diff options
Diffstat (limited to '27015-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 27015-8.txt | 10506 |
1 files changed, 10506 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/27015-8.txt b/27015-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8528f1c --- /dev/null +++ b/27015-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10506 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, More Science From an Easy Chair, by Sir E. +Ray (Edwin Ray) Lankester + + +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: More Science From an Easy Chair + + +Author: Sir E. Ray (Edwin Ray) Lankester + + + +Release Date: October 24, 2008 [eBook #27015] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORE SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR*** + + +E-text prepared by Stacy Brown, Nick Wall, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 27015-h.htm or 27015-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/0/1/27015/27015-h/27015-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/0/1/27015/27015-h.zip) + + +Transcriber's note: + + In a chemical formula, the underscore followed by a number + in curly brackets indicates that number is a subscript + (example: H_{2}O). + + + + + +MORE SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR + +by + +Sir RAY LANKESTER + K.C.B., F.R.S. + +With 34 Illustrations + + + + + + + +Methuen & Co. Ltd. +36 Essex Street, W.C. +London + + * * * * * + +Uniform with this Volume + + 1 The Mighty Atom Marie Corelli + 2 Jane Marie Corelli + 3 Boy Marie Corelli + 231 Cameos Marie Corelli + 4 Spanish Gold G. A. Birmingham + 9 The Unofficial Honeymoon Doll Wyllarde + 18 Round the Red Lamp Sir A. Conan Doyle + 20 Light Freights W. W. Jacobs + 22 The Long Road John Oxenham + 71 The Gates of Wrath Arnold Bennett + 81 The Card Arnold Bennett + 87 Lalage's Lovers G. A. Birmingham + 92 White Fang Jack London + 108 The Adventures of Dr. Whitty G. A. Birmingham + 113 Lavender and Old Lace Myrtle Reed + 125 The Regent Arnold Bennett + 135 A Spinner in the Sun Myrtle Reed + 137 The Mystery of Dr. Fu-Manchu Sax Rohmer + 143 Sandy Married Dorothea Conyers + 212 Under Western Eyes Joseph Conrad + 215 Mr. Grex of Monte Carlo E. Phillips Oppenheim + 224 Broken Shackles John Oxenham + 227 Byeways Robert Hichens + 229 My Friend the Chauffeur C. N. & A. M. Williamson + 259 Anthony Cuthbert Richard Bagot + 261 Tarzan of the Apes Edgar Rice Burroughs + 268 His Island Princess W. Clark Russell + 275 Secret History C. N. and A. M. Williamson + 276 Mary All-alone John Oxenham + 277 Darneley Place Richard Bagot + 278 The Desert Trail Dane Coolidge + 279 The War Wedding C. N. and A. M. Williamson + 281 Because of these Things Marjorie Bowen + 282 Mrs. Peter Howard Mary E. Mann + 288 A Great Man Arnold Bennett + 289 The Rest Cure W. B. Maxwell + 290 The Devil Doctor Sax Rohmer + 291 Master of the Vineyard Myrtle Reed + 293 The Si-Fan Mysteries Sax Rohmer + 294 The Guiding Thread Beatrice Harraden + 295 The Hillman E. Phillips Oppenheim + 296 William, by the Grace of God Marjorie Bowen + 297 Below Stairs Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick + 301 Love and Louisa E. Maria Albanesi + 302 The Joss Richard Marsh + 303 The Carissima Lucas Malet + 304 The Return of Tarzan Edgar Rice Burroughs + 313 The Wall Street Girl Frederick Orin Bartlett + 315 The Flying Inn G. K. Chesterton + 316 Whom God Hath Joined Arnold Bennett + 318 An Affair of State J. C. Snaith + 320 The Dweller on the Threshold Robert Hichens + 325 A Set of Six Joseph Conrad + 329 '1914' John Oxenham + 330 The Fortune of Christina McNab S. Macnaughtan + 334 Bellamy Elinor Mordaunt + 343 The Shadow of Victory Myrtle Reed + 344 This Woman to this Man C. N. and A. M. Williamson + 345 Something Fresh P. G. Wodehouse + + A short Selection only. + + +Uniform with this Volume + + 36 De Profundis Oscar Wilde + 37 Lord Arthur Savile's Crime Oscar Wilde + 38 Selected Poems Oscar Wilde + 39 An Ideal Husband Oscar Wilde + 40 Intentions Oscar Wilde + 41 Lady Windermere's Fan Oscar Wilde + 77 Selected Prose Oscar Wilde + 85 The Importance of Being Earnest Oscar Wilde + 146 A Woman of No Importance Oscar Wilde + 43 Harvest Home E. V. Lucas + 44 A Little of Everything E. V. Lucas + 78 The Best of Lamb E. V. Lucas + 141 Variety Lane E. V. Lucas + 292 Mixed Vintages E. V. Lucas + 45 Vailima Letters Robert Louis Stevenson + 80 Selected Letters Robert Louis Stevenson + 46 Hills and the Sea Hilaire Belloc + 96 A Picked Company Hilaire Belloc + 193 On Nothing Hilaire Belloc + 226 On Everything Hilaire Belloc + 254 On Something Hilaire Belloc + 47 The Blue Bird Maurice Maeterlinck + 214 Select Essays Maurice Maeterlinck + 50 Charles Dickens G. K. Chesterton + 94 All Things Considered G. K. Chesterton + 54 The Life of John Ruskin W. G. Collingwood + 57 Sevastopol and other Stories Leo Tolstoy + 91 Social Evils and their Remedy Leo Tolstoy + 223 Two Generations Leo Tolstoy + 253 My Childhood and Boyhood Leo Tolstoy + 286 My Youth Leo Tolstoy + 58 The Lore of the Honey-Bee Tickner Edwardes + 63 Oscar Wilde Arthur Ransome + 64 The Vicar of Morwenstow S. Baring-Gould + 76 Home Life in France M. Betham-Edwards + 83 Reason and Belief Sir Oliver Lodge + 93 The Substance of Faith Sir Oliver Lodge + 116 The Survival of Man Sir Oliver Lodge + 284 Modern Problems Sir Oliver Lodge + 95 The Mirror of the Sea Joseph Conrad + 126 Science from an Easy Chair Sir Ray Lankester + 149 A Shepherd's Life W. H. Hudson + 200 Jane Austen and her Times G. E. Mitton + 218 R. L. S. Francis Watt + 234 Records and Reminiscences Sir Francis Burnand + 285 The Old Time Parson P. H. Ditchfield + 287 The Customs of Old England F. J. Snell + + A Selection only. + + * * * * * + + + +MORE SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR + +_First Issued in this Cheap Form in 1920_ + + _Originally published by Messrs. Adlard & Son in 1913_ + _First published by Methuen & Co. Ltd. 1914_ + _Second Edition 1915_ + _Third Edition 1920_ + + + + +PREFACE + + +The present volume is a reprint of that issued in 1912 with the title, +"Science from an Easy Chair: Second Series." It consists, like its +predecessors, of chapters originally published by me in the _Daily +Telegraph_, which I have revised and illustrated by a large number of +drawings. In order to render the issue of the present cheap edition +possible, it has been found necessary to restrict its size a little by +the omission of chapters dealing with Glaciers, Ferns and Fern-seed, +and the history of the Sea-squirts or Ascidians, which are contained +in the original larger book. My hope is that this collection of +papers, "about a number of things," may meet with as kind a reception +from my readers as that which they have accorded to its predecessors. + +E. RAY LANKESTER + +_July 1, 1920_ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. A DAY IN THE OBERLAND 1 + + Fertilization of Sage--The Edelweiss--The Jungfrau's + Breast--Contortions of Rock-strata--The Jungfrau + Railway--Mountain Sickness. + + II. SWITZERLAND IN EARLY SUMMER 13 + + Alpine Flowers--Flowers of the Meadows and Woods--The + Herb Paris. + + III. GLETSCH 19 + + From Baveno to the Rhone Glacier--A Glacier by the + Roadside--Changes in the Glacier. + + IV. THE PROBLEM OF THE GALLOPING HORSE 25 + + The Cinematograph--Ancient Representations of Gallop--The + Dog in Mycenæan Art--What ought an Artist + to do?--Attention as a Condition of Seeing--Judgment + and Prejudice--Natural and Artificial Paces--Photographs + by Electric Spark--Use of Instantaneous + Photographs--Errors as to the Size of the Moon--The + Painter and the Moon--The Moon on the Stage. + + V. THE JEWEL IN THE TOAD'S HEAD 55 + + The Decay of Credulity--A Sceptical Physician--How + to Test a Toadstone--Other Magical Stones--Medicinal + and Magical Stones. + + VI. ELEPHANTS 65 + + The Indian and the African Elephant--Size of Modern + Elephants--Ears and Teeth of Elephants--Earliest + Elephants brought to Europe--The Elephant's Legs--Tusks + used in Digging--Elephants used in War--Geological + Strata since the Chalk--Ancestral Mammals--The + Typical or Ancestral Set of Teeth--The + Peculiarities of the Teeth of Elephants--Extinct + Relatives of Elephants--Ancestors of Elephants--Origin + of the Elephant's Trunk. + + VII. A STRANGE EXTINCT BEAST 92 + + Fossil Skeletons and Jaw-bones--The Skull and Teeth + of Goats--The Teeth of Rats--The Rat-toothed + Goat--Origin of the Rat-toothed Goat. + + VIII. VEGETARIANS AND THEIR TEETH 102 + + Teeth of Carnivors--Mixed Diets--Disease-germs in + Food. + + IX. FOOD AND COOKERY 113 + + Special Diet of Various Races--Food and Habit--Nervous + Control of Digestion--Wholesale Food and + Mechanical Cookery--The Burnt Offering of the + Jews--Women Neglect Cookery--A Great German's + Appreciation. + + X. SMELLS AND PERFUMES 126 + + Smells and Memory--Accidental Qualities--Bacteria and + Smells--Some Remarkable Smells. + + XI. KISSES 134 + + Kissing and Smelling--Variations in the Sense of + Smell--Radiation and Odours--Attraction by Smell--Unconscious + Guidance by Smell. + + XII. LAUGHTER 144 + + Why do we Laugh?--Varieties of Laughter--The + Laugh of Escape from Death--The Laugh of + Derision. + + XIII. FATHERLESS FROGS 152 + + Fertilization of the Egg-cell--Egg-cells Developing + Unfertilized--M. Bataillon's Discovery. + + XIV. PRIMITIVE BELIEFS ABOUT FATHERLESS PROGENY 159 + + Harvey and Milton--Reproduction by Budding--Stories + of Virgin Births--Spiritual Theory of Conception. + + XV. THE PYGMY RACES OF MEN 167 + + Characteristics of Pygmies--Colour of the Skin--Egyptian + Stories of Pygmies--Congo and New + Guinea Pygmies--The Causes of Small Size--Smallness + a Correlation. + + XVI. PREHISTORIC PETTICOATS 180 + + Early Carvings and Pictures--Paintings in Caverns--Painting + of Human Figures--Artistic Sympathy--Aurignacians + and Bushmen Allied. + + XVII. NEW YEAR'S DAY AND THE CALENDAR 191 + + Make-believe and New Year--Divisions of Time--The + Difficulties of the Calendar--Pope Gregory's Ten + Days--The Astronomer Royal and the Shah. + + XVIII. EASTERTIDE, SHAMROCKS AND SPERMACETI 201 + + The Real Shamrock--Sham Shamrock--Leonardo or + Lucas?--Various Fats. + + XIX. MUSEUMS 209 + + The Muses--The Museum of Alexandria--Picture Galleries + and Museums--The Purposes of Museums--The + First Business of Museums--National Value of + Museums--University Museums--Not for Children but + for Adults--Screens and Electric Lifts--Frames and + Setting of Pictures. + + XX. THE SECRET OF A TERRIBLE DISEASE 227 + + The Angel of Death--The Tyranny of Parasites--Typhus + and Monkeys--Typhus Fever in Russia. + + XXI. CARRIERS OF DISEASE 235 + + The Entrance of Parasites--Man as a Carrier of + Disease--House Flies and Disease. + + XXII. IMMUNITY AND CURATIVE INOCULATIONS 241 + + Inoculation of Smallpox--Antitoxins--The Wonderful + Properties of Blood--Germ-killing Poisons in the + Blood--Opsonins or Sauce for Germs. + + XXIII. THE STRANGE STORY OF ANIMAL LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND 251 + + Strange Birds--Destroyed by Europeans--Introduced + Animals. + + XXIV. THE EFFACEMENT OF NATURE BY MAN 259 + + Disappearance of Great Animals--Man's Reckless + Greed--Hope in Irrigation. + + XXV. THE EXTINCTION OF THE BISON AND OF WHALES 266 + + Drowning in a Dead Whale's Heart--The Value of + Whalebone--No more Turtle Soup. + + XXVI. MORE ABOUT WHALES 273 + + The Shape of Whales--Enormous Pressure of Gas in + the Blood--The Killer and the Narwhal--Fossil + Whales. + + XXVII. MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT SCIENCE 281 + + What Science does not explain--Darwin's Theory is + adequate--The Aquosity of Water--Need for Interpreters + of Science--The Exploded Ghost called + "Caloric"--Nightmares Destroyed by Science--When + did the Soul arrive?--The Great Silence. + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +FIGURES + + FIG. PAGE + + 1. Flower of the Yellow Sage 4 + + 2. The Edelweiss 5 + + 3. "Folding" of Rock Strata 8 + + 4. A Man Extracting the Jewel from a Toad's Head 58 + + 5. The Palate of the Fossil Fish Lepidotus 60 + + 6. The Indian Elephant 66 + + 7. The African Elephant 67 + + 8. The Crowns of Three "Grinders" or Molars of + Elephants Compared 71 + + 9. Skeleton of the Indian Elephant 81 + + 10. The Teeth in the Upper and Lower Jaw-bone of the + Common Pig 84 + + 11. A Reconstruction of the Extinct American Mastodon 86 + + 12. Skull and Restored Outline of the Head of the Long-jawed + Extinct Elephant called Tetrabelodon 87 + + 13. Head of the Ancestral Elephant--Palæomastodon 89 + + 14. Restored Model of the Skull and Lower Jaw of the + Ancestral Elephant--Palæomastodon 90 + + 15. Head of the Early Ancestor of Elephants--Meritherium--as + it appeared in life 91 + + 16. Skull and Lower Jaw of a Goat 94 + + 17. Teeth in the Lower and Upper Jaw of the Goat 95 + + 18. Skull of a Typical "Rodent" Mammal, the Coypu Rat 96 + + 19. Teeth of the Coypu Rat 97 + + 20. Skull of the Rat-toothed Goat, Myotragus 99 + + 21. Skull of a Clouded Tiger 103 + + 22. Teeth of the Lower and Upper Jaw of the same + Clouded Tiger's Skull 104 + + 23. Figure from a Group Drawn on a Greek Vase 171 + + 24. Group of Women Clothed in Jacket and Skirt + with "Wasp-like" Waists 185 + + 25. Further Portion of same Group as Fig. 24 186 + + + + +PLATES + + + I. Consecutive Poses of the Galloping Horse 27 + + II. Various Representations of the Gallop 29 + + III. Representations of the Gallop 31 + + IV. The Track of the Rising Moon 49 + + V. Three Figures--Lord Lansdowne, Mr. Lloyd George, + and Mr. Asquith 52 + + VI. Teeth of the Upper and Lower Jaw of Man 108 + + VII. Teeth of the Upper and Lower Jaw of the Gibbon 110 + + VIII. Votary or Priestess of the Goddess to whom Snakes + were Sacred 188 + + IX. Fresco Drawing of Two Female Acrobats 190 + + + + +MORE SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR + + + + +CHAPTER I + +A DAY IN THE OBERLAND + + +I am writing in early September from Interlaken, one of the loveliest +spots in Europe when blessed with a full blaze of sunlight and only a +few high-floating clouds, but absolutely detestable in dull, rainy +weather, losing its beauty as the fairy scenes of a theatre do when +viewed by dreary daylight. It is the case of the little girl of whom +it is recorded that "When she was good she was very good, and when she +was not she was horrid." This morning, after four days' misconduct, +Interlaken was very good. The tremendous sun-blaze seemed to fill the +valleys with a pale blue luminous vapour, cut sharply by the shadows +of steep hill-sides. Here and there the smoke of some burning weeds +showed up as brightest blue. Far away through the gap formed in the +long range of nearer mountains, where the Lütschine Valley opens into +the vale of Interlaken, the Jungfrau appeared in full majesty, +absolutely brilliant and unearthly. So I walked towards her up the +valley. Zweilütschinen is the name given to the spot where the valley +divides into two, that to the left leading up to Grindelwald, under +the shadow of the Mönch and the Wetterhorn, that to the right bringing +one to Lauterbrünnen and the Staubbach waterfall, with the snow-fields +of the Tchingel finally closing the way--over which I climbed years +ago to Ried in the Loetschen Thal. + +The autumn crocus was already up in many of the closely trimmed little +meadows, whilst the sweet scent of the late hay-crop spread from the +newly cut herbage of others. + +At Zweilütschinen, where the white glacier-torrent unites with the +black, and the milky stream is nearly as cold as ice, and is boiling +along over huge rocks, its banks bordered with pine forest, I came +upon a native fishing for trout. He was using a short rod and a +weighted line with a small "grub" as bait. He dropped his line into +the water close to the steep bank, where some projecting rock or +half-sunk boulder staved off the violence of the stream. He had +already caught half-a-dozen beautiful, red-spotted fish, which he +carried in a wooden tank full of water, with a close-fitting lid to +prevent their jumping out. I saw him take a seventh. The largest must +have weighed nearly two pounds. It seems almost incredible that fish +should inhabit water so cold, so opaque, and so torrential, and should +find there any kind of nourishment. They make their way up by keeping +close to the bank, and are able, even in that milky current, to +perceive and snatch the unfortunate worm or grub which has been washed +into the flood and is being hurried along at headlong speed. Only the +trout has the courage, strength, and love of nearly freezing water +necessary for such a life--no other fish ventures into such +conditions. Trout are actually caught in some mountain pools at a +height of 8,000 ft., edged by perpetual snow. + +You are rarely given trout to eat here in the hotels. A lake fish, +called "ferras," a large species of the salmonid genus _Coregonus_, to +which the skelly, powan, and vendayce of British lakes belong, is the +commonest fish of the _table d'hôte_, and not very good. A better one +is the perch-pike or zander. It is common in all the larger shallow +lakes of Central Europe, and abounds in the "broads" which extend from +Potsdam to Hamburg, though it is unknown in the British Isles. It is +quite the best of the European fresh-water fish for the table, and +there should be no difficulty about introducing it into the Norfolk +Broads. It would be worth an effort on the part of the Board of +Agriculture and Fisheries to do so, as the perch-pike, unlike other +fresh-water fishes, would hold its own on the market against haddock, +brill, and plaice. Another interesting fresh-water fish which grows to +a large size in the Lake of Geneva (where I have seen it netted) is +the burbot--called "lote" in French--a true cod of fresh-water habit +which, though common throughout Europe and Northern Asia, is, in our +country, only taken in a few rivers opening on the east coast. It is a +brilliantly coloured fish, orange-brown, mottled with black, and is +very good eating. + +Passing up the Lauterbrünnen valley, I came upon some wild raspberries +and quantities of the fine, large-flowered sage, _Salvia glutinosa_, +with its yellow flowers, in shape like those of the dead-nettle, but +much bigger. They were being visited by humble-bees, and I was able to +see the effective mechanism at work by which the bee's body is dusted +with the pollen of the flower. I have illustrated this in some +drawings (Fig. 1) which are accompanied by a detailed explanation. Two +long stamens, _a1_, arch high up over the lip of the flower, _li_, on +which the bee alights, and are protected by a keel or hood of the +corolla. Each stamen is provided with a broad process, _a2_, standing +out low down on its arched stalk, and blocking the way to the nectar +in the cup of the flower. When the bee pushes his head against these +obstacles and forces them backwards, the result is to swing the long +arched stalk, with its pollen sacks, in the opposite direction, +namely, forwards and downwards on to the bee's back. It was easy to +see this movement going on, and the consequent dusting of the bee's +back with pollen. In somewhat older flowers, which have been relieved +of their pollen, the style, _st._, or free stalk-like extremity of the +egg-holding capsule, already as long as the stamens, grows longer and +bends down towards the lip or landing-place of the yellow flower. When +a pollen-dusted bee alights on one of these maturer flowers the sticky +end of the now depending style is gently rubbed by the bee's back and +smeared with a few pollen-grains brought by the bee from a distant +flower. These rapidly expand into "pollen tubes," or filaments, and, +penetrating the long style, reach the egg-germs below. Thus +cross-fertilization is brought about by the bees which come for the +nectar of _Salvia_. The stalks and outer parts of the flower of this +plant produce a very sticky secretion which effectually prevents any +small insects from crawling up and helping themselves to the nectar +exclusively provided for the attraction of the humble-bee, whose +services are indispensable. + +[Illustration: Fig. 1.--Diagrams of the flower of the yellow sage +(_Salvia glutinosa_) a little larger than life. 1. An entire flower +seen from the side. _st._ The stigma, _a2_. The pair of modified +half-anthers which are pushed back by the bee when inserting its head +into the narrow part of the flower. 2. A similar flower at a later +stage when the stigma, _st._, has grown downwards so as to touch the +back of a bee alighting on the lip of the flower, and gather pollen +from it. 3. Diagram of one of the two stamens. _f._ The stalk or +filament of the stamen. _a1_. The pollen-producing half-anther, _eo._ +The elongated connective joining it to the sterile half-anther. 4. +Section through a flower showing _ov._ the ovary; _nec._ the nectary +or honey-glands; _st._ the style; _li._ the lip of the flower on which +the bee alights. 5. Similar section showing the effect of the pushing +back of _a2_ by the bee, and the downward swinging of the +polliniferous half-anther so as to dust the bee's back with pollen. +The dotted arrow shows the direction of the push given by the bee.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 2.