric power stations. + + +What Heat is + +An important fact about energy is, that all energy _tends to take the +form of heat energy_. The impact of a falling stone generates heat; a +waterfall is hotter at the bottom than at the top--the falling particles +of water, on striking the ground, generate heat; and most chemical +changes are attended by heat changes. Energy may remain latent +indefinitely in a lump of wood, but in combustion it is liberated, and +we have heat as a result. The atom of radium or of any other +radio-active substance, as it disintegrates, generates heat. "Every hour +radium generates sufficient heat to raise the temperature of its own +weight of water, from the freezing point to the boiling point." And what +is heat? _Heat is molecular motion._ The molecules of every substance, +as we have seen on a previous page, are in a state of continual motion, +and the more vigorous the motion the hotter the body. As wood or coal +burns, the invisible molecules of these substances are violently +agitated, and give rise to ether waves which our senses interpret as +light and heat. In this constant movement of the molecules, then, we +have a manifestation of the energy of motion and of heat. + +That energy which disappears in one form reappears in another has been +found to be universally true. It was Joule who, by churning water, first +showed that a measurable quantity of mechanical energy could be +transformed into a measurable quantity of heat energy. By causing an +apparatus to stir water vigorously, that apparatus being driven by +falling weights or a rotating flywheel or by any other mechanical means, +the water became heated. A certain amount of mechanical energy had been +used up and a certain amount of heat had appeared. The relation between +these two things was found to be invariable. Every physical change in +nature involves a transformation of energy, but the total quantity of +energy in the universe remains unaltered. This is the great doctrine of +the Conservation of Energy. + + +Sec. 13 + +Substitutes for Coal + +Consider the source of nearly all the energy which is used in modern +civilisation--coal. The great forests of the Carboniferous epoch now +exists as beds of coal. By the burning of coal--a chemical +transformation--the heat energy is produced on which at present our +whole civilisation depends. Whence is the energy locked up in the coal +derived? From the sun. For millions of years the energy of the sun's +rays had gone to form the vast vegetation of the Carboniferous era and +had been transformed, by various subtle processes, into the potential +energy that slumbers in those immense fossilized forests. + +The exhaustion of our coal deposits would mean, so far as our knowledge +extends at present, the end of the world's civilisation. There are other +known sources of energy, it is true. There is the energy of falling +water; the great falls of Niagara are used to supply the energy of huge +electric power stations. Perhaps, also, something could be done to +utilise the energy of the tides--another instance of the energy of +moving water. And attempts have been made to utilise directly the energy +of the sun's rays. But all these sources of energy are small compared +with the energy of coal. A suggestion was made at a recent British +Association meeting that deep borings might be sunk in order to utilise +the internal heat of the earth, but this is not, perhaps, a very +practical proposal. By far the most effective substitutes for coal would +be found in the interior energy of the atom, a source of energy which, +as we have seen, is practically illimitable. If the immense electrical +energy in the interior of the atom can ever be liberated and controlled, +then our steadily decreasing coal supply will no longer be the bugbear +it now is to all thoughtful men. + +The stored-up energy of the great coal-fields can be used up, but we +cannot replace it or create fresh supplies. As we have seen, energy +cannot be destroyed, but it can become _unavailable_. Let us consider +what this important fact means. + + +Sec. 14 + +Dissipation of Energy + +Energy may become dissipated. Where does it go? since if it is +indestructible it must still exist. It is easier to ask the question +than to give a final answer, and it is not possible in this OUTLINE, +where an advanced knowledge of physics is not assumed on the part of the +reader, to go fully into the somewhat difficult theories put forward by +physicists and chemists. We may raise the temperature, say, of iron, +until it is white-hot. If we stop the process the temperature of the +iron will gradually settle down to the temperature of surrounding +bodies. As it does so, where does its previous energy go? In some +measure it may pass to other bodies in contact with the piece of iron, +but ultimately the heat becomes radiated away in space where we cannot +follow it. It has been added to the vast reservoir of _unavailable_ heat +energy of uniform temperature. It is sufficient here to say that if all +bodies had a uniform temperature we should experience no such thing as +heat, because heat only travels from one body to another, having the +effect of cooling the one and warming the other. In time the two bodies +acquire the same temperature. The sum-total of the heat in any body is +measured in terms of the kinetic energy of its moving molecules. + +There must come a time, so far as we can