--The Edelweiss, _Gnaphalium leontopodium_.] + +As I walked on, a belated Apollo butterfly, with its two red spots, +and a pale Swallow-tail fluttered by me. Then some children emerged +from unsuspected lurking-places in the wood and offered bunches of +edelweiss (Fig. 2). This curious-looking little plant does not grow +(as pretended by reporters of mountaineering disasters) exclusively in +places only to be reached by a dangerous climb. I have gathered it in +meadows on the hillside above Zermatt, and it is common enough in +accessible spots. The flowers are like those of our English groundsel +and yellow in colour--little "composite" knobs, each built up of many +tubular "florets" packed side by side. Six or seven of these little +short-stalked knobs of florets are arranged in a circlet around a +somewhat larger knob, and each of them gives off from its stalk one +long and two shorter white, hairy, leaf-like growths, flat and +blade-like in shape and spreading outwards from the circle, so that +the whole series resemble the rays of a star (or more truly of a +star-fish!). They look strangely artificial, as though cut out of new +white flannel (with a greenish tint), and have been dignified +by the comparison of the shape of the white-flannel rays with that +of the foot of the lion and the claws of the eagle. They are +extraordinary-looking little plants, and are similar in their +hairiness and pale tint to some of the seaside plants on our own +coast, which, in fact, include species closely allied to them +("cud-weeds" of the genus _Gnaphalium_). + +The huge cliffs of rocks on either side (in some parts over a thousand +feet in sheer height from the torrent) come closer to one another in +the part where we now are than in most Alpine valleys, so as almost to +give it the character of a "gorge." At some points the highest part of +the precipice actually overhangs the perpendicular face by many feet. +A refreshing cold air comes up from the icy torrent, whilst the heat +of the sun diffuses the delicious resinous scent of the pine trees. +Above the naked rock we see steep hill-sides covered with forest, and +away above these again bare grass-slopes topped by cloud. But as the +clouds slowly lift and break we become suddenly aware of something +impending far above and beyond all this, something more dazzling in +its white brightness than the sun-lit clouds, a form sharply cut in +outline and firm, yet rounded by a shadow of an exquisite purple tint +which no cloud can assume. The steely blue Alpine sky fits around this +marvel of pure whiteness as it towers through the opening cloud, and +soars out of earth's range. What is this glory so remote yet impending +over us? It is the Jungfrau, the incomparable virgin of the ice-world, +who bares her snowy breast. She slowly parts her filmy veil, and, as +we gaze, uncovers all her loveliness. + +The rock walls of the Lauterbrünnen valley show at one place a +thickness of many hundred feet of strongly marked, perfectly +horizontal "strata"--the layers deposited immense ages ago at the +bottom of a deep sea. Not only have they been raised to this position, +and then cut into, so as to make the profound furrow or valley in the +sides of which we see them, but they have been bent and contorted in +places to an extent which is, at first sight, incredible. Close to one +great precipice of orderly horizontal layers you see the whole series +suddenly turned up at right angles, and the same strata which were +horizontal have become perpendicular. But that is not the limit, for +the upturned strata are seen actually to turn right over, and again +become horizontal in a reversed order, the strata which were the +lowest becoming highest, and the highest lowest. The rock is rolled up +just as a flat disc of Genoese pastry--consisting of alternate layers +of jam and sponge-cake--is folded on itself to form a double +thickness. The forces at work capable of treating the solid rocks, the +foundations of the great mountains, in this way are gigantic beyond +measurement. This folding of the earth's crust is caused by the fact +that the "crust," or skin of the earth, has ceased to cool, being +warmed by the sun, and therefore does not shrink, whilst the great +white-hot mass within (in comparison with which the twenty-mile-thick +crust is a mere film) continually loses heat, and shrinks definitely +in volume as its temperature sinks. The crust or jacket of stratified +rock deposited by the action of the waters on the surface of the globe +has been compelled--at whatever cost, so to speak--to fit itself to +the diminishing "core" on which it lies. Slowly, but steadily, this +"settlement" has gone on, and is going on. The horizontal rock layers, +being now too great in length and breadth, adjust themselves by +"buckling"--just as a too large, ill-fitting dress does--and the Alps, +the Himalayas, and other great mountain ranges, are regions where this +"buckling" process has for countless ages proceeded, slowly but +surely. Probably the "buckling" has proceeded to a large extent +without sudden movement, but with a lateral pressure of such power as +ultimately to throw a crust of thousands of feet thickness into deep +folds a mile or so in vertical measurement from crest to hollow, +protruding from the general level both upwards and downwards, whilst +often the folds are rolled over on to each other. + +[Illustration: Fig. 3.--Diagrams to show the "folding" of rock strata. +A. Normal horizontal position of the strata, _a_, _b_, _c_, _d_; _xy_, +horizontal line. B. Folding due to a shortening of the horizontal _xy_ +by lateral pressure, acting in the direction of the arrow and due to +shrinkage. C. More extreme case of folding, in which a raised ridge is +made to fall over so as to bring the lowest layer _d_ above _a_, _b_ +and _c_.] + +This crumbling and folding has gone on at great depths--that is to +say, some miles below the surface (a mere nothing compared with the +8,000 miles diameter of the globe itself), though we now see the +results exposed, like the pastry folded by a cook. Immense time has +been taken in the process. A folding movement involving a vertical +rise of an inch in ten years would not be noticed by human onlookers, +but in 600,000 years this would give you a vertical displacement of +more than 5,000 ft. (nearly a mile!). It has been shown that in +Switzerland, along a line of country extending from Basle to Milan, +strata of 10,000 ft. to 20,000 ft. in thickness, which, if +straightened out, would give a flat area of that thickness, and of 200 +miles in length, have been buckled and folded so as to occupy only a +length of 130 miles! The former tight-fitting skin of horizontal rock +layers has "had to" buckle to that extent here (and in the same way in +other mountain ranges in other parts of the world), because the whole +terrestrial sphere has shrunk, owing to the gradual cooling of the +mass, whilst the crust has not shrunk, not having lost heat. + +Filled with interest and delight in these things, I reached the +railway station at Lauterbrünnen, from whence the little train is +driven far up the mountain, even into the very heart of the Jungfrau, +by an electric current generated by a turbine, itself driven by the +torrent at our feet, the waters of which have descended from the +glaciers far above, to which it will carry us. In a few minutes I was +gently gliding in the train up the to the "Wengern Alp" and the +"Little Scheidegg"--a slope up which I have so often in former years +painfully struggled on foot for four hours or more. One could to-day +watch the whole scene, in ease and comfort, during the two hours' +ascent of the train. And a marvellous scene it is as one rises to the +height of 8,000 ft., skirting the glaciers which ooze down the rocky +sides of the Jungfrau, and mounting far above some of them. At the +Scheidegg I changed into a smaller train, and with some thirty +fellow-passengers was carried higher and higher by the faithful, +untiring electric current. After a quarter of an hour's progress we +paused high above the "snout" of the great Eiger glacier, and +descended by a short path on to it, examined the ice, its crevasses +and layers, and its "glacier-grains," and watched and heard an +avalanche. The last time I was here it took a couple of hours to reach +this spot from the Scheidegg, and probably neither I nor any of my +fellow-passengers could to-day endure the necessary fatigue of +reaching this spot on foot. Then we remounted the train, and on we +went into the solid rock of the huge Eiger. The train stops in the +rock tunnel and we got out to look, through an opening cut in its +side, down the sheer wall of the mountain on to the grassy meadows +thousands of feet below. + +Then we start again, and on we are driven by the current generated +away down there in Lauterbrünnen, through the spiral tunnel, mounting +a thousand feet more till we are landed at an opening cut on the +further side of the rocky Eiger, which admits us to an actual footing +on the great glacier called the Eismeer, or Icelake. We lunch at a +restaurant cut out as a cavern in the solid rock, and survey the +wondrous scene. We are now at a height of 10,000 feet, and in the real +frozen ice-world, hitherto accessible only to the young and vigorous. +I have been there in my day with pain, danger, and labour, accompanied +by guides and held up by ropes, but never till now with perfect ease +and tranquillity and without "turning a hair," or causing either man +or beast to labour painfully on my behalf. We had taken two hours only +from Lauterbrünnen; in former days we should have started in the small +hours of the morning from the Scheidegg, and have climbed through many +dangers for some six or seven hours before reaching this spot. + +I confess that I am not enchanted with all of the modern appliances +for saving time and labour--the telegraph, the telephone, the +automobile, and the aeroplane. But these mountain railways fill me +with satisfaction and gratitude. When the Jungfrau railway was first +projected, some athletic Englishmen with heavy boots and ice-axes, +protested against the "desecration" of regions till then accessible +only to them and to me, and others of our age and strength. They +declared that the scenery would be injured by the railway and its +troops of "tourists." As well might they protest against the +desecration caused by the crawling of fifty house-flies on the dome of +St. Paul's. These mountains and glaciers are so vast, and men with +their railroads so small, that the latter are negligible in the +presence of the former. No disfiguring effect whatever is produced by +these mountain railways; the trains have even ceased to emit smoke +since they were worked by electricity. I quite agree with those who +object to "funiculars." The carriages on these are hauled up long, +straight gashes in the mountain side, which have a hideous and +disfiguring appearance. But I look forward with pleasure to the +completion of the Jungfrau railway to the summit. I hope that the +Swiss engineers will carry it through the mountain, and down along the +side of the great Aletsch glacier to the Bel Alp and so to Brieg. That +would be a glorious route to the Simplon tunnel and Italy! + +I took three hours in the unwearied train descending from the Eismeer +to Interlaken, and was back in my hotel in comfortable time for +dinner, "mightily content with the day's journey," as Mr. Pepys would +have said. I have always been sensitive to the action of diminished +pressure, which produces what is called "mountain sickness" in many +people. Many years ago I climbed by the glacier-pass known as the +Weissthor from Macugnaga to the Riffel Alp, with a stylographic pen in +my pocket. The reservoir of the pen contained a little air, which +expanded as the atmospheric pressure diminished, and at 10,000 feet I +found most of the ink emptied into my pocket. Probably one cause of +the discomfort called "mountain sickness" arises from a similar +expansion of gas contained in the digestive canal, and in the +cavities connected with the ear and nose. The more suddenly the change +of pressure is effected, the more noticeable is the discomfort. But I +was rather pleased than otherwise to note, as I sat in the comfortable +railway carriage, that when we passed 8,000 feet in elevation the old +familiar giddiness, and tendency to sigh and gasp, came upon me +as of yore, as I gathered was the experience of some of my +fellow-passengers: and when we were returning, and had descended +half-way to Lauterbrünnen, I enjoyed the sense of restored ease in +breathing which I well remember when the whole experience was +complicated by the fatigue of a long climb. A white-haired American +lady was in the train with me ascending to the Eismeer. "I have longed +all my life," she said, "to see a glaysher--to touch it and walk on +it--and now I am going to do it at last. I and my daughter here have +come right away from America to go on these cars to the glaysher." +When we were descending, I asked the old lady if she had been pleased. +"I can hardly speak of it rightly," she said. "It seems to me as +though I have been standing up there on God's own throne." I do not +sympathise with the Alpine monopolist who would grudge that dear old +lady, and others like her, the little train and tramway by which alone +such people can penetrate to those soul-stirring scenes. They are at +least as sensitive to the beauty of the mountains as are the most +muscular, most long-winded, and most sun-blistered of our friends--the +acrobats of the rope and axe. + +Interlaken + _September, 1909_ + + + + +CHAPTER II + +SWITZERLAND IN EARLY SUMMER + + +It is the early summer of 1910 and I have but just returned from a +visit to Switzerland. The latter part of June and the beginning of +July is the best for a stay in that splendid and happy land if one is +a naturalist, and cares for the beauty of Alpine meadows, and of the +flowers which grow among and upon the rocks near the great glaciers. +This year the weather has, no doubt, been exceptionally cold and wet, +and at no great height (5,000 feet) we have had snow-storms, even in +July. But as compared with that of Paris and London the weather has +been delightful. There has been an abundance of magnificent sunshine, +and many days of full summer heat and cloudless sky. A fortnight ago +(July 16th), and on the day before, it was as hot and brilliant in the +valley of Chamonix as it can be. Mont Blanc and the Dome de Goutet +stood out clear and immaculate against a purple-blue sky, and, as of +old, we watched through the hotel telescope a party struggling, over +the snow to the highest peak. + +At Chillon the lake of Geneva, day after day, spread out to us its +limitless surface of changing colour, now blending in one pearly +expanse with the sky--so that the distant felucca boats seemed to +float between heaven and earth--now streaked with emerald and +amethystine bands. The huge mountain masses rising with a vast sweep +from St. Jingo's shore displayed range after range of bloom-like greys +and purples, whilst far away and above delicately glittered--like some +incredible vision of a heavenly world beyond the sun-lit sky +itself--the apparition of the snows and rocks of the great Dents du +Midi. All this I have left behind me, and have passed back again to +dull grey Paris, to the stormy Channel, and to the winter of London's +July. + +The incomparable pleasure which the lakes and valleys and mountains of +Switzerland are capable of giving is due to the combination of many +distinct sources of delight, each in itself of exceptional character. +A month ago, in bright sunshine, I went, once again, by the little +electric railway (most blessed invention of our day) from the +pine-shaded torrent below to the great Eiger rock-mountain, and +through its heart to the glacier beyond, more than 10,000 feet above +sea-level. On the way back I left the train at the foot of the Eiger +glacier, and walked down with my companion amongst the rocks of the +moraine and over the sparse turf of these highest regions of life. +Everywhere was a profusion of gentians, the larger and darker, as well +as the smaller, bluest of all blue flowers. The large, plump, yellow +globe-flowers (_Trollius_), the sulphur-yellow anemone, the glacial +white-and-pink buttercup, the Alpine dryad, the Alpine forget-me-nots +and pink primroses, the summer crocus, delicate hare-bells, and many +other flowers of goodly size were abundant. The grass of Parnassus and +the edelweiss were not yet in flower, but lower down the slopes the +Alpine rhododendron was showing its crimson bunches of blossom. It is +a pity that the Swiss call this plant "Alpenrose," since there is a +true and exquisite Alpine rose (which we often found) with deep red +flowers, dark-coloured foliage, and a rich, sweet-briar perfume. +Lovely as these larger flowers of the higher Alps are, they are +excelled in fascination by the delicate blue flowers of the +Soldanellas, like little fringed foolscaps, by the brilliant little +red and purple Alpine snap-dragon, and by the cushion-forming growths +of saxifrages and other minute plants which encrust the rocks and +bear, closely set in their compact, green, velvet-like foliage, tiny +flowers as brilliant as gems. A ruby-red one amongst these is "the +stalkless bladder-wort" (_Silene acaulis_), having no more resemblance +at first sight to the somewhat ramshackle bladder-wort of our fields +than a fairy has to a fishwife. There are many others of these +cushion-forming, diminutive plants, with white, blue, yellow, and pink +florets. Examined with a good pocket lens, they reveal unexpected +beauties of detail--so graceful and harmonious that one wonders that +no one has made carefully coloured pictures of them of ten times the +size of nature, and published them for all the world to enjoy. Busily +moving within their charmed circles we see, with our lens, minute +insects which, attracted by the honey, are carrying the pollen of one +flower to another, and effecting for these little pollen flowers what +bees and moths do for the larger species. + +Thus we are reminded that all this loveliness, this exquisite beauty, +is the work of natural selection--the result of the survival of +favourable variations in the struggle for existence. These minute +symmetrical forms, this wax-like texture, these marvellous rows of +coloured, enamel-like encrustation, have been selected from almost +endless and limitless possible variations, and have been accumulated +and maintained there as they are in all their beauty, by survival of +the fittest--by natural selection. All beauty of living things, it +seems, is due to Nature's selection, and not only all beauty of colour +and form, but that beauty of behaviour and excellence of inner quality +which we call "goodness." The fittest, that which has survived and +will survive in the struggle of organic growth, is (we see it in these +flowers) in man's estimation the beautiful. Is it possible to doubt +that just as we approve and delightedly revel in the beauty created by +"natural selection," so we give our admiration and reverence, without +question, to "goodness," which also is the creation of Nature's great +unfolding? Goodness (shall we say virtue and high quality?) is, like +beauty, the inevitable product of the struggle of living things, and +is Nature's favourite no less than man's desire. When we know the ways +of Nature, we shall discover the source and meaning of beauty, whether +of body or of mind. + +As these thoughts are drifting through our enchanted dream we suddenly +hear a deep and threatening roar from the mountain-side. We look up +and see an avalanche falling down the rocks of the Jungfrau. The vast +mountain, with its dazzling vestment of eternal snow, and its slowly +creeping, green-fissured glaciers, towers above into the cloudless +sky. In an instant the mind travels from the microscopic details of +organic beauty, which but a moment ago held it entranced, to the +contemplation of the gigantic and elemental force whose tremendous +work is even now going on close to where we stand. The contrast, the +range from the minute to the gigantic, is prodigious yet exhilarating, +and strangely grateful. How many millions of years did it take to form +those rocks (many of them are stratified, water-laid deposits) in the +depths of the ocean? How many more to twist and bend them and raise +them to their present height? And what inconceivably long persistence +of the wear and tear of frost and snow and torrent has it required to +excavate in their hard bosoms these deep, broad valleys thousands of +feet below us, and to leave these strangely moulded mountain peaks +still high above us? And that beauty of the sun-lit sky and of the +billowy ice-field and of the colours of the lake below and of the +luminous haze and the deep blue shade in the valley--how is that +related to the beauty of the flowers? Truly enough, it is not a beauty +called forth by natural selection. It is primordial; it is the beauty +of great light itself. The response to its charm is felt by every +living thing, even by the smallest green plant and the invisible +animalcule, as it is by man himself. As I stand on the mountain-side +we are all, from animalcule to man, sympathizing and uniting, as +members of one great race, in our adoration of the sun. And in doing +this we men are for the moment close to and in happy fellowship with +our beautiful, though speechless, relatives who also live. Even the +destructive bacteria which are killed by the sun probably enjoy an +exquisite shudder in the process which more than compensates them for +their extinction. + +The pleasures of flower-seeking in Switzerland are by no means +confined to the great heights. At moderate heights (4,000 to 5,000 +feet) you have the Alpine meadows, and below those the rich-soiled +woods which fill in the sides of the torrent-worn valleys. You cannot +see an Alpine meadow after July, as it is cut down by then. It is at +its best in June. It bears very little grass, and consists almost +entirely of flowers. In places the hare-bells and Canterbury bells and +the bugloss are so abundant as to make a whole valley-floor blue as in +MacWhirter's picture. But more often the blue is intermixed with the +balls of, red clover and the spikes of a splendid pale pink polygonum +(a sort of buckwheat) and of a very large and handsome plantain. Large +yellow gentians, mulleins, the nearly black and the purple orchids, +vetches of all colours, the Alpine clover with four or five enormous +flowers in a head instead of fifty little ones, the Astrantias (like a +circular brooch made up of fifty gems each mounted on a long elastic +wire and set vibrating side by side), the sky-blue forget-me-nots, and +the golden potentillas, are usually components of the Alpine meadow. +At Murren, and no doubt commonly elsewhere, there are a few very +beautiful grasses among the flowers, but the most remarkable grass is +one (_Poa alpina_), which has on every spikelet or head a bright green +serpent-like streamer. Each of these "streamers" is, in fact, a young +grass-plant, budded off "viviparously," as it is called, from the +flower-head, or "spikelet," and having nothing to do with the proper +fertilized seed or grain. The young plants so budded fall to the +ground, and striking root rapidly, grow into separate individuals. It +is probably owing to some condition in Alpine meadows adverse to the +production of fertilized seed that this viviparous method of +reproduction has been favoured, since it occurs also in an Alpine +meadow-plant allied to the buckwheat, namely, _Polygonum viviparum_ +(not the kind mentioned above), where the lower flowers are converted +into little red bulbs, by which the plant propagates. Both the +viviparous grass and the polygonum are found in England. In fact, a +very large proportion of Alpine plants occur in parts of the British +islands (a legacy from the glacial period), though many which are +abundant in Switzerland are rare and local here. + +At a lower level, in the woods, we come upon other plants, not really +"Alpine" at all, but of great and special beauty. We found four kinds +of winter-green (_Pirola_), one with a very large, solitary flower, +white and wax-like, and the beautiful white butterfly-orchid with +nectaries three quarters of an inch long, and other large-flowered +orchids. We were anxious to find the noble Martagon lily, and hunted +in many glades and forest borders for it. At last, concealed on a bank +in a wood, between Glion and Les Avants, it revealed itself in +quantity, many specimens standing over three feet in height. Martagon +is an Arabic word, signifying a Turkish cap. A very strange and +uncanny-looking lily, which I had never seen before, turned up near +Kandersteg at the Blue Lake, beloved of Mr. H. G. Wells. This is "the +Herb Paris." It has four narrow outstretched green sepals, and four +still narrower green petals, eight large stamens, and a purple seed +capsule. Its broad oval leaves are also arranged in whorls of four. +Its name has nothing to do with the "ville lumière," nor with the +Trojan judge of female beauty, but refers to the symmetry and "parity" +of its component parts. I was not surprised to find that "the Herb +Paris" is poisonous, and was anciently used in medicine. It looks +weird and deadly. + +Marmots, glacier fleas (spring-tails, not true fleas), admirable +trout, and burbot (the fresh-water cod, called "lote" in French), +outrageous wood-gnats, which English people call by a Portuguese name +as soon as they are on the Continent, and singing birds (usually one +is too late in the season to hear them) were our zoological +accompaniment. There were singularly few butterflies or other insects, +probably in consequence of the previous wet weather. + +_July, 1909_ + + + + +CHAPTER III + +GLETSCH + + +Varied and uncertain as the weather was in Switzerland during July of +the year 1910, it showed a more decided character when I returned +there at the end of August. For three weeks there was no flood of +sunshine, no blazing of a cloudless blue sky, which is the one +condition necessary to the perfection of the beauty of Swiss +mountains, valleys and lakes. The Oberland was grey and shapeless, the +Lauterbrünnen valley chilly and threatening; even the divine Jungfrau +herself, when not altogether obliterated by the monotonous, +impenetrable cloud, loomed in steely coldness--"a sterile promontory." +Crossing the mountains from the Lake of Thun, we came to Montreux, +only to find the pearl-like surface of the great Lake Leman +transformed into lead. Not once in eight days did the celestial +fortress called Les Dents du Midi reveal its existence, although we +knew it was there, immensely high and remote, far away above the great +buttresses of the Rhone valley. So completely was it blotted out by +the conversion of that most excellent canopy, the air, into a foul and +pestilent congregation of vapours, that it was difficult to imagine +that it was still existing, and perhaps even glowing in sunshine above +the pall of cloud. Italy, surely, we thought, would be free from this +dreadful gloom. + +The southern slopes of the Alps are often cloudless when the colder +northern valleys are overhung with impenetrable mist. In four hours +you can pass now from the Lake of Geneva through the hot Simplon +Tunnel to the Lago Maggiore. So, hungering for sunshine, we packed, +and ran in the ever-ready train through to Baveno. Thirty years ago we +should have had to drive over the Simplon--a beautiful drive, it is +true--but we should have taken sixteen hours in actually travelling +from Montreux, and have had to pass a night _en route_ at Brieg! A +treacherous gleam of sunshine lasting half an hour welcomed us on +emerging from the Simplon tunnel, and then for eight days the same +leaden aspect of sky, mountain, and lake as that which we had left in +Switzerland was maintained. Even this could not spoil altogether the +beauty and interest of the fine old garden of the Borromeo family on +the Isola Bella. Really big cypress trees, magnificent specimens of +the Weymouth pine--the white pine of the United States, _Pinus +strobus_, first brought from the St. Lawrence in 1705, and planted in +Wiltshire by Lord Weymouth--a splendid camphor tree, strange varieties +of the hydrangea, and many other old-fashioned shrubs adorn the quaint +and well-designed terraces of that seat of ancient peace. The granite +quarries close behind Baveno, and the cutting and chiselling of the +granite by a population of some 2,000 quarrymen and stonemasons, were +not deprived of their human interest by rain and skies more grey than +the granite itself. But, at last, we gave up Italy in despair, +retreated through the tunnel one morning, and an hour after mid-day +were careering in a carriage along the Rhone valley--with jingling of +bells and much cracking of a harmless whip--upwards on a drive of +seven hours to the Rhone glacier, to the hotel called "Gletsch," +staking all on the last chance of a change in the weather. + +We passed the enclosed meadow near Brieg, whence three days later the +splendidly daring South-American aviator started on his flight across +the Alps, only to die after victory--a hero, whose courage and fatal +triumph were worthy of a better cause. After some hours, passing many +a black-timbered mountain village--the houses of which, set on stone +piles, are the direct descendants of the pile-supported lake dwellings +of the Stone Age on the shores of the Lake of Neuchatel--we came to +the upper and narrower part of the valley. The road ascended by +zig-zags through pine forests, in which the large blue gentian, with +flowers and leaves in double rows on a gracefully bowed stem, were +abundant. In open places the barberry, with its dense clusters of +crimson fruit, was so abundant as actually to colour the landscape, +whilst a huge yellow mullen nearly as big as a hollyhock, and bright +Alpine "pinks," were there in profusion. Before the night fell, a +long, furry animal, twice the size of a squirrel, and of dark brown +colour, crossed the road with a characteristic undulating movement, a +few feet in front of our carriage. It was a pine-marten, the largest +of the weasel and pole-cat tribe, still to be found in our own north +country. It must not be confused with the paler beech-marten of Anne +of Brittany, which often takes up its abode in the roofs of Breton +houses, according to my own experience in Dinard and the +neighbourhood. Night fell, and our horses were still toiling up the +mountain road. Impenetrable chasms lay below, and vast precipices +above us. We crossed a bridge, and seemed in the darkness to plunge +into the sheer rock itself, and, though thrilled with a delightful +sense of mystery and awe, were feeling a little anxiety at the +prospect of another hour among these gloomy, intangible dangers, when +we rounded a projecting rock, and suddenly a brilliant constellation +burst into view in the sky. It was the electric outfit of the +Belvedere Hotel, 7,500 feet above the sea, and far up more than a +thousand feet above us and the glacier's snout. In another minute the +great arc lamps of the Gletsch Hotel, close to us, blazed forth, and +we were welcomed into its snug hall and warmed by the great log-fire +burning on its hospitable hearth. + +The next day we were early afoot in the most brilliant sunshine, under +a cloudless sky--really perfect Alpine weather. In the shade the +persisting night-frost told of the great height of the marvellous +amphitheatre which lay before us. The valley by which we had mounted +the previous night abruptly abandons its steep gradient and gorge-like +character, and widens into a flat, boulder-strewn plain, a little over +a mile in diameter, surrounded, except for the narrow gap by which we +had entered, by the steep, rocky sides of huge mountains. At the far +end of the plain, a mile off, the great Rhone glacier comes toppling +over the precipice, a snowy white, frozen cascade of a thousand feet +in height. It looks even nearer than it is, and the gigantic teeth of +white ice at the top of the fall seem no bigger than sentry-boxes, +though we know they are more nearly the size of church steeples. The +celebrated Furca road zig-zags up the mountain side for a thousand +feet close to the glacier, and when you drive up it and reach the +height of the Belvedere, you can step on to the ice close to the road. +Then you can mount on to the flat, unbroken surface of the broad +glacier stream above the fall, and trace the glacier to the +snow-covered mountain-tops in which it originates. There is no such +close and intimate view of a glacier to be had elsewhere in Europe by +the traveller in diligence or carriage. We walked by the side of the +infant Rhone, among the pebbles and boulders, to the overhanging snout +of the great glacier from beneath which the river emerges. A very +beautiful wine-red species of dwarf willow-herb (_Epilobium +Fleischeri_) was growing abundantly in tufts among the pebbles, and +many other Alpine plants greeted our eyes. The heat of the sun was +that of midsummer, whilst a delicate air of icy freshness diffused +itself from the great frozen mass in front of us. + +Some large blocks of the glacier ice had fallen from above, and lay +conveniently for examination. Whilst the walls of the ice-caves which +have been cut into this and other glaciers present a perfectly smooth, +continuous surface of clear ice, these fragments which had fallen from +the surface exposed to the heat of the sun, were, as seen in the mass, +white and opaque. When a stick was thrust into the mass, it broke into +many-sided lumps of the size of a tennis-ball, which separated, and +fell apart in a heap, like assorted coals thrown from a scuttle, +though white instead of black. These were the curious glacier nodules, +"grains du glacier," or "Gletcherkörne," characteristic of glacier ice +as contrasted with lake ice. This structure of the glacier ice is +peculiar to it, and is only made evident where the sun's rays +penetrate it and melt the less pure ice which holds together the +crystalline nodules. According to Dr. J. Young Buchanan, these nodules +are masses of ice crystals comparatively free from mineral matter, +whilst the water around them, which freezes less readily, contains +mineral impurities in solution. The presence of saline matter in +solution lowers, in proportion to its amount, the freezing-point of +the water. Accordingly, although frozen into one solid mass with the +nodules, the cementing ice melts under the heat of the penetrating +rays of the sun sooner--that is, at a lower temperature--than do the +purer crystalline nodules, and allows them to separate. It is owing to +this that the exposed surface of glacier ice is white and powdery, +disintegrated by the superficial heat, and forming a rough surface, on +which one can safely walk. Lake ice does not break up in this manner +under the sun's rays, but as it melts retains its smooth, slippery +surface. It is formed in water, and not from the cementing and +regelation of the powdery crystalline snow, as is glacier ice. + +Pictures of the Rhone glacier published in the year 1820 and in the +eighteenth century show that in old days the terminal ice-fall did not +end abruptly in a narrowed "snout," as it does now, but spread out +into a very broad half-dome or fan-shaped, apron-like expanse, some +700 feet high and a quarter of a mile broad at the base. It was +considered one of the wonders of Switzerland, and was pictured in an +exaggerated way in travellers' books. In 1873, when I first drove down +the Furka road and saw the Rhone glacier, this wonderful, apron-like, +terminal expansion of the glacier was still in existence. It has now +completely disappeared. In those days, and for many years later, there +was only a mule-path over the adjacent Grimsel Pass, but now there is +a carriage road leading out of the Rhone glacier's basin northwards to +Meiringen, whilst the old-established Furka road, at the other side of +the amphitheatre, leads eastward to Andermatt, the St. Gothard, and +the Lake of Lucerne. Hence three great roads now meet at Gletsch. +Before leaving this wondrous spot we inspected some plump marmots, who +were leading a happy life of ease and plenty in a large cage erected +in front of the hotel; then in absolutely perfect weather we mounted +the Grimsel road. We heard the frequent whistling of uncaged marmots +as we ascended, and saw many of the little beasts sitting up on the +rocks and diving into concealing crevices as we approached, just as do +their smaller but closely allied cousins the prairie marmots +(so-called "prairie dogs") of North America. The view, as one ascends +the Grimsel, of the snow-peaks around Gletsch is a fine one in itself, +but is vastly enhanced in beauty by the plunge downwards of the rocky +gorge made by the Rhone as it leaves the flat-bottomed amphitheatre of +its birth. The top of the Grimsel Pass, which is a little over 7,000 +feet above sea-level, is the most desolate and bare of all such +mountain passes. The rock is dark grey, almost black, and of unusually +hard character. It is unstratified, and so resistant that it is +everywhere worn into smooth, rounded surfaces, instead of being +splintered and shattered. A small, black-looking lake at the top of +the pass contains to this day the bones of 500 Austrians and French +who fought here in 1799. It is called the Totensee, or Dead Men's +Lake. At this point one stands on a great watershed, dividing the +rivers of the north from the rivers of the south. You may put one foot +in a rivulet which is carrying water down the Aar Valley, and through +the Lakes of Brienz and of Thun to the Rhine and North Sea, whilst you +keep the other in another little stream, whose particles will pass by +the Rhone gorge and valley through the Lake of Geneva to the great +Rhone and the Mediterranean. Three incomparably fine days--September +17th, 18th, and 19th--atoned for three weeks of sunless cloud. One of +them we spent in the high valley of Rosenlaui, where are hairy-lipped +gentians and the blue-iced glacier, but of these I have not space to +tell. Then the clouds and the rain resumed their odious domination, +and we left Lucerne and its lakes invisible, overwhelmed in grey fog, +and made for Paris. + +_October, 1910_ + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE PROBLEM OF THE GALLOPING HORSE + + +Until instantaneous photography was introduced, a little more than +twenty-five years ago (by the discovery of the means of increasing the +sensitiveness of a photographic plate), and gradually became familiar +to everyone in the exhibitions known as the "biograph" or +"cinematograph," the actual position of the legs in a galloping horse +at any given fraction of a second was unknown. Anyone who has tried to +"see" their position will agree that it cannot be done. Attempts had +been made to make out what the movements and positions of the legs +"must" be, by studying the hoof-marks in a soft track laid for the +purpose. But the result was not satisfactory. + +As everyone knows, the so-called "biograph" pictures are produced by +an enormous series of consecutive instantaneous photographs taken on a +continuous transparent flexible film or ribbon. The camera has a +mechanism attached to it by which the sensitive film is jerked along +so as to expose a length of two inches (the size of the picture given +by the camera) for, say, one-thirtieth of a second without movement. +The film is then jerked on and a second bit of two inches is brought +into place for a thirtieth of a second and so on until a ribbon of +some thousand pictures is obtained. The interval between each picture +is usually also about one-thirtieth of a second, so that at least +fifteen pictures are taken in every second of time, and according to +the requirements of illumination and the rapidity of the movements of +the men or animals photographed this number may be greatly increased. +The film is developed, printed and fixed on a similar rolling +mechanism and the pictures are thrown one by one by a powerful +lantern on to a screen, and are jerked along at the same rate as that +at which they were taken, and are magnified enormously. Animals and +men in rapid movement, railway trains, the waves of the sea are thus +photographed, and when the serial pictures are thrown successively on +the screen the result is that the eye detects no interval between the +successive pictures--the figures appear as continuous moving objects. +This is due to the fact that whilst the impression produced on the +retina of the eye by each picture lasts for a tenth of a second (less +with brighter light), the interval between the successive pictures is +only one-thirtieth of a second, and accordingly the retinal impression +has not gone or ceased before the next is there; hence there is no +break in the series of retinal impressions, but continuity.[1] + +[Illustration: Plate I.--Figs. 1 to 11, drawings from Muybridge's +photographs of consecutive poses of the galloping horse, each +photograph taken by an exposure of one fortieth of a second and +separated from the next by an interval of one fortieth of a second. +The horse in Fig. 10 has returned to the same pose as that with which +the series starts in Fig. 1. Fig. 11 gives a pose one hundredth of a +second earlier in the series than that taken in Fig. 2. Fig. 12 shows +a combination of the hinder half of Fig. 9 with the front half of Fig. +6, giving thus the maximum extension of both fore and hind legs.] + +It is this duration of the impression on the retina which prevents us +from separating or "seeing distinctly" the successive phases of a +horse's legs as he gallops by, and has led to the remarkable result +that no artist has ever until twenty-five years ago represented +correctly any one phase of the movement of the legs in a galloping +horse, and it is doubtful whether that correctness is what the painter +of a picture really ought to put on his canvas. If we examine the +separate pictures of a galloping horse as taken on a cinematograph +film, we have before us the actual record of the positions assumed by +the legs at intervals of the thirtieth of a second (or whatever less +interval and length of exposure may have been chosen), and it is +simply astonishing to find how utterly different they are from what +had been supposed. Twenty years ago Mr. Muybridge produced a number +of these instantaneous photographs of moving animals--such as the +horse in gallop, trot, canter, amble, walk, and jumping and +bucking--also the dog running, birds of several kinds flying, camel, +elephant, deer, and other animals in rapid movement. The animals were +photographed on a track in front of a wall, marked out to show +measured yards; the time was accurately recorded to show rate +of movement and length of exposure, and of interval between +successive pictures. By means of three cameras worked by electric +shutter-openers, a side, a back, and a front view of the animal were +taken simultaneously. Repeated photographs were obtained at intervals +of a fraction of a second, giving a series of fifteen or twenty +pictures of the moving animal. The length of exposure for each picture +was one-fortieth of a second or less, and the interval between +successive pictures was about the same. Muybridge's great difficulty +had been to invent a shutter which would act rapidly enough. I have +some of these pictures before me now (see Pl. I). They show that what +has been drawn by artists and called the "flying gallop," in which the +legs are fully extended and all the feet are off the ground, with the +hind hoofs turned upwards, never occurs at all in the galloping horse, +nor anything in the least like it. There is a fraction of a second +when all four legs of the galloping horse are off the ground, but they +are not then extended, but, on the contrary, are drawn, the hind ones +forward and the front ones backward, under the horses' belly (see Pl. +I, figs. 2 and 3). A model showing this actual instantaneous attitude +of the galloping horse has recently been placed in the Natural History +Museum. When the hoofs touch the ground again after this instantaneous +lifting and bending of the legs under the horse, the first to touch it +is that of one of the hind legs (Pl. I, fig. 4), which is pushed very +far forward, forming an acute angle with the body. The shock of the +horse's impact on the ground is thus received by the hind leg, which +reaches obliquely forward beneath the body like an elastic <- spring. +Since the instantaneous photographs have become generally known +artists have ceased to represent the galloping horse in the curious +stretched pose which used to be familiar to everyone in Herring's +racing plates (see Pl. II, fig. 1), with both fore and hind legs +nearly horizontal, and the flat surface of the hind hoofs actually +turned upwards! Indeed, as early as 1886 a French painter, M. Aimé +Morot, availed himself of the information afforded by the then quite +novel instantaneous photographs of the galloping horse, and exhibited +a picture of the cavalry fight at Rezonville between the French and +Germans, in which the old flying gallop does not appear, but the +attitudes of the horses are those revealed by the new photographs. The +picture is an epoch-making one, whether justifiable or not, and is now +in the gallery of the Luxembourg. It must be noted that though +Meissonier and others had succeeded in representing more truthfully +than had been customary, other movements of the horse, such as +"pacing," ambling, cantering, and trotting, yet in regard to them, +also, more easily observed because less rapid, the instantaneous +photograph served to correct erroneous conclusions. + +[Illustration: Plate II.--Various representations of the gallop. Fig. +1.--From Géricault's picture, "The Epsom Derby, 1821." Figs. 2 and +3.--From gold-work on the handle of a Mycenæan dagger, 1800 B.C. Fig. +4.--From iron-work found at Koban, east of the Black Sea, dating from +500 B.C. Fig. 5.--From Muybridge's instantaneous photograph of a +fox-terrier, showing the probable origin of the pose of the "flying +gallop" transferred from the dog to other animals by the Mycenæans. +Fig. 6.--The stretched-leg prance from the Bayeux tapestry (eleventh +century). Fig. 7.--The stretched-leg prance used to represent the +gallop by Carle Vernet in 1760. Fig. 8.--The stretched-leg prance used +by early Egyptian artists. + +Fig. 1. Flying Gallop. (Géricault) + +Fig. 2. Flying Gallop. (Mycenæan) + +Fig. 3. Galloping Griffon. + +Fig. 4. Flying Gallop. (Koben) + +Fig. 5. Galloping Dog. (Photograph) + +Fig. 6. Bayeux. + +Fig. 7. Carle Vernet. + +Fig. 8. Egyptian.] + +[Illustration: Plate III.--Representations of the gallop. Fig. 1.--A +combination of the hinder half of Fig. 10, Pl. I, with the front half +of Fig. 4, Pl. I. Fig. 2.--One of the many admirable Chinese +representations of the galloping horse. This is very early, namely, +100 A.D. The pose is that of the "flying gallop" as in Figs. 2, 4 and +5 of Pl. II. Fig. 3.--From a Japanese drawing of the seventeenth +century; the pose is a modification of the "flying gallop," and agrees +closely with that of Fig. 1 in this plate. Fig. 4.--The flex-legged +prance from a bas-relief in the frieze of the Parthenon, B.C. 300. +Fig. 5.--A modern French drawing giving a pose very similar to that of +Figs. 1 and 3. It is the most "effective" pose yet adopted by artists, +and is an improvement on the full-stretched flying gallop, though +failing to suggest the greatest effort and rapidity. Fig. +6.