see at present, when, even if +all the heat energy of the universe is not radiated away into empty +infinite space, yet a uniform temperature will prevail. If one body is +hotter than another it radiates heat to that body until both are at the +same temperature. Each body may still possess a considerable quantity of +heat energy, which it has absorbed, but that energy, so far as reactions +between those two bodies are concerned, _is now unavailable_. The same +principle applies whatever number of bodies we consider. Before heat +energy can be utilised we must have bodies with different temperature. +If the whole universe were at some uniform temperature, then, although +it might possess an enormous amount of heat energy, this energy would be +unavailable. + + +What a Uniform Temperature would mean + +And what does this imply? It implies a great deal: for if all the energy +in the world became unavailable, the universe, as it now is, would cease +to be. It is possible that, by the constant interchange of heat +radiations, the whole universe is tending to some uniform temperature, +in which case, although all molecular motion would not have ceased, it +would have become unavailable. In this sense it may be said that the +universe is running down. + +[Illustration: NIAGARA FALLS + +The energy of this falling water is prodigious. It is used to generate +thousands of horse-power in great electrical installations. The power is +used to drive electric trams in cities 150 to 250 miles away.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Stephen Cribb._ + +TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY + +An illustration of Energy. The chemical energy brought into existence by +firing the explosive manifesting itself as mechanical energy, sufficient +to impart violent motion to tons of water.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: Underwood & Underwood._ + +"BOILING" A KETTLE ON ICE + +When a kettle containing liquid air is placed on ice it "boils" because +the ice is intensely hot _when compared with the very low temperature of +the liquid air_.] + +If all the molecules of a substance were brought to a standstill, that +substance would be at the absolute zero of temperature. There could be +nothing colder. The temperature at which all molecular motions would +cease is known: it is -273 deg. C. No body could possibly attain a lower +temperature than this: a lower temperature could not exist. Unless there +exists in nature some process, of which we know nothing at present, +whereby energy is renewed, our solar system must one day sink to this +absolute zero of temperature. The sun, the earth, and every other body +in the universe is steadily radiating heat, and this radiation cannot go +on for ever, because heat continually tends to diffuse and to equalise +temperatures. + +But we can see, theoretically, that there is a way of evading this law. +If the chaotic molecular motions which constitute heat could be +_regulated_, then the heat energy of a body could be utilised directly. +Some authorities think that some of the processes which go on in the +living body do not involve any waste energy, that the chemical energy of +food is transformed directly into work without any of it being +dissipated as useless heat energy. It may be, therefore, that man will +finally discover some way of escape from the natural law that, while +energy cannot be destroyed, it has a tendency to become unavailable. + +The primary reservoir of energy is the atom; it is the energy of the +atom, the atom of elements in the sun, the stars, the earth, from which +nature draws for all her supply of energy. Shall we ever discover how we +can replenish the dwindling resources of energy, or find out how we can +call into being the at present unavailable energy which is stored up in +uniform temperature? + + It looks as if our successors would witness an interesting race, + between the progress of science on the one hand and the depletion of + natural resources upon the other. The natural rate of flow of energy + from its primary atomic reservoirs to the sea of waste heat energy + of uniform temperature, allows life to proceed at a complete pace + sternly regulated by the inexorable laws of supply and demand, + which the biologists have recognised in their field as the struggle + for existence.[5] + + [5] _Matter and Energy_, by Professor Soddy. + +It is certain that energy is an actual entity just as much as matter, +and that it cannot be created or destroyed. Matter and ether are +receptacles or vehicles of energy. As we have said, what these entities +really are in themselves we do not know. It may be that all forms of +energy are in some fundamental way aspects of the same primary entity +which constitutes matter: how all matter is constituted of particles of +electricity we have already seen. The question to which we await an +answer is: What is electricity? + + +Sec. 15 + +MATTER, ETHER, AND EINSTEIN + +The supreme synthesis, the crown of all this progressive conquest of +nature, would be to discover that the particles of positive and negative +electricity, which make up the atoms of matter, are points or centres of +disturbances of some kind in a universal ether, and that all our +"energies" (light, magnetism, gravitation, etc.) are waves or strains of +some kind set up in the ether by these clusters of electrons. + +It is a fascinating, tantalising dream. Larmor suggested