--Instantaneous photographs of four phases of a horse "jumping." + +Fig. 1. + +Fig. 2. Early Chinese. + +Fig. 3. Japanese, 17th Century. + +Fig. 4. Parthenon. + +Fig. 5. Conventional Gallop + +Fig. 6.] + +Two very interesting questions arise in connection with the discovery +by instantaneous photography of the actual positions successively +taken up by the legs of a galloping horse. The first is one of +historical and psychological importance, viz. why and when did artists +adopt the false but generally accepted attitude of the "flying +gallop"? The second is psychological and also physiological, viz. if +we admit that the true instantaneous phases of the horse's gallop (or +of any other very rapid movement of anything) cannot be seen +separately by the human eye, but can only be separated by +instantaneous photography, ought an artist to introduce into a +picture, which is not intended to serve merely as a scientific +diagram, an appearance which has no actual existence so far as his or +other human eyes are concerned, viz. that of the actual pose assumed +instantaneously and simultaneously by the four legs of the galloping +horse? And further, if he ought not to do this, what ought he to do, +on the supposition that his purpose is to convey to others the same +impression of rapid movement which exists--not, be it observed, in his +eye, or on the retina of that eye--but in his mind, as the result of +attention and judgment? + +The first of these questions has been answered by the great French +authority on archæology and the history of art, M. Salomon Reinach,[2] +whose writings are as lucid and terse as they are accurate, and +solidly based on research. M. Reinach shows (and produces drawings to +support his statement) that in Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, Roman, +mediæval, and modern art up to the end of the eighteenth century "the +flying gallop" does not appear at all! The first example (so far as +those schools are concerned) is an engraving by G. T. Stubbs in 1794 +of a horse called "Baronet." The essential points about "the flying +gallop" are that the fore-limbs are fully stretched forward, the hind +limbs fully stretched backward, and that the flat surfaces of the +hinder hoofs are facing upwards. After this engraving of 1794 the +attitude introduced by Stubbs became generally adopted in English art +to represent a galloping horse, and the French painter, Géricault, +introduced it into France in 1821 in his celebrated picture, the +"Derby d'Epsom," (see Pl. II, fig. 1) which is now in the Louvre. + +Previously to this there had been three other conventional poses for +the running horse in art, of which only the third (to be mentioned +below) has any resemblance to a real pose, and that not one of rapid +movement. We find: (1) The elongated or stretched-leg "prance" +(French, "_cabré allongé_"), in which, whilst the front legs are off +the ground, and all four legs are stretched nearly as much as in the +flying gallop, there is this essential difference, viz. that the hoofs +of the hind legs are firmly planted on the ground (see Pl. II, fig. +7). This pose is seen in a picture by the same artist (Stubbs) of two +years' earlier date than that in which he introduced "the flying +gallop." The "stretched-leg prance" is found in Egyptian works (Pl. +II, fig. 8) of 580 B.C., and is a favourite pose to indicate the +gallop, in ancient Assyrian as well as mediæval art, for instance, in +the Bayeux tapestry (Pl. II, fig. 6). We find, further, (2) that the +second pose made use of for this purpose is the "flexed-leg prance," +in which all the four legs are flexed, so that the hind legs rest on +the ground beneath the horse's body, whilst the forelegs "paw" the +air. This is seen both in Egyptian, Greek, and Renaissance art +(Leonardo, Raphael, and Velasquez). It is by no means so graceful or +true to Nature as the next pose, but gives an impression of greater +energy and rapidity. The third pose represents a kind of "prancing," +and is seen on the frieze of the Parthenon (Pl. III, fig. 4), and in +many subsequent Greek, Roman, and other works copied from or inspired +by, this Greek original. One only of the hind legs is on the ground, +and the animal's body is thrown up as though its advance were checked +by the rein. It is called "the canter" by M. Reinach, but that term +can only be applied to it when the axis of the body is horizontal and +parallel to the surface of the ground. + +The reader will perhaps now suppose that we must attribute the "flying +gallop" to the original, if inaccurate genius of an eighteenth century +English horse-painter. That, however, is not the case. M. Reinach has +shown that it has a much more extraordinary history. It is neither +more nor less than the fact that in the pre-Homeric art of +Greece--that which is called "Mycenæan" (of which so much was made +known by the discoveries of that wonderful man Schliemann when he dug +up the citadel of Agamemnon)--the figures of animals, horses, deer, +bulls (see the beautiful gold cups of Vaphio), dogs, lions, and +griffins, in the exact conventional pose of "the flying gallop," are +quite abundant! (See Pl. II, figs. 2, 3 and 4.) There was an absolute +break in the tradition of art between the early gold-workers of Mykené +(1800 to 1000 B.C.) and the Greeks of Homer's time (800 B.C.). Europe +never received it, nor did the Assyrians nor the Egyptians. Thirty +centuries and more separate the reappearance in Europe of the flying +gallop--through Stubbs--from the only other European examples of +it--the Mycenæan. What, then, had become of it, and how did it come to +England? M. Reinach shows, by actual specimens of art-work, that the +Mycenæan art tradition, and with it the "flying gallop," passed slowly +through Asia Minor north eastwards to the Trans-caucasus (Koban, 500 +B.C.), to Northern Persia, and thence by Southern Siberia to the +Chinese Empire (Pl. III, fig. 2) as early as 150 B.C., and that the +"flying gallop," so to speak, "flourished" there for centuries, and +was transmitted by the Chinese artists to the Japanese, in whose +drawings it is frequent (Pl. III, fig. 3). It was at last finally +brought back to Europe, and to the extreme west of it, namely, +England, by the importation in the eighteenth century into England of +large numbers of Japanese works of art. It was a Japanese drawing (M. +Reinach infers) which suggested to Stubbs the upturned hinder hoofs +and the detachment from the ground of "the flying gallop" which he +gave in his portrait of "Baronet," and so established that pose for a +century in modern European art. This is a delightful tracing out of +the wanderings of an artistic "convention," and the curious thing is +that its chief importance is not that it has to do with the movements +of the horse, but that it tends (as do other discoveries) to establish +the gradual passage of pre-classical Mycenæan art across Central Asia +to China and Japan by trade routes and human migrations which had no +touch with later Greece nor with Assyria nor India. + +How did the Mycenæans come to invent, or at any rate adopt, the +convention of "the flying gallop," seeing that it does not truly +represent either the fact or the appearance of a galloping horse? +Though 20,000 years ago the earliest of all known artists, the +wonderful cave-men of the Reindeer period, drew bison, boars, and deer +in rapid running movement with consummate skill, they were (be it said +to their credit!) innocent of the conventional pose of the "flying +gallop." I base this statement on my own knowledge of their work. M. +Reinach thinks that the "flying gallop" was devised as an intentional +expression of energy in movement. I venture to hold the opinion that +it was observed by the Mycenæans in the dog, in which Muybridge's +photographs (now before me) demonstrate that it occurs regularly as an +attitude of that animal's quickest pace or gallop (see fig. 5, Pl. +II). It is easy to see the "flying gallop" in the case of the dog, +since the dog does not travel so fast as the galloping horse, and can +be more readily brought under accurate vision on account of its +smaller size. The late Professor Marey (a great investigator of animal +movement) appears to have denied that the dog exhibits the full +stretch of both limbs with the pads of the hind-feet upturned, and all +the feet free from the ground. He was mistaken, as Muybridge's +photograph giving side and back view of a galloping fox-terrier amply +demonstrates. It is quite in accordance with probability that the +early Mycenæan artists, having seen how the dog gallops, erroneously +proceeded to put the galloping horse, and all other animals which +they wished "to make gallop," into the same position. + +It appears, then, that the poses used by artists at different times +and in different parts of the world to represent the "galloping" of +the horse have no correspondence to any of the poses actually assumed +by a galloping horse as now demonstrated by instantaneous photography. +The "prancing" attitude of the horses of the frieze of the Parthenon +was probably not intended to represent rapid movement at all. The +"stretched-leg" pose and the "flex-leg" pose are, as a matter of fact, +phases of "the jump," and are definitely recorded in Muybridge's +instantaneous photographs of the jumping horse, but have no existence +in "galloping" nor in any rapid running of the horse. They were +probably adopted by the artists of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and their +successors in Europe as an expedient without conviction, to represent +rapid movement, the true poses of which defied satisfactory +reproduction. And it is also the fact that the "flying gallop," which +appeared in Mycenæan art thirty-seven centuries ago, and then +travelled by a "Scythian" route through Tartary to China, and came +back to Europe at the end of the eighteenth century, is also--so far +as it has any real representative in the action of the horse--only +approached by a brief phase of the "jump." The poses of the horse in +jumping are shown in the small figures taken from instantaneous +photographs and reproduced in Fig. 6 of Pl. III. The "flying gallop" +("_ventre a terre_"), with all four legs stretched, and the under +surface of the hind feet upturned, is really seen by us all every day +in the dog, and is recorded in instantaneous photographs of that +animal going at full speed. In fact, the gallop of the dog (and of +some other small animals) is a series of jumps; the animal "bounds +along." But this is a totally different thing from the gallop of the +horse. It is probable that the dog's gallop was transferred, so to +speak, to the horse by artists, and a certain justification for it was +found in one of the attitudes of a jumping horse, which, however, +never exhibits both the front and the hind legs simultaneously in so +completely horizontal a position as they are made to take in the +Mycenæan gold-work and the modern "racing plates." + +How, then, we may now ask, ought an artist to represent a galloping +horse? Some critics say that he ought not to represent anything in +such rapid action at all. But, putting that opinion aside, it is an +interesting question as to what a painter should depict on his canvas +in order to convey to others who look at it the state of mind, of +impression, feeling, emotion, judgment, which a live, galloping horse +produces in him. The scientific draughtsman would, of course, present +to us a series of drawings exactly like the instantaneous photographs, +his object being to show what "is," and not what the artist aims at, +namely, what "appears," "seems," or (without pondering and analysis) +"is thought to be." The painter, in his quality of artist, would be +wrong to select any one of the dozen or more poses of the galloping +horse published by Muybridge, each limited to the fortieth of a +second, since no human eye can fix (as the photographic camera can) +separate pictures following one another at the rate of twenty a +second, each enduring one fortieth of a second, and each separated by +an interval of a fortieth of a second from the next. All the phases +which occur in any one-tenth of a second (only two, or possibly three +of the Muybridge series shown in Pl. I) are, as it were, fused in our +visual impression, because each picture lasts on the retina of the eye +for one-tenth of a second, or (to put it more accurately) because the +"impression" or condition of the retina produced by each picture +persists or endures for the tenth of a second. + +It may, perhaps, be suggested (and, indeed, has been), that it is the +"blurred" or "fused" picture produced by the successive poses of the +galloping horse's legs in one-tenth of a second that the painter ought +to imitate on his canvas. In support of this notion we have the fact +that the rapidly running wheels of a coach or of a gun-carriage (as in +the pictures by Wouwerman) are represented by artists, not with the +twelve or fourteen spokes which we know to be there--and would be +photographed as separate things in an exposure of the fortieth of a +second--but as a blurred haze of some fifty or more indistinct +"spokes." In this case it undoubtedly results that the observer of the +picture is satisfied and receives the mental impression or illusion of +a rapid rotation of the wheel. I have tried the experiment with +instantaneous photographs of the galloping horse, and I get three +results: first, no combination of successive phases occupying +one-tenth of a second gives anything resembling the "flying gallop" of +the racing plates (the Mycenæan and Stubbsian pose), or any other +conventional pose; second, no combination of successive instantaneous +photographs limited to ten second gives any pose which satisfies the +judgment and suggests a movement like the gallop; third, the +combination which comes nearest to satisfying the judgment as being a +natural appearance, but does not quite succeed in doing so, is one +formed by the fusion of figs. 2 and 3 of Pl. I. This gives all four +legs off the ground, drawn up or flexed beneath the horse's body, as +in Morot's picture of the sabre-charge at Resonville. + +The fact is that we have to take into consideration two other factors +in the process, which we call "seeing," besides the duration of the +retinal impression or excitation. These are, first, attention, and +second, judgment. We are apt to think that "seeing" is a simple, +straightforward sort of thing, whereas it is really a strangely +complex and delusive process. "I did not see it, therefore it was not +there," or "You must have seen it; it was right in front of you," are +common assertions, and the belief that such assertions are justified +leads to miscarriage of justice in courts of law. Yet everyone knows +that he may stare out of the window of a railway carriage and have a +long panorama pass before his eyes, or may walk along a crowded street +and look his acquaintances in the face, and in neither case will he +have "seen" or recognized anything, or be able to give an account of +the scene that was pictured on the back of his eye. Attention, the +direction of the mind to the sensation, is necessary; and it appears +that it is very difficult (to some more than to others) to hold the +attention alert, and to give it to the _unexpected_. In fact, to a +very large extent we can only "see" (using the word to signify the +ultimate mental condition) that which we are prepared to see or that +which we expect to see. In the absence of such expectation, a very +strongly illuminated or well-marked, outstanding object is far more +readily "seen" than less marked objects. Accordingly, the outstretched +legs of the galloping horse, now in front and now behind, are "seen," +whilst the rest of the phases are not observed. Moreover, it is a fact +that the swinging pendulum of a clock is "seen" at the extreme +position of the swing on each side, and not in the intermediate space. +This is because the image is formed very quickly, twice in the space +where the bob of the pendulum is coming to the limit of its swing and +is again returning on its course. For the same reason, the +outstretched legs of the horse going up to their limit and at once +returning give in very quick succession, near their extreme limit, an +ascending and a descending phase which are not strictly but sensibly +alike, and so doubly impress the retina, and obtain for the legs +"attention" when in that extreme position. The choice of the attitude +depicted by Morot is explained by the fact that, as is shown by its +persistence through two successive pictures (figs. 2 and 3 of Pl. I), +this pose must produce a more continuous impression on the retina than +any other of the attitudes shown, since none of them endure through +two successive pictures. + +The mental process of attention results in a certain duration or +memory of the mental condition which is a distinct thing from the +primary retinal impression, and leads to the ignoring or mental +obliteration of an instantaneous interval separating two phases of the +position of moving legs which have strongly "arrested the attention." +Hence, it seems that the most forward pose of the galloping horse's +front legs and the most backward pose of its hind legs--though far +from simultaneous, even in the slow changing retinal impressions--may +be mentally combined by "the arrest of attention," and that the artist +really ought to present his picture of the galloping horse with those +two poses combined (although as a matter of scientific truth they do +not occur simultaneously) in order that he may produce by his painted +piece of canvas, as nearly as he can, the mental result which we call +"seeing" a horse gallop. This combination of the front half of one +figure with the hinder half of another so as to give in each case the +extreme phase of extension of the legs I have made in Pl. I, fig. 12. + +But there is, further, in all "seeing" before even a mental result of +_attention_ to the retinal picture is, as it were, "passed," admitted +and registered as "a thing seen," the further operation of rapid +criticism or _judgment_, brief though it be. We are always +unconsciously forming lightning-like judgments by the use of our eyes, +rejecting the improbable, and (as we consider) preposterous, and +accepting and therefore "seeing" what our judgment approves even when +it is not there! We accept as "a thing seen" a wheel buzzing round +with something like fifty spokes--but we cannot accept a horse with +eight or sixteen legs! The four-leggedness of a horse is too dominant +a prejudice for us to accept a horse with several indistinct blurred +legs as representing what we see when the horse gallops. The mind +revolts at such a presentation, though it is true, and the whole +scheme and composition of the artist is perverted or fails to gain +attention and to exercise its charm--by the unwelcome presence in his +picture of the revolting truth. It is the consideration of facts of +this kind which enables us to understand the origin and importance of +what are called "conventions" in pictorial or glyptic art. The artist +is, in fact, operating by means of his painted canvas or moulded clay +upon a queer, prejudiced, ill-seeing, dull, living creature--his +brother-man. In order to give if possible to that brother, by means of +a painted sheet, some or all of the delights, emotions, suggestions, +perceptions of beauty, and so on, which he himself has experienced in +contemplating a real scene, the artist has to present that scene, not +as it really is, nor even as he thinks it really is, but in such a way +that his canvas shall appeal to his brother's attention and judgment +with the same emotional and intellectual result as the scene itself +produced in him. Therefore he must not aim at accuracy of reproduction +of natural fact nor even of visual fact, but at the transference to +another mind of his own mental condition--his inner judgment as to +"things seen"--by means of necessarily imperfect pictorial mimicry. He +must therefore avoid startling or abnormal truthfulness of observation +of the unessential and even more strictly must he refuse to make his +picture a scientific diagram demonstrating what "is" rather than what +is "seen" or is "thought to have been seen." + +On these grounds I find that the most satisfactory pictures of the +galloping horse are those which combine a phase of the movement of the +front legs with a phase of the movement of the hind legs, not +simultaneous in actual occurrence, but following one another. It is +for the artist to select the combination best suited to producing the +mental result aimed at. Some of the Chinese and Japanese +representations of the galloping horse and some of their European +imitations (but not all--certainly not that of Stubbs, of the Epsom +Derby of Géricault, and the racing plates) seem to me to be eminently +satisfactory and successful in this respect. In the pictures to which +I allude (Pl. III, figs. 3 and 5) all the legs are off the ground; the +front legs are advanced, but one or both may be more or less flexed, +whilst the hind legs, though directed backwards with upturned hoofs, +are not nearly horizontal (as they actually are in the galloping dog), +but show the moderate extension which really occurs in the horse, and +is recorded by instantaneous photography. This pose, favoured by many +European and Japanese artists, can be obtained by uniting the +outstretched hind legs of fig. 9 of the Muybridge series (Pl. I), with +the outstretched forelegs of fig. 6, as shown in Pl. I, fig. 12, or by +uniting the hind legs of fig. 10 with the forelegs of fig. 4 as shown +in Pl. III, fig. 1. + +With regard to the representation of other "gaits" of the horse than +that of the rapid gallop--such as canter, trot, amble, rack, and +walk--I have no doubt that instantaneous photography can (and in +practice does) furnish the painter with perfectly correct and at the +same time useful and satisfactory poses of the horse's limbs. These, +though of longer duration than the poses of the gallop, can only be +correctly estimated by the eye with great difficulty, and only +sketched by artists of exceptional skill and patience. The movement of +the wings of birds in flight has been very successfully analysed by +instantaneous photography. Some of the poses revealed must familiarise +the public with what can be, and, in fact, has been, observed in the +case of large sea-birds, by the unassisted eye, and has been +represented in pictures by the more careful observers of nature among +modern painters. A large sea-bird sailing along with apparently +motionless wings has been photographed in the act of giving a single +stroke so rapid as to escape observation by the eye. + +An interesting question in regard to the movements of the horse is +that as to how far any known "pace" is natural to that animal, and how +far it has been acquired by training and is, in a sense, artificial. +We know so little of the wild horse, and of the more abundant wild +asses and zebras, that it is difficult to say anything precise on this +question. There is only one region in which the true original wild +horse of the northern part of Asia and Europe still exists. That is +the Gobi Desert, in Central Asia. This horse is known as Prevalsky's +wild horse, in honour of the Russian traveller who discovered it. Live +specimens are now to be seen in the Zoological Gardens and elsewhere. +It closely resembles the drawings of horses made by the palæolithic +Cromagnard cave-men. A century ago a wild horse, probably of the same +race as this, inhabited the Kirghiz Steppes, and was known as the +Tarpan: it is now extinct. The more southern Arabian horse is not +known in the wild state, whilst the wild horses of America are +descendants of domesticated European horses which have "run wild." I +do not know of any studies of the movements of the true wild horse, +nor of those of wild asses and zebras, carried out by the aid of +instantaneous photography. It would be interesting to know whether +untaught wild "equines" would fall naturally into the gaits known as +"the amble" and "the rack," or whether the walk, the trot, and the +gallop are their only natural gaits. + +The amble, in which the fore and hind leg on the same side are +advanced simultaneously, is a natural gait of the elephant, the +fastest Muybridge could get from that great beast. He made a menagerie +elephant amble at the rate of a mile in seven minutes. The only other +animal known to habitually exhibit "the amble" is the giraffe. It is +often exhibited by the giraffes in the Zoological Gardens in London, +but has not, I believe, been recorded by a series of instantaneous +photographs. When going at full speed over the grass wilds of Central +Africa the giraffe exhibits a gait more like the galloping of deer and +antelopes, and carries the long neck horizontally. No complete study +of the "gaits" of large animals other than the horse has been made, +since menagerie specimens and menagerie conditions are not +satisfactory for the purpose, and, unfortunately, it has not been +possible as yet to take series of photographs of them in their wild +conditions. + +The electric spark furnishes a most important means of taking +instantaneous photographs, but the operator must perform in the dark. +An electric spark can be obtained which lasts only the one +two-thousandth of a second, and by its use as the sole illuminating +agent we can get a photograph of a phase of movement lasting only that +excessively short space of time, or, if we please, a succession of +such phases by using a succession of sparks. Thus, a rifle bullet is +readily photographed while in flight with scarcely perceptible +distortion. A wheel revolving many hundred times a second can thus be +photographed, and appears to be stationary. Dr. Schillings has applied +this method to the photography of wild animals by night in the forests +of tropical Africa, and has published an interesting book giving his +photographic results. In order to take these pictures the track +followed by certain animals has to be detected, and then a thread is +stretched "breast-high" across the track, so that the animal coming +along it by night shall pull the thread. Immediately the thread is +pulled it sets an electric contact in action. There is a brief flash +of one two-thousandth of a second, and a picture is taken by a camera +previously fixed, out of harm's way, so as to focus the area where the +thread was stretched. + +Dr. Schillings obtained some very remarkable photographs of "the night +life of the forest" in this way--lions and leopards advancing on their +prey were suddenly revealed, and the helpless antelope or other victim +was shown crouching in the dark, or making a desperate effort to +escape. + +The electric-spark method was applied by a friend of mine to +demonstrate the movements by which a kitten falling backwards from a +table succeeds in turning itself so as to alight on its feet. During a +fall of less than 3 feet he obtained five successive spark-pictures of +the kitten, which, I beg it may be clearly understood, was a pet +kitten, and was neither frightened nor hurt by the proceedings. + +Instantaneous photographs, whether obtained by the use of an electric +spark as a means of illumination, or by the less rapid method of a +spring shutter working in combination with a sensitive film, which is +jerked along so as to be exposed when the shutter is open and travel +when it is shut, has been applied to the analysis of other movements +than those I have mentioned, and has yet to be applied to many more, +such as the crawling of insects and millipedes, and the beautiful +rippling movement of the legs and body by which many marine worms +swim. It has been extensively used in the study of human locomotion, +and of the successive poses of the arms and legs in various athletic +exercises, and in such games as baseball and golf. + +A first-rate fencer of my acquaintance had a five-minutes' film of +himself taken when fencing, giving 10,000 consecutive poses. He wished +to see exactly what movements he made, and to ascertain by this minute +examination any error or want of grace in his action, in order to +avoid it. An unexpected picture is obtained when a man or woman is +thus "biographed" whilst walking rapidly, and suddenly turns to the +right or left. A fraction of a second occurs when the toes of the two +feet are directed towards one another (that is to say, are "turned +in"), as one of the legs swings round in the break-off to right or +left. This instantaneous phase is very awkward and ugly in appearance. +It is never pictured by artists, although regularly occurring, and +seems to have been as little known before instantaneous photography +was introduced as were most of the phases of the horse's gallop. The +positions assumed when in the air by a high-jump athlete are almost +incredible as revealed by the camera. He appears to be sitting in a +most uncomfortable way on the rope over which he is projecting +himself. + +A very fine attitude is fixed for the artist in one of Muybridge's +instantaneous series of the "bowler"--the cricket "bowler." The +up-lifted right arm, the curve outwards of the whole figure on the +right side, and the free hang of the right leg make a most effective +pose for a sculptor to reproduce. Among the most remarkable results +obtained in Muybridge's series are the stages of the growth or +development of strong "expression" in the face. The anxiety in the +face of the baseball batsman as he awaits the ball is painful; as he +hits at the ball his expression is one of savage ferocity, and in a +fraction of a second this gives place to a dawning smile, which as we +pass along two or three later "_instantanèes_" develops into a broad +grin of satisfaction. Another genuine study of expression both of face +and gesture and movement is given in the series where a pailful of +cold water is unexpectedly poured over the back of a bather seated in +a sitz bath--astonishment, dismay, anger, eagerness to escape, and the +reaction to shock are all clearly shown. Darwin's studies on "the +expression of the emotions" would have been greatly assisted by such +analysis, and the subject might even now be developed by the use of +serial instantaneous records obtained by photography. It may be useful +to those interested in this subject to know that copies of +Muybridge's large series of instantaneous photographs[3] of animal and +human subjects in movement are preserved both in the library of the +Royal Academy of Arts in London and in the Radcliffe Library at +Oxford. I may also mention the extremely valuable series of +instantaneous photographs of living bacteria, blood-parasites and +infusoria produced by MM. Pathé, and the series of fishes and various +invertebrates (including the curious caterpillar-like Peripatus) taken +by Mr. Martin Duncan. + +The representation of the moon in pictures of the ordinary size (some +three feet long by two in height) is a case in which the artist +habitually--one may almost say invariably--departs greatly from +scientific truth, and it is a question as to whether he is justified +in what he does. Take first the case of the low-lying moon near the +horizon as contrasted with the high moon. Everyone knows that the moon +(and the sun[4] also) appears to be much bigger when it is low than +when it is high. Everyone who has not looked into the matter closely +is prepared to maintain that the luminous disc in the sky--whether of +moon or of sun--not merely seems to, but actually does, occupy a +bigger space when it is low down near the horizon than when it is high +up, more nearly overhead. Of course, no one nowadays imagines that the +moon or the sun swells as it sinks or diminishes in volume as it +rises. Those who think about it at all, say that the greater length of +atmosphere through which one sees the low sun or moon, as compared +with the high, magnifies the disc as a lens might do. This, however, +is not the case. If we take a photograph of the moon when low and +another with the same instrument and the same focus when it is high, +we find that the celestial disc produces on the plate (as it does on +our eyes) a picture-disc of practically the same size in both +positions. In fact, the high moon or sun produces a picture-disc of a +little larger size than the low moon or sun. I have here reproduced +(Pl. IV) a photograph, published by M. Flammarion, in which the moon +has been allowed to print itself on a photographic plate exposed +during the time the moon was rising, and it is seen that the track of +the moon has not diminished in width as it rose higher and higher. No +one will readily believe this, yet it is a demonstrable fact. +Astronomers have made accurate measurements which show that there is +no diminution of the disc under these circumstances, but a slight +increase--since the moon is a very little nearer to us when overhead +than when we see it across the horizon. + +[Illustration: Plate IV.--The track of the rising moon registered by +continuous exposure of a photographic plate. It is given here in order +to show that the diameter of the visible disc of the moon does not +diminish as it rises. The slight increase in the breadth of the track +registered by the moon's disc is probably due to a little distortion +caused by the side portion of the lens. After M. Flammarion. The +actual width of the moon's disc as printed here is a little over one +eighth of an inch, which, if we regard it as "a picture" and not +merely as a mechanical record, implies that the observer's eye is only +about 14-1/2 inches distant from the picture plane instead of the more +usual 18 inches, which corresponds to a diameter of the pictured +moon's disc of between 1/6th and 1/7th of an inch (.156 inch).] + +If we put a piece of glass coated with a thin layer of water-colour +paint into a frame, and then make a peep-hole in a board which we fix +upright between us and the upright piece of framed glass, we can keep +the framed glass steady (let us suppose it to be part of the window of +a room), and then we can move the peep-hole board back from it into +the room to measured distances. At a distance of one and a half feet +from the framed glass, which is that at which an artist usually has +his eye from his canvas or paper, we can trace on the smeared or +tinted piece of glass the outlines of things seen through it exactly +as they fill up the area of the glass--men, houses, trees, the moon. +The moon's disc (and the same is true of the sun) is found always to +occupy a space on the glass which is 1/115th of the distance of the +eye from the framed glass plate. When the eye-to-frame distance is +eighteen inches, the diameter of the disc of the moon on the smeared +glass will occupy exactly 1/115th of eighteen inches, which is between +one-sixth and one-seventh of an inch. Similarly if the peep-hole is at +nine and a half feet or 114 inches from the framed glass (which stands +for us as the equivalent of an artist's picture) the moon will occupy +almost exactly one inch in diameter--the size of a halfpenny. With +such a simple apparatus of peep-hole and smeared glass in an upright +frame, it is easy to mark off the size covered by the moon (or sun), +whether low or high, on the smeared glass, and it is found never to +vary whether high or low--so long as the same "eye-to-frame" or +"peep-hole" distance is preserved. That seems to be an important fact +for painters of sun-sets and moon-rises. But what do they do? They +never give the right size (namely one-sixth of an inch) which +corresponds to an eye-to-frame distance of eighteen inches. They give +to a high moon, if they are very careful, a quarter of an inch for +diameter. This means that the observer is about two and a half feet, +or thirty inches from the picture--nearly twice what the artist's eye +really is as he paints. And then--if painting a moon-rise or +sunset--they suddenly pretend to go to a distance of nine and a half +feet from the picture and make the moon an inch across because it is +low down, or even give the moon two inches in diameter, which would +mean that they (and those who look at the picture when hung up for +view) are observing at nineteen feet distance from the front plane or +frame of the picture. They do not alter the other features in the +picture to suit this change of distance of the eye from the frame and +there is no warning given. Certainly there is no obvious and necessary +reason for treating a picture containing a high moon as though you +were three feet from the front plane of the scene presented, and a low +moon as though you were twenty feet from that plane! The confusion +which may result in the representation of other objects when these +changes of eye-to-frame distance are made is shown by the following +simple facts. According to the simple laws of perspective, if the eye +is at thirty inches from the picture-plane or frame (as declared by a +moon drawn of a little more than a quarter of an inch broad), a post +or a man six feet high drawn on the canvas as three inches high +absolutely and definitely means that that man or post is sixty feet +away from the observer inside the picture. The height of the +represented object is the same fraction of the real object as the +eye-to-frame distance is of the distance of the observer to the real +object. If by a two-inch moon the artist has thrown you back from the +front plane of the scene to a distance of nineteen feet, then the +six-foot post or man drawn as three inches high definitely asserts +that it or he is 456 feet distant within the picture. So, too, if the +church tower which cuts the moon is really sixty feet high and is +drawn of two inches vertical measure in the picture, it is an +assertion--when the moon is represented one quarter of an inch +broad--that the church tower is 290 yards, or a sixth of a mile +distant. If, on the other hand, other things remaining the same, the +moon is drawn two inches in diameter, the church tower is now asserted +to be eight times as far off, or about a mile and a third. Very +generally these facts are not considered by painters. They represent +the low moon (or sun) big because the erroneous mental impression is +common to all of us that it _is_ big--that is, bigger, much bigger, +than the high moon or sun, and they do not follow out the consequences +in perspective of the pictorial increase of the moon's apparent +diameter. + +If we could ascertain why it is that the low moon produces a false +impression of being bigger--as a mere disc in the scene--than does the +high moon, we might be able to discover how an artist could produce, +as Nature does, an impression or belief in its greater size whilst +keeping it all the time to its proper size. The explanation of the +illusion as to the increased size of the sun's or moon's disc when +low, given by M. Flammarion and other astronomers, is that the low sun +or moon is unconsciously judged by us as an object at a greater +distance than the high moon or sun. This is due to the long vista of +arching clouds above and of stretching landscape or sea below when the +sun or moon is looked at as it appears on or near the horizon. The +illusion is aided by the dulness of the low moon and the brightness +(supposed nearness) of the high moon. Being judged of (unconsciously) +as further off than the high moon, the low moon is estimated as of +larger size although of the same size. This is, I believe, the correct +explanation of the illusion. When one gazes upwards to the sky, a +small insect slowly flying across the line of sight sometimes is +"judged of" as a huge bird--an eagle or a vulture--since we refer it +to a distance at which birds fly and not to the shorter distance to +which insects approach us. It seems that it would be possible for the +painter, by carefully studying actual natural facts and introducing +their presentation into his picture, to produce the impression of +greater distance, and therefore of size, into a quarter-inch moon +placed near the horizon. He is not compelled for want of other means +to "cut the difficulty" and paint a falsely inflated moon which shall +brutally and by measurement call up the illusion of increased size. I +reproduce here (Pl. V) an interesting drawing which shows how such +illusions of size _can_ be produced. It is none the worse for my +purpose because it is an advertisement by the well-known firm who +have kindly lent it to me. The three figures represented in black +are all of the same height, yet the furthest one appears to be much +taller and bigger altogether than the middle one, and the middle one +than the nearest. This result is obtained by suggesting distance as +separating the right-hand figure from us, whilst giving it exactly the +same height as the others. This seems to me to be a simple case of an +illusion of increased size produced by a suggestion of increased +distance when all the time there is equality in size--as in the case +of the moon on the horizon compared with the moon overhead. It would +be interesting to see an attempt on the part of a competent painter to +produce in this way (which is, I believe, Nature's way) the illusion +of increased size in a low-lying moon without really increasing the +visual size of his painted moon as compared with one in another +picture (to be painted by him) representing the moon bright, clear and +small, overhead. + +[Illustration: Plate V.--Drawing of three figures--Lord Lansdowne, Mr. +Lloyd George, and Mr. Asquith--showing how an illusion of size may be +produced in a picture. The figure of Mr. Asquith is of the same actual +vertical measurement as that of Lord Lansdowne, viz. two inches and +one eighth. Yet owing to the position in which the three figures are +placed and the converging lines--suggesting perspective--the drawing +of Mr. Asquith does not merely represent a much taller man than does +that of Lord Lansdowne, but actually gives the impression, at first +sight, that the little black figure representing Mr. Asquith is longer +and bigger altogether than that representing Lord Lansdowne. Yet the +figures are of the same dimensions. It is owing to illusion of the +same nature that the disc of the low moon appears larger than that of +the high moon.] + +The theatrical scene-painter has another kind of difficulty with the +low moon and the setting sun. He can never be right for more than one +row of seats--one distance--in the theatre. Here there is no +peep-hole, no frame or picture-plane. The observer is _in_ the +picture. If the moon is represented by an illuminated disc of one foot +in diameter, it will, when looked at at a distance of 115 feet, have +the same visual size as the moon itself, but if your seat is nearer +the scene it will look too large, if further off it will look too +small. There is no getting over this difficulty, as the standard of +actual Nature is set up on the stage by the men and women appearing on +it at a known distance. It used to be asked in classical times by +ingenious puzzle-makers--"What is the size of the moon?" A true answer +to that question would be "that of a plate a foot in diameter seen at +a distance of a hundred and fifteen feet." + +To a large extent the painter, like other artists, has to produce +things which do not shock common opinion and experience, and must even +consciously concede to that necessity, and make the sacrifice of +objective truth, in order to secure attention for his higher appeal to +the sense of beauty, to emotion, and sentiment. Approved departures by +the artist from scientific truth are those which are deliberately made +in order to give emphasis--as, for instance, in the huge, but tender +hand of the man in the emotional masterpiece, "Le Baiser," by the +great sculptor Rodin. Another departure from objective truth which is +justified, is seen in Troyon's picture in the Louvre, where the false +drawing and exaggerated size of the leg of a calf advancing towards +the observer suggest, and almost give the illusion of, movement. + +But it can hardly be maintained that any and all the liberties which a +painter or a whole school of painters choose to take with fact in +their presentation of Nature--are beyond criticism. It is possible for +a landscape painter to improve in his treatment of the moon by better +observation and increased knowledge--just as other painters have +learnt not to introduce into their pictures the sort of wooden +rocking-horse to stand for a beautiful living animal, which satisfied +Velasquez, Carl Vernet and the ancient Egyptians. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 1: See note on page 46.] + +[Footnote 2: "La Representation du Galop dans l'art ancien et +moderne," 'Revue Archeologique,' vol. XXXVI _et seq._, 1900.] + +[Footnote 3: A word is needed in amplification of what was said on p. +26 as to the blending of successive images produced on the retina of +the eye by the bioscope or cinematograph or by the old "wheel of +life." The point which is of importance is not the length of time +during which the stimulation of the retina caused by an image +_endures_--becoming weaker and weaker as fractions of a second +pass--but it is this: How long will a stimulus last in _undiminished +brightness_? How soon must it be followed by another stimulus (another +image) so that there may be fusion or continuity, the one succeeding +the other before the earlier has had time, not to disappear, but to +decline. If it has had time to decline in intensity, the appearance of +flickering results. That is what the cinematographer has to avoid. It +is found that a quicker succession--a shorter interval--is necessary +with strong light than with weaker light in order to produce +continuity. With a faint light the interval may be as great as +one-tenth of a second; with a strong light it must not exceed +one-thirtieth (or with still stronger light, one-sixtieth) of a +second. With the stronger light there is a more rapid and a greater +loss of the initial intensity of the impression or effect of stimulus, +and though each successive effect remains as long, or longer, in +dwindling intensity, you get want of continuity, or "flicker."] + +[Footnote 4: What we may call the "visual size" of the sun happens to +be owing to its far greater size and its far greater distance from +us--very nearly the same as that of the moon--and is subject to the +same numerical law of apparent diameter, viz. a disc of any given +measurement in diameter will cover it exactly when held at a distance +from the eye which is 115 times that measurement.