in 1900 that +the electron is a tiny whirlpool, or "vortex," in ether; and, as such a +vortex may turn in either of two opposite ways, we seem to see a +possibility of explaining positive and negative electricity. But the +difficulties have proved very serious, and the nature of the electron is +unknown. A recent view is that it is "a ring of negative electricity +rotating about its axis at a high speed," though that does not carry us +very far. The unit of positive electricity is even less known. We must +be content to know the general lines on which thought is moving toward +the final unification. + +We say "unification," but it would be a grave error to think that ether +is the only possible basis for such unity, or to make it an essential +part of one's philosophy of the universe. Ether was never more than an +imagined entity to which we ascribed the most extraordinary properties, +and which seemed then to promise considerable aid. It was conceived as +an elastic solid of very great density, stretching from end to end of +the universe, transmitting waves from star to star at the rate of +186,000 miles a second; yet it was believed that the most solid matter +passed through it as if it did not exist. + +Some years ago a delicate experiment was tried for the purpose of +detecting the ether. Since the earth, in travelling round the sun, must +move through the ether if the ether exists, there ought to be a stream +of ether flowing through every laboratory; just as the motion of a ship +through a still atmosphere will make "a wind." In 1887 Michelson and +Morley tried to detect this. Theoretically, a ray of light in the +direction of the stream ought to travel at a different rate from a ray +of light against the stream or across it. They found no difference, and +scores of other experiments have failed. This does not prove that there +is no ether, as there is reason to suppose that our instruments would +appear to shrink in precisely the same proportion as the alteration of +the light; but the fact remains that we have no proof of the existence +of ether. J. H. Jeans says that "nature acts as if no such thing +existed." Even the phenomena of light and magnetism, he says, do not +imply ether; and he thinks that the hypothesis may be abandoned. The +primary reason, of course, for giving up the notion of the ether is +that, as Einstein has shown, there is no way of detecting its existence. +If there is an ether, then, since the earth is moving through it, there +should be some way of detecting this motion. The experiment has been +tried, as we have said, but, although the method used was very +sensitive, no motion was discovered. It is Einstein who, by +revolutionising our conceptions of space and time, showed that no such +motion ever could be discovered, whatever means were employed, and that +the usual notion of the ether must be abandoned. We shall explain this +theory more fully in a later section. + + +INFLUENCE OF THE TIDES: ORIGIN OF THE MOON: THE EARTH SLOWING DOWN + +Sec. 16 + +Until comparatively recent times, until, in fact, the full dawn of +modern science, the tides ranked amongst the greatest of nature's +mysteries. And, indeed, what agency could be invoked to explain this +mysteriously regular flux and reflux of the waters of the ocean? It is +not surprising that that steady, rhythmical rise and fall suggested to +some imaginative minds the breathing of a mighty animal. And even when +man first became aware of the fact that this regular movement was +somehow associated with the moon, was he much nearer an explanation? +What bond could exist between the movements of that distant world and +the diurnal variation of the waters of the earth? It is reported that an +ancient astronomer, despairing of ever resolving the mystery, drowned +himself in the sea. + + +The Earth Pulled by the Moon + +But it was part of the merit of Newton's mighty theory of gravitation +that it furnished an explanation even of this age-old mystery. We can +see, in broad outlines at any rate, that the theory of universal +attraction can be applied to this case. For the moon, Newton taught us, +pulls every particle of matter throughout the earth. If we imagine that +part of the earth's surface which comprises the Pacific Ocean, for +instance, to be turned towards the moon, we see that the moon's pull, +_acting on the loose and mobile water_, would tend to heap it up into a +sort of mound. The whole earth is pulled by the moon, but the water +is more free to obey this pull than is the solid earth, although small +tides are also caused in the earth's solid crust. It can be shown also +that a corresponding hump would tend to be produced on the other side of +the earth, owing, in this case, to the tendency of the water, being more +loosely connected, to lag behind the solid earth. If the earth's surface +were entirely fluid the rotation of the earth would give the impression +that these two humps were continually travelling round the world, once +every day. At any given part of the earth's surface, therefore, there +would be two humps daily, i.e. two periods of high water. Such is the +simplest possible outline of the gravitational theory of the tides. + +[Illustration: THE CAUSE OF TIDES + +The tides of the sea are due to the pull of the moon, and, in lesser +degree, of the sun. The whole earth is pulled by the moon, but the loose +and mobile water is more free to obey this pull than is the solid earth, +although small tides are also caused in the earth's solid crust. The +effect which the tides have on slowing down the rotation of the earth is +explained in the text.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: G. Brocklehurst._ + +THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT + +An exceptionally smooth formation due to perfect weather conditions. The +wall-like formation of these tidal waves (see next page also) will be +noticed. The reason for this is that the downward current in the river +heads the sea-water back, and thus helps to exaggerate the advancing +slope of the wave. The exceptional spring tides are caused by the +combined operation of the moon and the sun, as is explained in the +text.] + +[Illustration: _Photo: G. Brocklehurst._ + +A BIG SPRING TIDE, THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT] + +The actually observed phenomena are vastly more complicated, and the +complete theory bears very little resemblance to the simple form we have +just outlined. Everyone who lives in the neighbourhood of a port knows, +for instance, that high water seldom coincides with the time when the +moon crosses the meridian. It may be several hours early or late. High +water at London Bridge, for instance, occurs about one and a half hours +after the moon has passed the meridian, while at Dublin high water +occurs about one and a half hours before the moon crosses the meridian. +The actually observed phenomena, then, are far from simple; they have, +nevertheless, been very completely worked out, and the times of high +water for every port in the world can now be prophesied for a +considerable time ahead. + + +The Action of Sun and Moon + +It would be beyond our scope to attempt to explain the complete theory, +but we may mention one obvious factor which must be taken into account. +Since the moon, by its gravitational attraction, produces tides, we +should expect that the sun, whose gravitational attraction is so much +stronger, should also produce tides and, we would suppose at first +sight, more powerful tides than the moon. But while it is true that the +sun produces tides, it is not true that they are more powerful than +those produced by the moon. The sun's tide-producing power is, as a +matter of fact, less than half that of the moon. The reason of this is +that _distance_ plays an enormous role in the production of tides. The +mass of the sun is 26,000,000 times that of the moon; on the other hand +it is 386 times as far off as the moon. This greater distance more than +counterbalances its greater mass, and the result, as we have said, is +that the moon is more than twice as powerful. Sometimes the sun and moon +act together, and we have what are called spring tides; sometimes they +act against one another, and we have neap tides. These effects are +further complicated by a number of other factors, and the tides, at +various places, vary enormously. Thus at St. Helena the sea rises and +falls about three feet, whereas in the Bay of Fundy it rises and falls +more than fifty feet. But here, again, the reasons are complicated. + + +Sec. 17 + +Origin of the Moon + +But there is another aspect of the tides which is of vastly greater +interest and importance than the theory we have just been discussing. In +the hands of Sir George H. Darwin, the son of Charles Darwin, the tides +had been made to throw light on the evolution of our solar system. In +particular, they have illustrated the origin and development of the +system formed by our earth and moon. It is quite certain that, long ages +ago, the earth was rotating immensely faster than it is now, and that +the moon was so near as to be actually in contact with the earth. In +that remote age the moon was just on the point of separating from the +earth, of being thrown off by the earth. Earth and moon were once one +body, but the high rate of rotation caused this body to split up into +two pieces; one piece became the earth we now know, and the other became +the moon. Such is the conclusion to which we are led by an examination +of the tides. In the first place let us consider the energy produced by +the tides. We see evidences of this energy all round the word's +coastlines. Estuaries are scooped out, great rocks are gradually reduced +to rubble, innumerable tons of matter are continually being set in +movement. Whence is this energy derived? Energy, like matter, cannot be +created from nothing; what, then, is the source which makes this +colossal expenditure possible. + + +The Earth Slowing down + +The answer is simple, but startling. _The source of tidal energy is the +rotation of the earth._ The massive bulk of the earth, turning every +twenty-four hours on its axis, is like a gigantic flywheel. In virtue of +its rotation it possesses an enormous store of energy. But even the +heaviest and swiftest flywheel, if it is doing work, or even if it is +only working against the friction of its bearings, cannot dispense +energy for ever. It must, gradually, slow down. There is no escape from +this reasoning. It is the rotation of the earth which supplies the +energy of the tides, and, as a consequence, the tides must be slowing +down the earth. The tides act as a kind of brake on the earth's +rotation. These masses of water, _held back by the moon_, exert a kind +of dragging effect on the rotating earth. Doubtless this effect, +measured by our ordinary standards, is