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE JEWEL IN THE TOAD'S HEAD + + +To what jewel or precious stone was Shakespeare alluding when he makes +the exiled Duke in "As You Like It" (after praising his rough life in +the forest of Arden, and declaring that adversity has its +compensations), exclaim: + + "The toad, ugly and venomous, + Wears yet a precious jewel in his head"? + +No doubt the unprejudiced reader supposes when he reads this passage +that there is some stone or stone-like body in the head of the toad +which has a special beauty, or else was believed to possess magical or +medicinal properties. And it is probable that Shakespeare himself did +suppose that such a stone existed. As a matter of fact there is no +stone or "jewel" of any kind in the head of the common toad nor of any +species of toad--common or rare. This is a simple and certain result +of the careful examination of the heads of innumerable toads, and is +not merely "common knowledge," but actually the last word of the +scientific expert. In these days of "nature study" writers familiar +with toads and frogs and kindred beasts have puzzled over +Shakespeare's words, and suggested that he was really referring to the +beautiful eyes of the toad, which are like gems in colour and +brilliance. + +This, however, is not the case. Shakespeare himself was simply making +use of what was considered to be "common knowledge" in his day when he +made the Duke compare adversity to the toad with a magic jewel in its +head commonly known as "a toad-stone," although that "common +knowledge" was really not knowledge at all, but--like an enormous mass +of the accepted current statements in those times, about animals, +plants and stones--was an absolutely baseless invention. Such baseless +beliefs were due to the perfectly innocent but reckless habit of +mankind, throughout long ages, of exaggerating and building up +marvellous narrations on the one hand, and on the other hand of +believing without any sufficient inquiry, and with delight and +enthusiasm, such marvellous narrations set down by others. Each writer +or "gossip" concerning the wonders of unexplored nature, consciously +or unconsciously, added a little to the story as received by him, and +so the authoritative statements as to marvels grew more and more +astonishing and interesting. + +It was not until the time of Shakespeare himself that another spirit +began to assert itself--namely, that of asking whether a prevalent +belief or tradition is actually a true statement of fact. Men +proceeded to test the belief by an examination of the thing in +question, and not by merely adducing the assertions of "the learned +so-and-so," or of "the ingenious Mr. Dash." This spirit of inquiry +actually existed in a fairly active state among the more cultivated of +the ancient Greeks. Aristotle (who flourished about 350 B.C.), though +he could not free himself altogether from the primitive tendency to +accept the marvellous as true because it is marvellous and without +regard to its probability--in fact because of its improbability--yet +on the whole showed a determination to investigate, and to see things +for himself, and left in his writings an immense series of first-rate +original observations. He had far more of the modern scientific spirit +than had the innumerable credulous writers of Western Europe who lived +fifteen hundred to two thousand years after him. Even that delightful +person Herodotus, who preceded Aristotle by a hundred years, +occasionally took the trouble to inquire into some of the wonders he +heard of on his travels, and is careful to say now and then that he +does not believe what he heard. But the mediæval-makers of +"bestiaries," herbals, and treatises on stones, which were collections +of every possible fancy and "old-wife's tale," about animals, plants, +and minerals, mixed up with Greek and Arabic legends and the +mystical, medical lore of the "Physiologus"--that Byzantine cyclopædia +of "wisdom while you wait"--deliberately discarded all attempt to set +down the truth; they simply gave that up as a bad job, and recorded +every strange story, property and "application" (as they termed it) of +natural objects with solemn assurance, adding a bit of their own +invention to the gathered and growing mass of preposterous +misunderstanding and superstition. + +In the seventeenth century the opposition to this method of omnivorous +credulity (which even to-day, in spite of all our "progress," +flourishes among both the rich and the poor) crystallised in the +purpose of the Royal Society of London for the Improvement of Natural +Knowledge--whose motto was, and is "_Nullius in verba_" (that is, "We +swear by no man's words"), and whose original first rule, to be +observed at its meetings, was that no one should discourse of his +opinions or narrate a marvel, but that any member who wished to +address the society should "bring in," that is to say, "exhibit" an +experiment or an actual specimen. A new spirit, the "scientific" +spirit, gave rise to and was nourished by this and similar societies +of learned men. As a consequence the absurdities and the cruel and +injurious beliefs in witchcraft, astrology, and baseless legend, +melted away like clouds before the rising sun. In the place of the mad +nightmare of fantastic ignorance, there grew up the solid body of +unassailable knowledge of Nature and of man which we call "science"--a +growth which made such prodigious strides in the last century that we +now may truly be said to live in the presence of a new heaven and a +new earth! + +[Illustration: Fig. 4.--Representation of a man extracting the jewel +from a toad's head; two "jewels", already extracted are seen dropping +to the ground. From the "Hortus Sanitatis," published in 1490.] + +It was, then, a real "stone," called the toad-stone, to which +Shakespeare alluded. It is mentioned in various old treatises +concerning the magical and medicinal properties of gems and stones +under its Latin name, "_Bufonius lapis_," and was also called Borax, +Nosa, Crapondinus, Crapaudina, Chelonitis, and Batrachites. It was +also called Grateriano and Garatronius, after a gentleman named +Gratterus, who in 1473 found a very large one, reputed to have +marvellous power. In 1657, in the "translation by a person of +quality" of the "Thaumatographia" of a Polish physician named +Jonstonus, we find written of it: "Toads produce a stone, with their +own image sometimes. It hath very great force against malignant +tumours that are venomous. They are used to heat it in a bag, and to +lay it hot, without anything between, to the naked body, and to rub +the affected place with it. They say it prevails against inchantments +of witches, especially for women and children bewitched. So soon as +you apply it to one bewitched it sweats many drops. In the plague it +is laid to the heart to strengthen it." Another physician of the same +period (see "Notes and Queries," fourth series, vol. vii, 1871, p. +540) appears to be affected by the new spirit of inquiry, for he +relates the old traditions about the stone and how he tested them. He +says it was reported that the stone could be cut out of the toad's +head. (In the book called "Hortus Sanitatis," dated 1490, there is a +picture, here reproduced [Fig. 4], of a gentleman performing this +operation successfully on a gigantic toad.) Our sceptical physician, +however, goes on to say that it was commonly believed that these +stones are thrown out of the mouth by old toads (probably the tongue +was mistaken for the stone), and that if toads are placed on a piece +of red cloth they will eject their "toad-stones," but rapidly swallow +them again before one can seize the precious gem! He says that when he +was a boy he procured an aged toad and placed it on a red cloth in +order to obtain possession of "the stone." He sat watching the toad +all night, but the toad did not eject anything. "Since that time," he +says, "I have always regarded as humbug ('badineries') all that they +relate of the toad-stone and of its origin." He then describes the +actual stone which passes as the toad-stone, or "_Bufonius lapis_," +and says that it is also called batrachite, or brontia, or ombria. His +description exactly corresponds with the "toad-stones" which are well +known at the present day in collections of old rings. + +[Illustration: Fig. 5.--The palate of the fossil fish Lepidotus, +showing the stud-like teeth in position. These are often found singly, +and stained of a dull brown colour by the rock in which they were +embedded. It was the colour of these fossil teeth, like that of a +toad's body, which led to the assertion that they were produced in the +head of the toad. _a._ A single detached tooth or "toad-stone" seen +from the bright unattached surface. _b._ The same seen from the +attached surface. _c._ A section of the tooth showing its cup-like +shape. (Original drawings.)] + +I have examined twelve of these rings in the British Museum, through +the kindness of Sir Charles Read, P.S.A., the Keeper of Mediæval +Antiquities, and four in the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford. Two of these +are of chalcedony, with a figure of a toad roughly carved on the +stone, and are of a character and origin different from the others. +The others, which are the true and recognised "toad-stones" or +"_Bufonius lapis_," are circular, slightly convex "stones," of a drab +colour, with a smooth enamel-like surface. They are plate-like discs, +being of thin substance and concave on the lower surface, which has an +upstanding rim. I recognised them at once as the palatal teeth of a +fossil fish called "Lepidotus," common in our own oolitic and wealden +strata, and in rocks of that age all over the world. I give in Fig. 5 +a drawing of a complete set of these teeth and of a single one +detached. They were white and colourless in life, but are stained of +various colours according to the nature of the rock in which they were +embedded. A drab colour like that of the skin of the common toad is +given to them by the iron salts present in many oolitic rocks; those +found in the wealden of the Isle of Wight are black. That the +"toad-stones" mounted in ancient rings are really the teeth of a fish +has been already recorded by the Rev. R. H. Newell ("The Zoology of +the English Poets," 1845), but he seems to be mistaken in identifying +them with those of the wolf-fish (Anarrhicas). They undoubtedly are +the palatal teeth of the fossil extinct ganoid fish Lepidotus. + +Before leaving the queer inventions and assertions of the old writers +about these fossil teeth, which they declared to be taken out of the +toad's head, let me quote one delightful passage from a contemporary +of Shakespeare (Lupton: "A thousand notable things of sundry sortes. +Whereof some are wonderful, some strange, some pleasant, divers +necessary, a great sort profitable, and many very precious," London, +1595). "You shall know," he says, "whether the Toadstone called +'crapaudina' be the right and perfect stone or not. Hold the stone +before a toad, so that he may see it. And if it be a right and true +stone, the toad will leap towards it and make as though he would +snatch it from you; he envieth so much that a man should have that +stone. This was credibly told Mizaldus for truth by one of the French +King's physicians, which affirmed that he did see the trial thereof." + +We have thus before us the actual things called toad-stones, and +believed by Shakespeare and his contemporaries to be found in the head +of the toad. How did it come about that these pretty little +button-like, drab-coloured fossil teeth were given such an erroneous +history? This question was answered by the late Rev. C. W. King, +Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, in his book on "Antique Gems" +(London, 1860). He says, "I am not aware if any substance of a stony +nature is ever now discovered within the head or body of the toad. +Probably the whole story originated in the name Batrachites +(frog-stone or toad-stone), given in Pliny to a gem brought from +Coptos, and so called from its resemblance to that animal in colour." +We have not, it must be noted, any specimens of the toad-stone at the +present day actually known to have been brought from Coptos. It is +quite possible that the fossil fish-tooth was substituted ages ago for +Pliny's Batrachites, and was never found at Coptos at all! Whether +that is so or not, the fact is that Pliny never said it came out of a +toad, but merely that it was of the colour of a toad. + +The Pliny referred to is Pliny the Elder, the celebrated Roman +naturalist who wrote a great treatise on natural history, which we +still possess, and died in A.D. 79 whilst visiting the eruption of +Vesuvius. He says nothing of the Batrachites being found inside the +toad, nor does he mention its medicinal virtues. The name +alone--simply the name "Batrachites," the Greek for toad-stone--was +sufficient to lead the fertile imagination of the mediæval doctors to +invent all the other particulars! It is a case precisely similar to +that of the old lady who was credited with having vomited "three black +crows." When the report was traced step by step to its source it was +found that her nurse had stated that she vomited something as black as +a crow! + +The belief in the existence of a stone of magical properties in the +head of the toad is only one of the many instances of beliefs of a +closely similar kind which were accepted by Pliny (although he records +no such belief as to the toad-stone), and were passed on from his +treatise on natural history in a more or less muddled form to the +middle ages, and so to our own time by later writers. Thus Pliny +cites, as stones possessing magical properties, the "Bronte" found in +the head of the tortoise, the Cinædia in the head of a fish of that +name, the Chelonites, a grass-green stone found in a swallow's belly, +the Draconites, which must be cut out of the head of a live serpent, +the Hyænia from the eye of the Hyæna, and the Saurites from the bowels +of a green lizard. All these and the Echites, or viper-stone, were +credited with extraordinary magical virtues, and many of the +assertions of later writers about the toad-stone are clearly due to +their having calmly transferred the marvellous stories about other +imaginary stones to the imaginary toad-stone. The only stone in the +above list which has a real existence is that in the fish's head. Fish +have a pair of beautiful translucent stones in their heads--the +ear-stones or otoliths--by the laminated structure of which we can now +determine the age of a fish just as a tree's age is told by the annual +rings of growth in the wood of its stem. The fresh-water crayfish has +a very curious pair of opaque stones (concretions of carbonate and +phosphate of lime) formed in its gizzard as a normal and regular +thing. They are familiar to every student who dissects a crayfish, and +I am told that in Germany to-day, as in old times also, the +"krebstein" is regarded by the country-folk as possessed of medicinal +and magical properties. I am not able, on the present occasion, to +trace out the possible origin of all the stories and beliefs about +stones occurring within animals. They are more numerous than those +cited by Pliny; they exist in every race and every civilization and +refer to a large variety of animals. Probably many of these beliefs +date from prehistoric times. In the East the most celebrated of these +stones, since the period of Arabic civilisation, is called a +bezoar-stone, "Bezoar" is the Persian word for "antidote," and does +not apply only to a stone. The true and original "bezoar-stone" of the +East is a concretion found in the intestine of the Persian wild goat. +Those which I have seen are usually of the size and shape of a +pigeon's egg and of a fine mahogany colour, with a smooth, polished +surface. The Persian goat's bezoar-stone is found, on chemical +analysis, to consist of "ellagic acid," an acid allied to gallic acid, +the vegetable astringent product which occurs in oak-galls used until +lately in the manufacture of ink. The bezoar-stone is probably a +concretion formed in the intestine from some of the undigested +portions of the goat's food. Such concretions are not uncommon, and +occur even in man. "Bezoar-stones" are obtained in the East from deer, +antelopes, and even monkeys, as well as goats, and must have a +different chemical nature in each case. Minute scrapings from these +stones are used in the East as medicine, and their chemical qualities +render their use not altogether absurd, though they probably have not +any really valuable action. It is probable that their use had a later +origin than that of the "stones" connected with magic and witchcraft. +Sixteenth century writers, ever ready to invent a history when their +knowledge was defective, declared the bezoar-stone to be formed by the +inspissated tears of the deer or of the gazelle--the "gum" which +Hamlet remarked in aged examples of the human species. + +The substance called "ambergris" (grey amber), valued to-day as a +perfume, is a fæcal concretion similar to a bezoar-stone. It is formed +in the intestine of the sperm-whale, and contains fragments of the +hard parts of cuttle-fishes, which are the food of these whales. +"Hair-balls" are formed in the intestines of various large vegetarian +animals--and occasionally stony concretions of various chemical +composition are formed in the urinary bladder of various animals, as +well as of man. The "eagle-stone" is also a concretion to which +magical properties were ascribed. I have seen a specimen, but do not +know its history and origin. Glass beads found in prehistoric +burial-places are called by old writers "adders' eggs," and +"adder-stones," and were said (it is improbable that one should say +"believed") to hatch out young adders when incubated with sufficiently +silly ceremonies and observances. A celebrated "stone" of medicinal +reputation in the East is the "goa-stone." This is a purely artificial +product--a mass of the size and shape of a large egg, consisting of +some very fine and soft powder like fullers'-earth, sweetly scented, +and overlaid with gold-leaf. A very little is rubbed off, mixed with +water, and swallowed, as a remedy for many diseases. The deep +connection of medicine with magic throwing light on the strange +application of stones and hairs, bones and skins, by imaginative +mankind, in all ages and places, is exhibited in the common practice +of writing with ink a sentence of the Koran (or other sacred words) on +a tablet, washing off the ink and making the patient swallow the water +in which the sacred phrase has been thus dissolved! How convenient it +would be were it possible thus to impart knowledge, virtue, and health +to suffering humanity! + +A good example of one of the ways in which magical properties become +attributed to natural objects is the stone known as amethyst. The +ancient Indian name of this stone had the sound represented by its +present name. In Greek this sound happens to mean "not intoxicated"; +hence, without more ado, the ancients declared that the amethyst was a +preventive of, and a cure for, drunkenness. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +ELEPHANTS + + +In the novel by that clever but contradictious writer, Sam Butler, +entitled "The Way of All Flesh," an amiable and philosophically minded +old gentleman, who pervades the story, states that when one feels +worried or depressed by the incidents of one's daily life, great +comfort may be derived from an hour spent at the Zoological Gardens in +company with the larger mammalia. He ascribes to them a remarkable +soothing influence, and I am inclined to agree with him. I am not +prepared to decide whether the effect is due to the example of +patience under adversity offered by these animals, or whether it is +perhaps their tranquil indifference to everything but food, coupled +with their magnificent success in attaining to such dignity of size, +which imposes upon me and fills me for a brief space with resignation +and a child-like acquiescence in things as they are. The elephant +stands first as a soothing influence, and then the giraffe, the latter +having special powers, due to its beautiful eyes and agreeable +perfume. Sometimes the hippopotamus may diffuse a charm of his own, an +aura of rotund obesity, especially when he is bathing or sleeping; but +there are moments when one has to flee from his presence. I never +could get on very well with rhinoceroses, but the large deer, bison, +and wild cattle have the quality detected by Mr. Butler. So has the +gorgeous, well-grown tiger, in full measure, when he purrs in answer +to one's voice: but the lion is pompous, irritable, and easily upset. +He never purrs. He is unpleasantly and obscurely spotted. He seems to +be afraid of losing his dignity, and to be conscious of the fact that +his reputation--like that of some English officials--depends on the +overpowering wig which he now wears, though his Macedonian forerunner +had no such growth to give an illusive appearance of size and capacity +to his head. However opinions may differ about these things, we will +agree that the elephant (or "Oliphant," as he was called in France 400 +years ago) is the most imposing, fascinating, and astonishing of all +animals. + +[Illustration: Fig. 6.--The Indian elephant (_Elephas maximus_ or +_indicus_). Observe the small size of its ear-flap.] + +At the present day there are two species only of elephant existing on +the earth's surface. These are the Indian (Fig. 6) (called _Elephas +indicus_, but sometimes called _Elephas maximus_ on account of the +priority which belongs to that designation, although the Indian +elephant is smaller than the other), and the African (Fig. 7) (called +_Elephas Africanus_). In the wild state their area of occupation has +become greatly diminished within historic times. The Indian elephant +was hunted in Mesopotamia in the twelfth century B.C., and Egyptian +drawings of the eighteenth dynasty show elephants of this species +brought as tribute by Syrian vassals. To-day the Indian elephant is +confined to certain forests of Hindoostan, Ceylon, Burma, and Siam. +The African elephant extended 100 years ago all over South Africa, and +in the days of the Carthaginians was found near the Mediterranean +shore, whilst in prehistoric (late Pleistocene) times it existed in +the south of Spain and in Sicily. Now it is confined to the more +central and equatorial zone of Africa, and is yearly receding before +the incursions and destructive attacks of civilised man. + +[Illustration: Fig. 7.--The African elephant (_Elephas Africanus_) +with rider mounted on its back. The drawing is an enlarged +representation of an ancient Carthaginian coin.] + +At no great distance of time before the historic period, earlier, +indeed, than the times of the herdsmen who used polished stone +implements and raised great stone circles, namely, in the late +Pleistocene period, we find that there existed all over Europe and +North Asia and the northern part of America another elephant very +closely allied to the Indian elephant, but having a bow-like outward +curvature of the tusks, their points finally directed towards one +another, and a thick growth of coarse hair all over the body. This is +"the mammoth," the remains of which are found in every river valley in +England, France and Germany, and of which whole carcases are +frequently discovered in Northern Siberia, preserved from decay in the +frozen river gravels and "silt." The ancient cave-men of France used +the fresh tusks of the mammoth killed on the spot for their carvings +and engravings, and from their time to this the ivory of the mammoth +has been, and remains, in constant use. It is estimated that during +the last two centuries at least 100 pairs of mammoths' tusks have been +each year exported from the frozen lands of Siberia. In early mediæval +times the trade existed, and some ivory carvings and drinking horns of +that age appear to be fashioned from this more ancient ivory. + +Already, then, within the human period we find elephants closely +similar to those of our own time, far more numerous and more widely +distributed than in our own day, and happily established all over the +temperate regions of the earth--even in our Thames Valley and in the +forests where London now spreads its smoky brickwork. When we go +further back in time--as the diggings and surveying of modern man +enable us to do--we find other elephants of many different species, +some differing greatly from the three species I have mentioned, and +leading us back by gradual steps to a comparatively small animal, +about the size of a donkey, without the wonderful trunk or the immense +tusks of the later elephants. By the discovery and study of these +earlier forms we have within the last ten years arrived at a knowledge +of the steps by which the elephant acquired in the course of long ages +(millions of years) his "proboscis" (as the Greeks first called it), +and I will later sketch that history. + +But now let us first of all note some of the peculiarities of living +elephants and the points by which the two kinds differ from one +another. The most striking fact about the elephant is its enormous +size. It is only exceeded among living animals by whales; it is far +larger than the biggest bull, or rhinoceros, or hippopotamus. A +fair-sized Indian elephant weighs two to three tons (Jumbo, one of the +African species, weighed five), and requires as food 60 lb. of oats, +1-1/2 truss of hay, 1-1/2 truss of corn a day, costing together in +this country about 5_s._; whereas a large cart-horse weighs 15 cwt., +and requires weekly three trusses of hay and 80 lb. of oats, costing +together 12_s._ or about 1_s._ 8-1/2_d._ a day. It is this which has +proved fatal to the elephant since man took charge of the world. The +elephant requires so much food and takes so many years in growing up +(twenty or more before he is old enough to be put to work), that it is +only in countries where there is a super-abundance of forest in which +he can be allowed to grow to maturity at his own "charges" (so to +speak) that it is worth while to attempt to domesticate and make use +of him. For most purposes three horses are more "handy" than one +elephant. The elephant is caught when he is already grown up, and then +trained. It is as a matter of economy that he is not bred in +confinement, and not because there is any insuperable difficulty in +the matter. Occasionally elephants have bred in menageries. + +There is no doubt that the African elephant at the present day grows +to a larger size than the Indian, though it was the opinion of the +Romans of the Empire that the Indian elephant was the more powerful, +courageous, and intelligent of the two. It seems next to impossible to +acquire at the present day either specimens or trustworthy records of +the largest Indian elephants. About 10 ft. 6 ins. at the shoulder +seems to be the maximum, though they are dressed up by their native +owners with platforms and coverings to make them look bigger. In India +the skin of domesticated individuals is polished and carefully +stained, like an old boot, by the assiduity of their guardians, so +that a museum specimen of exceptional size, fit for exhibition and +study, cannot be obtained. On the other hand, the African elephant not +unfrequently exceeds a height of 11 ft. at the shoulder. With some +trouble I obtained one exceeding this measurement direct from East +Africa for the Natural History Museum, where it now stands. It seems +highly probable that this species occasionally exceeds 12 ft. in +height. On the ground, between the great African elephant's fore and +hind legs, in the museum, I placed a stuffed specimen of the smallest +terrestrial mammal--the pigmy shrew-mouse. It is worth while thus +calling to mind that the little animal has practically every separate +bone, muscle, blood-vessel, nerve, and other structure present in the +huge monster compared with it--is, in fact, built closely upon the +same plan, and yet is so much smaller that it is impossible to measure +one by the other. The mouse is only about one fifth the length of the +elephant's eye. According to ancient Oriental fable, the mouse and the +dragon were the only two animals of which the elephant was afraid. + +The African elephant has much larger tusks relatively to his size than +the Indian, and both males and females have them, whereas the Indian +female has none. A very fine Indian elephant's tusk weighs from 75 lb. +to 80 lb. The record for an African elephant's tusk was (according to +standard books) 180 lb. But I obtained ten years ago for the museum, +where it now may be seen, an African elephant's tusk weighing 228-1/2 +lb. Its fellow weighed a couple of pounds less. It measures 10 ft. 2 +in. in length along the curvature. This tusk was recognised by Sir +Henry Stanley's companion, Mr. Jephson, when he was with me in the +museum, as actually one which he had last seen in the centre of +Africa. He told me that he had, in fact, weighed and measured this +tusk in the treasury of Emin Pasha, in Central Africa, when he went +with Stanley to bring Emin down to the coast. As will be remembered, +Emin had no wish to go to the coast, but returned to his province. He +was subsequently attacked and murdered by an Arab chief, who +appropriated his store of ivory, and in the course of time had it +conveyed to the ivory market at Zanzibar. The date of the purchase +there of the museum specimen corresponds with the history given by Mr. +Jephson. + +[Illustration: Fig. 8.--The crowns of three "grinders" or molars of +elephants compared. A is that of an extinct mastodon with four +transverse ridges; B is that of the African elephant with nine ridges +in use and ground flat; C is that of the mammoth with sixteen narrow +ridges in use--the rest, some eight in number, are at the left hand of +the figure and not yet in use.] + +The African elephant (as could be seen by comparing the small one +living in Regent's Park with its neighbours) has a sloping forehead +graduating into the trunk or proboscis, instead of the broad, upright +brow of the Indian. He also has very much larger ears, which lie +against the shoulders (except when he is greatly excited) like a short +cape or cloak (see Fig. 7). These great ears differ somewhat in shape +in the elephants of different parts of Africa, and local races can be +distinguished by the longer or shorter angle into which the flap is +drawn out. The grinding teeth of the two elephants differ very +markedly, but one must see these in a museum. The grinders are very +large and long (from behind forwards), coming into place one after the +other. Each grinder occupies, when fully in position, the greater part +of one side of the upper or of the lower jaw. They are crossed from +right to left by ridges of enamel, like a series of mountains and +valleys, which gradually wear down by rubbing against those of the +tooth above or below. The biggest grinder of the Indian elephant has +twenty-four of these transverse ridges, whilst that of the African has +only eleven, which are therefore wider apart (see Fig. 8). An extinct +kind of elephant--the mastodon--had only five such ridges on its +biggest grinders, and four or only three on the others. Other +ancestral elephants had quite ordinary-looking grinders, with only two +or three irregular ridges or broad tubercles. Both the Indian and +African elephant have hairless, rough, very hard, wrinkled skins. But +the new-born young are covered with hair, and some Indian elephants +living in cold, mountainous regions appear to retain a certain amount +of hair through life. The mammoth (which agreed with the Indian +elephant in the number of ridges on its grinders and in other points) +lived in quite cold, sub-Arctic conditions, at a time when glaciers +completely covered Scandinavia and the north of our islands as well as +most of Germany. It retained a complete coat of coarse hair throughout +life. The young of our surviving elephants only exhibit transitorily +the family tendency. + +The last mammoth probably disappeared from the area which is now Great +Britain about 150,000 years ago. It might be supposed that no elephant +was seen in England again until the creation of "menageries" and +"zoological gardens" within the last two or three hundred years. This, +however, is by no means the case. The Italians in the middle ages, and +through them the French and the rulers of Central Europe, kept +menageries and received as presents, or in connection with their trade +with the East and their relations with Eastern rulers, frequent +specimens of strange beasts from distant lands. Our King Henry I, had +a menagerie at Woodstock, where he kept a porcupine, lions, leopards, +and a camel! The Emperor Charlemagne received in 803 A.D. from Haroun +al Raschid, the Caliph of Bagdad, an elephant named Abulabaz. It was +brought to Aix-la-Chapelle by Isaac the Jew, and died suddenly in 810. +Some four and a half centuries later (in 1257), Louis IX, of France, +returning from the Holy Land, sent as a special and magnificent +present to Henry III, King of England (according to the chronicle of +Matthew Paris), an elephant which was exhibited at the Tower of +London. It was supposed by the chronicler to be the first ever brought +to England, and indeed the first to be taken beyond Italy, for he did +not know of Charlemagne's specimen. In 1591 King Henry IV of France, +wishing to be very polite to Queen Elizabeth of England, and +apparently rather troubled by the expense of keeping the beast +himself, sent to her, having heard that she would like to have it, an +elephant which had been brought from the "Indies" and landed at +Dieppe. He declared it to be the first which had ever come into +France, but presented it to Her Majesty "as I would most willingly +present anything more excellent did I possess it." Thenceforward +elephants were from time to time exhibited at the Tower, together with +lions and other strange beasts acquired by the Crown. + +None of these elephants were, however, "the first who ever burst" into +remote Britain after the mammoths had disappeared, and we were +separated from Europe by the geological changes which gave us the +English Channel--La Manche. Though Julius Cæsar himself does not +mention it, it is definitely stated by a writer on strategy named +Polyænus, a friend of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, but not, I am sorry +to say, an authority to whose statements historians attach any serious +value--that Cæsar made use of an elephant armed with iron plates and +carrying on its back a tower full of armed men to terrify the ancient +Britons when he crossed the Thames--an operation which he carried out, +I believe, somewhere between Molesey and Staines. + +Elephants are often spoken of as "Ungulates," and classed by +naturalists with the hoofed animals (the odd toed tapirs, +rhinoceroses, and horses, and the even-toed pigs, camel, cattle, and +deer). But there is not much to say in defence of such an association. +The elephants have, as a matter of fact, not got hoofs, and they have +five toes on each foot. The five toes of the front foot have each a +nail, whilst usually only four toes of the hind foot have nails. A +speciality of the elephant is the great circular pad of thick skin +overlying fat and fibrous tissue, which forms the sole of the foot and +bears the animal's enormous weight. This buffer-like development of +the foot existed in some great extinct mammals (the Dinoceras family, +of North America), but is altogether different from the support given +by a horse's hoof or the paired shoe-like hoofs of great cattle or +the three rather elegant hoofed toes of the rhinoceros. + +The Indian elephant likes good, solid ground to walk on, and when he +finds himself in a boggy place will seize any large objects +(preferably big branches of trees) and throw them under his feet to +prevent himself sinking in. Occasionally he will remove the stranger +who is riding on his back and make use of him in this way. The +circumference of the African elephant's fore-foot is found by hunters +to be half the animal's height at the shoulder, and is regarded as +furnishing a trustworthy indication of his stature. + +The legs of the elephant differ from those of more familiar large +animals in the fact that the ankle and the wrist (the so-called knee +of the horse's foreleg) are not far above the sole of the foot +(resembling man's joints in this respect), whilst the true knee-joint +(called "the stifle" in horses)--instead of being, as in horses, high +up, close against the body, strongly flexed even when at rest, and +obscured by the skin--is far below the body, free and obvious enough. +In fact, the elephant keeps the thigh and the upper arm perpendicular +and in line with the lower segment of the limb when he is standing, so +that the legs are pillar-like. But he bends the joints amply when in +quick movement. The hind legs seen in action resemble, in the +proportions of thigh, foreleg, and foot, and the bending at the knee +and ankle, very closely those of a man walking on "all fours." The +elephant as known in Europe more than 300 years ago was rarely seen in +free movement. He was kept chained up in his stall, resting on his +straight, pillar-like legs and their pad-like feet. And with that +curious avidity for the marvellous which characterized serious writers +in those days to the exclusion of any desire or attempt to ascertain +the truth, it was coolly asserted, and then commonly believed, that +the elephant could not bend his legs. Shakespeare--who, of course, is +merely using a common belief of his time as a chance illustration of +human character--makes Ulysses say (referring to his own stiffness of +carriage) ("Troilus and Cressida," Act II) "The elephant hath joints, +but none for courtesy; his legs are legs for necessity, not for +flexure." An old writer says: "The elephant hath no joints, and, being +unable to lye down, it lieth against a tree, which, the hunters +observing, do saw almost asunder; whereon the beast relying--by the +fall of the tree falls also down itself, and is able to rise no more." +Another old writer (Bartholomew, 1485), says, more correctly: "When +the elephant sitteth he bendeth his feet; he bendeth the hinder legs +right as a man." + +A writer of 120 years later in date (Topsell) says: "In the River +Ganges there are blue worms of sixty cubits long having two arms; +these when the elephants come to drink in that river take their trunks +in their hands and pull them off. At the sight of a beautiful woman +elephants leave off all rage and grow meek and gentle. In Africa there +are certain springs of water which, if at any time they dry up, they +are opened and recovered again by the teeth of elephants." The blue +worm of the Ganges referred to is no doubt the crocodile; both in +India and Africa animals coming to the rivers to drink are seized by +lurking crocodiles, who fix their powerful jaws on to the face (snout +or muzzle) of the drinking animal and drag it under the water. Thus +the fable has arisen of the origin of the elephant's trunk as +recounted by Mr. Rudyard Kipling. A young elephant (before the days of +trunks), according to this authority, when drinking at a riverside had +his moderate and well-shaped snout seized by a crocodile. The little +elephant pulled and the crocodile pulled, and by the help of a +friendly python the elephant got the best of it. He extricated himself +from the jaws of death. But, oh! what a difference in his appearance! +His snout was drawn out so as to form that wonderful elongated thing +with two nostrils at the end which we call the elephant's trunk, and +was henceforth transmitted (a first-rate example of an "acquired +character") to future generations! The real origin of the elephant's +trunk is (as I will explain later) a different one from that handed +down to us in the delightful jungle-book. I do not believe in the +hereditary transmission of acquired modifications! + +Topsell may or may not be right as to the result produced on elephants +by the sight of a beautiful woman. In Africa the experiment would be a +difficult one, and even in India inconclusive. Topsell seems, however, +to have come across correct information about the digging for water by +an African elephant by the use of his great tusks--those tusks for the +gain of which he is now being rapidly exterminated by man. Serious +drought is frequent in Africa, and a cause of death to thousands of +animals. African elephants, working in company, are known to have +excavated holes in dried-up river beds to the depth of 25 feet in a +single night in search of water. It is probable that the Indian +elephant's tusk would not be of service in such digging, and it is to +be noted that he is rather an inhabitant of high ground and +table-lands than of tropical plains liable to flood and to drought. +The tusk of the Indian elephant has become merely a weapon of attack +for the male, and there are even local breeds in which it is absent in +the males as well as in the females. The mammoth was a near cousin of +the Indian elephant, and inhabited cold uplands and the fringes of +sub-Arctic forests, on which he fed. His tusks were very large, and +curved first outward and then inward at the tips. They would not have +served for heavy digging, and probably were used for forcing a way +through the forest and as a protection to the face and trunk. + +The trunk of the elephant was called "a hand" by old writers, and it +seems to have acted in the development of the elephant's intelligence +in the same way as man's hand has in regard to his mental growth, +though in a less degree. The Indian elephant has a single tactile and +grasping projection (sometimes called "a finger") placed above between +the two nostrils at the end of the trunk; the African elephant has one +above and one below. I have seen the elephant pick up with this +wonderful trunk with equal facility a heavy man and then a threepenny +piece. + +The intelligence of the elephant is sometimes exaggerated by reports +and stories; sometimes it is not sufficiently appreciated. It is not +fair to compare the intelligence of the elephant with that of the +dog--bred and trained by man for thousands of years. So far as one can +judge, there is no wild animal, excepting the higher apes, which +exhibits so much and such varied intelligence as the elephant. It +appears that from early tertiary times (late Eocene) the ancestors of +elephants have had large brains, whilst, when we go back so far as +this, the ancestors of nearly all other animals had brains a quarter +of the size (and even less in proportion to body-size) which their +modern representatives have. Probably the early possession of a large +brain at a geological period when brains were as a rule small is what +has enabled the elephants not only to survive until to-day, but to +spread over the whole world (except Australia), and to develop an +immense variety and number of individuals throughout the tertiary +series in spite of their ungainly size. It is only the yet bigger +brain of man which (would it were not so!) is now at last driving this +lovable giant, this vast compound of sagacity and strength, out of +existence. The elephant--like man standing on his hind legs--has a +wide survey of things around him owing to his height. He can take time +to allow of cerebral intervention in his actions since he is so large +that he has little cause to be afraid and to hurry. He has a fine and +delicate exploring organ in his trunk, with its hand-like termination; +with this he can, and does, experiment and builds up his individual +knowledge and experience. Elephants act together in the wild state, +aiding one another to uproot trees too large for one to deal with +alone. They readily understand and accept the guidance of man, and +with very small persuasion and teaching execute very dextrous +work--such as the piling of timber. If man had selected the more +intelligent elephants for breeding over a space of a couple of +thousand years a prodigy of animal intelligence would have resulted. +But man has never "bred" the elephant at all. + +The Greeks and Romans knew ivory first, and then became acquainted +with the elephant. The island of Elephantina in the Nile was from the +earliest times a seat of trade in the ivory tusks of the African +elephant, and so acquired its name. Herodotus is the first to mention +the elephant itself; Homer only refers to the ivory by the word +"elephas." Aristotle in this, as in other matters, is more correct +than later writers. He probably received first-hand information about +the elephant from Alexander and some of his men after their Indian +expedition. The Romans had an unpleasant first personal experience of +elephants when Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, landed a number with his army +and put the Roman soldiers to flight. But the Romans then, and +continually in after-times, showed their cool heads and sound judgment +in a certain contempt for elephants as engines of war. They soon +learned to dig pits on the battlefield to entrap the great beasts, and +they deliberately made for the elephants' trunks, hewing them through +with their swords, so that the agonised and maddened creatures turned +round and trampled down the troops of their own side. The Romans only +used them subsequently to terrify barbaric people, and as features in +military processions. But Eastern nations used them extensively in +war. In A.D. 217 Antiochus the Great brought 217 elephants in his army +against 73 employed by Ptolemy, at what was called "the Battle of the +Elephants." The battle commenced by the charging head to head of the +opposing elephants and the discharge of arrows, spears and stones by +the men in the towers on their backs. + +An interesting question has been raised as to whether the elephants +used by the Carthaginians were the African species or the Indian. +There is no doubt that the elephants of Pyrrhus and those known to +Alexander were the Indian, though they were taken in those days much +to the West of India, namely, in Mesopotamia, and it would not have +been difficult for the Carthaginians to convey Indian elephants, which +had certainly been brought as far as Egypt, along the Mediterranean +coast. An unfounded prejudice as to the want of docility of the +African elephant has favoured the notion that the Carthaginians used +the Indian elephant. As a matter of fact, no one in modern times has +tried to train the African elephant, except here and there in a +zoological garden. Probably the Indian "mahout," or elephant trainer +could, if he were put to it, do as much with an African as he does +with an Indian elephant. It would be an interesting experiment. In the +next place, there is decisive evidence that it was the African +elephant which the Carthaginians used, since we have a Carthaginian +coin (Fig. 7) on which is beautifully represented--in unmistakable +modelling--the African elephant, with his large triangular cape-like +ears and his sloping forehead. In the time of Hannibal there were +stables for over 300 of these elephants at Carthage, and he took fifty +with him to the South of France with his army for the Italian +invasion. He only got thirty-seven safely over the Rhone, and all but +a dozen or so died in the terrible passage of the Alps. After the +battle of Trebia he had only eight left, and when he had crossed the +Apennines there was only one still alive. On this Hannibal himself +rode. + +Since the period when the white chalk which now forms our cliffs and +hills was deposited at the bottom of a vast and deep ocean--the sea +bottom has been raised, the chalk has emerged and risen on the top of +hills to 800 feet in height in our own islands, and to ten times that +height elsewhere, and during that process sands and clays and shelly +gravels have been deposited to the thickness of some 2,800 feet by +seas and estuaries and lakes, which have come and gone on the face of +Europe and of other parts of the world as it has slowly sunk and +slowly risen again. The last 200 feet or so of deposits we call the +Pleistocene or Quaternary; the rest are known as the Tertiary strata. +They are only a small part of the total thickness of aqueous deposit +of stratified rock--which amounts to 60,000 feet more before the +earliest remains of life in the Cambrian beds are reached, whilst +older than, and therefore below this, we have another 50,000 feet of +water-made rock which yields no fossils--no remains of living things, +though living things were certainly there! Our little layer of +Tertiary strata on the top is, however, very important. It took +several million years in forming, although it is only one-fortieth of +the whole thickness of aqueous deposit on the crust of the earth. We +divide it into Pliocene, Miocene, and Eocene, and each of these into +upper, middle, and lower, the Eocene being the oldest. Our London clay +and Woolwich sands are lower Eocene; there is a good deal of Miocene +in Switzerland and Germany, whilst the Pliocene is represented by +whole provinces of Italy, parts of central France, and by the White +and Red "crags" of Suffolk.