very small; it is, however, +continuous, and in the course of the millions of years dealt with in +astronomy, this small but constant effect may produce very considerable +results. + +But there is another effect which can be shown to be a necessary +mathematical consequence of tidal action. It is the moon's action on the +earth which produces the tides, but they also react on the moon. The +tides are slowing down the earth, and they are also driving the moon +farther and farther away. This result, strange as it may seem, does not +permit of doubt, for it is the result of an indubitable dynamical +principle, which cannot be made clear without a mathematical discussion. +Some interesting consequences follow. + +Since the earth is slowing down, it follows that it was once rotating +faster. There was a period, a long time ago, when the day comprised only +twenty hours. Going farther back still we come to a day of ten hours, +until, inconceivable ages ago, the earth must have been rotating on its +axis in a period of from three to four hours. + +At this point let us stop and inquire what was happening to the moon. We +have seen that at present the moon is getting farther and farther away. +It follows, therefore, that when the day was shorter the moon was +nearer. As we go farther back in time we find the moon nearer and nearer +to an earth rotating faster and faster. When we reach the period we have +already mentioned, the period when the earth completed a revolution in +three or four hours, we find that the moon was so near as to be almost +grazing the earth. This fact is very remarkable. Everybody knows that +there is a _critical velocity_ for a rotating flywheel, a velocity +beyond which the flywheel would fly into pieces because the centrifugal +force developed is so great as to overcome the cohesion of the molecules +of the flywheel. We have already likened our earth to a flywheel, and we +have traced its history back to the point where it was rotating with +immense velocity. We have also seen that, at that moment, the moon was +barely separated from the earth. The conclusion is irresistible. In an +age more remote the earth _did_ fly in pieces, and one of those pieces +is the moon. Such, in brief outline, is the tidal theory of the origin +of the earth-moon system. + + +The Day Becoming Longer + +At the beginning, when the moon split off from the earth, it obviously +must have shared the earth's rotation. It flew round the earth in the +same time that the earth rotated, that is to say, the month and the day +were of equal length. As the moon began to get farther from the earth, +the month, because the moon took longer to rotate round the earth, began +to get correspondingly longer. The day also became longer, because the +earth was slowing down, taking longer to rotate on its axis, but the +month increased at a greater rate than the day. Presently the month +became equal to two days, then to three, and so on. It has been +calculated that this process went on until there were twenty-nine days +in the month. After that the number of days in the month began to +decrease until it reached its present value or magnitude, and will +continue to decrease until once more the month and the day are equal. In +that age the earth will be rotating very slowly. The braking action of +the tides will cause the earth always to keep the same face to the moon; +it will rotate on its axis in the same time that the moon turns round +the earth. If nothing but the earth and moon were involved this state of +affairs would be final. But there is also the effect of the solar tides +to be considered. The moon makes the day equal to the month, but the sun +has a tendency, by still further slowing down the earth's rotation on +its axis, to make the day equal to the year. It would do this, of +course, by making the earth take as long to turn on its axis as to go +round the sun. It cannot succeed in this, owing to the action of the +moon, but it can succeed in making the day rather longer than the month. + +Surprising as it may seem, we already have an illustration of this +possibility in the satellites of Mars. The Martian day is about one +half-hour longer than ours, but when the two minute satellites of Mars +were discovered it was noticed that the inner one of the two revolved +round Mars in about seven hours forty minutes. In one Martian day, +therefore, one of the moons of Mars makes more than three complete +revolutions round that planet, so that, to an inhabitant of Mars, there +would be more than three months in a day. + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + + ARRHENIUS, SVANTE, _Worlds in the Making_. + CLERK-MAXWELL, JAMES, _Matter and Motion_. + DANIELL, ALFRED, _A Text-Book of the Principles of Physics_. + DARWIN, SIR G. H., _The Tides_. + HOLMAN, _Matter, Energy, Force and Work_. + KAPP, GISBERT, _Electricity_. + KELVIN, LORD, _Popular Lectures and Addresses_. Vol. i. _Constitution + of Matter._ + LOCKYER, SIR NORMAN, _Inorganic Evolution_. + LODGE, SIR OLIVER, _Electrons_ and _The Ether of Space_. + PERRIN, JEAN, _Brownian Movement and Molecular Reality_. + SODDY, FREDERICK, _Matter and Energy_ and _The Interpretation of Radium_. + THOMPSON, SILVANUS P., _Light, Visible and Invisible_. + THOMSON, SIR J. J., _The Corpuscular Theory of Matter_. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4), by +J. 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