[5] + +[Illustration: Fig. 9.--Skeleton of the Indian elephant. Only four +toes are visible, the fifth concealed owing to the view from the +side.] + +It is during this Tertiary period that the mammals--the warm-blooded, +hairy quadrupeds, which suckle their young--have developed (they had +come into existence a good deal earlier), and we find the remains of +ancestral forms of the living kinds of cattle, pigs, horses, +rhinoceroses, tapirs, elephants, lions, wolves, bears, etc., embedded +in the successive layers of Tertiary deposits. Naturally enough, those +most like the present animals are found in late Pliocene, and those +which are close to the common ancestors of many of the later kinds are +found in the Eocene, whilst we also find, at various levels of the +Tertiary deposit, remains of side-branches of the mammalian pedigree, +which, though including very powerful and remarkable beasts, have left +no line of descent to represent them at the present day. We have been +able to trace the great modern one-toed horses, zebras, and asses, +with their complicated pattern of grinding-teeth back by quite gradual +steps (represented by the bones and teeth of fossil kinds of horses), +to smaller three-toed animals with simpler tuberculated teeth, and +even, without any marked break in the series, to a small Eocene animal +(not bigger than a spaniel) with four equal-sized toes on its front +foot, and three on its hind foot. We know, too, a less direct series +of intermediate forms leading beyond this to an animal with five toes +on each foot and "typical" teeth. In fact, no one doubts that +(leaving aside a few difficult and doubtful cases) all such big +existing mammals, as I mentioned above, as well as monkeys and man, +are derived from small mammals--intermediate in most ways between a +hedgehog and a pig--which flourished in very early Eocene times, and +had five toes on each foot, and "a typical dentition." Even the +elephants came from such a small ancestral form. The common notion +that the extinct forerunners of existing animals were much bigger than +recent kinds, and even gigantic, is not in accordance with fact. Some +extinct animals were of very great size--especially the great reptiles +of the period long before the Tertiaries, and before the chalk. But +the recent horse, the recent elephant, the giraffe, the lions, bears, +and others, are bigger--some much bigger--than the ancestral forms, to +which we can trace them by the wonderfully preserved and wonderfully +collected and worked-out fossilised bones discovered in the successive +layers of the Pliocene, Miocene, and Eocene strata, leading us as we +descend to more primitive, simplified, and smaller ancestors. + +It is easy to understand the initial character of the foot of the +early ancestral mammals. It had five toes. By the suppression or +atrophy of first the innermost toe, then of the outermost, you find +that mammals may first acquire four toes only, and then only three, +and by repeating the process the toes may be reduced to two, or right +away to one, the original middle toe. There is no special difficulty +about tracing back the elephants in so far as this matter is +concerned, since they have kept (like man and some other mammals) the +full typical complement of five toes on each foot. + +But I must explain a little more at length what was the "typical +dentition,"--that is to say, the exact number and form of the teeth in +each half of the upper and the lower jaw of the early mammalian +ancestor of lower Eocene times, or just before. The jaws were drawn +out into a snout or muzzle, an elongated, protruding "face," as in a +dog or deer or hedgehog, and there were numerous teeth set in a row +along the gums of the upper and the lower jaw. The teeth were the same +in number, in upper and in lower jaw, and so formed as to work +together, those of the lower jaw shutting as a rule just a little in +front of the corresponding teeth of the upper jaw. There were above +and below, in front, six small chisel-like teeth, which we call "the +incisors." At the corner of the mouth above and below on each side +flanking these was a corner tooth, or dog-tooth, a little bigger than +the incisors, and more pointed and projecting. These we call "the +canines," four in all. Then we turn the corner of the mouth-front, as +it were, and come to the "grinders," cheek-teeth or molars. These are +placed in a row along each half of upper and lower jaw. In our early +mammalian ancestor they were seven in number, with broader crowns than +the peg-like incisors and canines, the bright polished enamel of the +crown being raised up into two, three or four cone-like prominences. +The back grinders are broader and bigger than those nearer the +dog-tooth. The three hindermost grinders in each half of each jaw are +not replaced by "second" teeth, whilst all the other teeth are. + +[Illustration: Fig. 10.--The teeth in the upper and lower jaw-bone of +the common pig--drawn from photographs. A and B represent the right +half of the lower jaw (A) and the right half of the upper jaw (B) seen +in horizontal position. _Inc._ are the incisors or chisel-like front +teeth, three in number, in each half of each jaw and marked 1, 2, 3. +_C_ marks the canine or dog-tooth, which here grows to be a large +tusk. The molars, "grinders," or cheek teeth are marked 1 to 7. Figs. +C and D give a side view of the left halves of the upper (C) and of +the lower jaw-bone (D), with the teeth in place. The bone has been +partly cut away so as to show the fangs or roots of the teeth, which +are double in the molars, and even threefold in molar No. 7. The +explanation of the lettering is the same as that given for Figs. A and +B. The letter _p_ in Fig. B points to a "foramen" or hole in the upper +jaw-bone. These drawings are introduced here as showing the _complete_ +number of teeth which the ancestor of pigs, goats, elephants, dogs, +tigers, men, and even whales possessed. The reduction in number and +the alteration in the shape of the primitive full set of teeth is +referred to in the present chapter on "Elephants," and in those on +"Vegetarians and their Teeth" (p. 102), and on "A Strange Extinct +Beast" (p. 92).] + +Now this typical set of teeth--consisting of twenty-eight grinders, +four canines, and twelve incisors--is not found complete in many +mammals at the present day, though it is found more frequently as we +go back to earlier strata.[6] Though some mammals have kept close to +the original number, they have developed peculiar shape and qualities +in some of the teeth as well as changes in size. The common pig still +keeps the typical number (Fig. 10), but he has developed the corner +teeth or canines into enormous tusks both in the upper and lower jaw, +and the more anterior grinders have become quite minute. The cats +(lions and tigers included) have kept the full number of incisors (see +Figs. 21 and 22, pp. 103, 104); they have developed the four canines +into enormous and deadly stabbing "fangs," and they have lost all the +grinders but three in each half of the lower jaw and four in each half +of the upper jaw (twelve instead of twenty-eight), and these have +become sharp-edged so as to be scissor-like in their action, instead +of crushing or grinding. Man and the old-world monkeys have lost an +incisor in each half of each jaw (see Pls. VI and VII); they retain +the canines, but have only five molars in each half of each jaw +(twenty in all instead of twenty-eight). Most of the mammals--whatever +change of number and shape has befallen their teeth in adaptation to +their different requirements as to the kind of food and mode of +getting it--have retained a good long pair of jaws and a snout or +muzzle consisting of nose, upper jaw, and lower jaw, projecting well +in front of the eyes and brain-case. Man is remarkable as an +exception. In the higher races of men the jaws are shorter than in the +lower races, and project but very little beyond the vertical plane of +the eyes, whilst the nose projects beyond the lips. Another exception +is the elephant. This is most obvious when the prepared bony skull and +lower jaw are examined, but can be sufficiently clearly seen in the +living animal. The lower jaw and the part of the upper jaw against +which it and its grinders play is extraordinarily short and small. The +elephant has, in fact, no projecting bony jaw at all, no bony snout, +its chin does not project more than that of an old man, and even the +part of the upper jaw into which its great tusks are set does not bend +forward far from the perpendicular (Fig. 9). + +[Illustration: Fig. 11.--A reconstruction of the extinct American +mastodon (_Mastodon ohioticus_) from a drawing by Prof. Osborne. Other +extinct species of mastodon are found in Europe.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 12.--A. Skull, and B. restored outline of the head +of the long-jawed extinct elephant called Tetrabelodon--the name +referring to its four large tusks--two above and two below.] + +The elephant (see Fig. 9) has no sign of the six little front teeth +(incisors) above and below which we find in the typical dentition and +in many living mammals, nor of the corner teeth (dog-teeth, or +canines). In the upper jaw in front there is the one huge tusk on +each side, and in the lower jaw no front teeth at all! Then as to the +grinders. In the elephant these are enormous, with many transverse +ridges on the elongated crown, and so big that there is only room for +one at a time in each half of upper and lower jaw. Six of these +succeed one another in each half of each jaw, and correspond (though +greatly altered) to six of the seven grinders of the typical +dentition. Are there amongst older fossil elephants and animals like +elephants any which have an intermediate condition of the teeth, +connecting the extremely peculiar teeth of the modern elephants with +the typical dentition such as is approached by the pig, the dog, the +tapir, and the hedgehog? There are such links. We know a great many +elephants from Pleistocene and Pliocene strata--some from European +localities, more from India, and some from America. A little elephant +not more than 3 feet high when adult is found fossil in the island of +Malta; other species were a little larger than the living African +elephant. Whilst the Indian elephant has as many as twenty-four +cross-ridges on its biggest grinding tooth (Fig. 8) there is a fossil +kind which has only six such ridges. But besides true elephants we +know from the Pliocene, Miocene, and Upper Eocene of the old world, +the remains of elephant-like creatures (some as big as true +elephants), which are distinguished by the name "Mastodon" (Fig. 11). +And, in fact, we are conducted through a series of changes of form by +ancient elephant-like creatures which are of older and older date as +we pass along the series, and are known as (1) Mastodon, (2) +Tetrabelodon, (3) Palæomastodon, (4) Meritherium, until we come to +something approaching the general form of skull and skeleton and the +typical dentition of the early mammalian ancestor. Mastodons of +several species are found in Pliocene strata in Europe and Asia; +detached teeth are found in Suffolk. One species actually survived +(why, we do not know) in North America into the early human period, +and whole skeletons of it are dug out from the morasses such as that +of "Big-bone Lick." The Mastodons had a longer jaw and face than the +elephants, though closely allied to them. They bring one nearer to +ordinary mammals in that fact, and also in having (when young) two +front teeth or incisors in the lower jaw. Their grinders had the +crowns less elongated than those of the elephants, and there were only +five cross-ridges--on the biggest--and these ridges tend to divide +into separate cones (Fig. 8). So here, too, we are approaching the +ordinary mammals, of which we may keep the pig and the tapir in mind +as samples. But the Mastodons still had the great trunk and huge tusks +of the elephants. + +Next we must look at Tetrabelodon (Fig. 12), and it is this creature +which has really revealed the history of the strange metamorphosis by +which elephants were produced. The Tetrabelodon is known as "the +long-jawed mastodon," because, as was shown in a wonderfully +well-preserved skeleton from the lower Pliocene of the centre of +France, set up in the Paris Museum, it had a lower jaw of enormous +length, ending in two large horizontally directed teeth (Fig. 12). +Instead of a lower jaw a foot long, as in an elephant or in the common +kind of mastodon--this long-jawed kind had a lower jaw 5 feet or 6 +feet long! The tusks of the upper jaw were large, and nearly +horizontal in direction, bent downwards a little on each side of the +long lower jaw. This lower jaw seemed incomprehensible, almost a +monstrosity--until it occurred to me that it exactly corresponds to +the elongated upper lip and nose which we call the elephant's +trunk--and that the trunk of "Tetrabelodon" must have rested on his +long lower jaw. In descending to Tetrabelodon we leave behind us the +elephants with hanging unsupported trunk; the lower jaw here is of +sufficient length to support the great trunk. When the lower jaw +shortened in the later mastodons and elephants the trunk did not +shorten too, but remained free and depending, capable of large +movement and of grasping with its extremity. Photographs, casts, and +actual specimens of the extraordinary skull of the long-jawed mastodon +or Tetrabelodon and of the creatures mentioned below may be seen in +the Natural History Museum. + +Lastly we have the wonderful series of discoveries made about twelve +years ago by Dr. Andrews (of the Natural History Museum) of +elephant-like creatures in the upper Eocene of the Fayoum Desert of +Egypt. Palæomastodon (the name given by Dr. Andrews to one of them) is +a "pig-like" mastodon, with an elongated, bony face, the tusks of +moderate size, and the lower jaw not projecting more than a few inches +beyond them, so that the proboscis is quite short and rests well on it +(Fig. 13). This animal had six moderate sized grinders (molars or +cheek-teeth) on each side of each jaw in position simultaneously, as +may be seen in the complete skull shown in Fig. 14. Of other teeth it +had only the two moderate-sized front tusks above and two very big, +chisel-like "incisors" in the front of the lower jaw. Exactly how +these were used and for what food no one has yet made out. + +[Illustration: Fig. 13.--Head of the ancestral elephant--Palæomastodon--as +it appeared in life. It shows, as compared with the earlier ancestor, +an elongation both of the snout and the lower jaws. The tusk in the +upper jaw has increased in size, but is still small as compared with +that of later elephants. (After a drawing by Prof. Osborne.)] + +[Illustration: Fig. 14.--Restored model of the skull and lower jaw of +the ancestral elephant Palæomastodon from the upper Eocene strata of +the Fayoum Desert, Egypt. It shows the six molar teeth of the upper +and lower jaw (left side), the tusk-like upper incisors and the large +chisel-like lower incisors in front.] + +The remains, which finally bring the elephants into line with the +ordinary mammals with typical dentition, were discovered also by Dr. +Andrews and named "Meritherium" by him, signifying "the beast of the +Lake Meris." This creature is not bigger than a tapir, and had the +shape of head and face which we see in that and the ordinary hoofed +animals (Fig. 15). It had no trunk, and whilst it had six small and +simplified mastodon-like grinders in each half of each jaw, it had six +incisors in the upper jaw and a canine or corner tooth on each side. +In the lower jaw there were only two large incisors besides the +cheek-teeth or grinders. Not the least interesting point about +Meritherium is that it tells us which of the front upper teeth have +become the huge tusks of the later elephants. Counting from the middle +line there are in Meritherium three incisors right and three left. The +second of these upper teeth on each side is much larger than the +others. It is this (seen in Fig. 15) which has grown larger and larger +in later descendants of this primitive form and become the elephant's +tusk, whilst all the others have disappeared. + +[Illustration: Fig. 15.--Head of the early ancestor of +elephants--Meritherium--as it appeared in life. Observe the absence of +a trunk and the enlarged front tooth in the upper jaw, which is +converted in later members of the elephant-stock or line of descent +into the great tusk. (After a drawing by Prof. Osborne.)] + +We now know the complete series of steps connecting elephants with +ordinary trunkless, tuskless mammals. The transition from the "beast +of Meris" on the one hand to the common typidentate mammalian +ancestor, and on the other hand to the elephants, is easy, and +requires no effort of the imagination. His short muzzle (upper and +lower jaw), first elongated step by step to a considerable length, +giving us Palæomastodon (Fig. 13). Then the lower jaw shrunk and +became shorter than it was at the start, and the rest of the muzzle +(the front part of the upper jaw, carrying with it the nostrils), +drooped and became the mobile muscular elephant's trunk! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 5: I am inclined to think that the line between Pliocene and +Pleistocene or Quaternary ought, in this country, to be drawn between +the White and Red Crag of Suffolk. Glacial conditions set in and were +recurrent from the commencement of the Red Crag deposit onwards.] + +[Footnote 6: Mammals having the number and form of teeth which I have +just described as typical--or such modification of it as can easily be +produced by suppression of some teeth and enlargement of others--are +called Typidentata. On the other hand, the whales, the sloths, +ant-eaters, and armadilloes, as also the Marsupials, are called +Variodentata, because we cannot derive their teeth from those of the +Typidentate ancestor. They form lines of descent which separated from +the other mammals before the Typidentate ancestor of all, except the +groups just named, was evolved.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +A STRANGE EXTINCT BEAST + + +The terraces of gravel deposited by existing rivers and the deposits +in caverns in the limestone regions of Western Europe--the so-called +"Pleistocene" strata--contain, besides the flint weapons of man and +rare specimens of his bones, the remains of animals which are either +identical with those living at the present day (though many of them +are not living now in Europe) or of animals very closely similar to +living species. Thus we find the bones of horses like the wild horse +of Mongolia, of the great bull (the Urus of Cæsar), of the bison, of +deer and goats, of the Siberian big-nosed antelope, of the musk-ox +(now living within the Arctic circle), of the wild boar, of the +hippopotamus (like that of the Nile), and of lions, hyenas, bears, and +wolves. The most noteworthy of the animals like to, but not identical +with, any living species are the mammoth, which is very close to the +Indian elephant, but has a hairy coat; the hairy rhinoceros, like, but +not quite the same as, the African square-mouthed rhinoceros; and the +great Irish deer, which is like a giant fallow-deer. These three +animals are really extinct kinds or species, but are not very far from +living kinds. In fact, the most recent geological deposits do not +contain any animals so peculiar, when compared with living animals, as +to necessitate a wide separation of the fossil animal from living +"congeners" by the naturalist who classifies animals and tries to +exhibit their degrees of likeness and relationship to one another by +the names he adopts for them. The mammoth is a distinct "species" of +elephant. It requires, it is true, a "specific" or "second" name of +its own; but it belongs to the genus elephant. Hence we call it +_Elephas primigenius_, whilst the living Indian elephant is _Elephas +Indicus_. The reader is referred to the preceding chapter for further +notes about elephants. + +The strata next below the Pleistocene gravels and cave deposits are +ascribed to the "Pliocene age"--older than these are the "Miocene" and +the "Eocene," and then you come to the Chalk, a good white landmark +separating newer from older strata. + +We know now in great detail the skeletons and jaws of some hundreds of +kinds of extinct animals of very different groups found in the Eocene, +the Miocene, the Pliocene, and the Pleistocene layers of clays, sands, +and gravels of this part of the world. Nothing very strange or unlike +what is now living is found in the Pleistocene--the latest +deposits--but when we go further back strange creatures are +discovered, becoming stranger and less like living things as we pass +through Pliocene to Miocene, and on--downwards in layers, backwards in +time--to the Eocene. + +Though the past history of the Mediterranean sea shows that it was +formerly not so extensive as it is now, and that there were junctions +between Europe and Africa across its waters, yet the deeper parts of +that sea are very ancient, and some of the islands have long been +isolated. In Malta the remains of extraordinary species of minute +elephants have been found, one no larger than a small donkey, and in +the island of Cyprus an English lady, Miss Dorothea Bate, has +discovered the bones of a pigmy hippopotamus (like that still living +in Liberia) no larger than a sheep. Miss Bate some three years ago +heard of the existence of a bone-containing deposit of Pleistocene age +in limestone caverns and fissures in the island of Majorca, and with +the true enthusiasm of an explorer determined to carry on some +"digging" there and see what might turn up. In the following spring +she was there, and obtained a number of bones, jaws, and portions of +skulls, which appeared at first sight to be those of a small goat. Its +size may be gathered from the fact that its skull is six inches long. +These and the bones of a few small finches were all that rewarded her +pains. The bones of fossil goats (of living species) are found in +caves at Gibraltar and in Spain; so at first the result seemed +disappointing. But on carefully clearing out the specimens and +examining them in London, Miss Bate found that the supposed goat bones +obtained by her in Majorca were really those of a new and most +extraordinary animal, to which (in a paper published in the +"Geological Magazine" in September, 1910) she has given the name +"_Myotragus balearicus_." + +[Illustration: Fig. 16.--Side-view of the skull and lower jaw of a +goat. _inc. i._ The three lower incisor teeth of the left side. _can. +i._ The little canine teeth grouped with them. _p._ The toothless +front part of the upper jaw. _m. s._ Upper molars or "grinders." _m. +i._ Lower molars or grinders. Compare this and the following figures +with Fig. 10, showing the more complete "dentition" of the pig.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 17.--Horizontal view of the teeth in the lower and +upper jaw of the goat. In front of the lower jaw the group of three +incisors (_inc. i._) and one canine is seen, whilst the toothless bony +plate (_p._) of the upper jaw, against which they work, is seen in the +right-hand half of the figure. The molars, "grinders," or cheek-teeth +are numbered 1 to 6 in each jaw.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 18.--Side view of the skull of a typical "rodent" +mammal, the Coypu rat (_Myocastor coypus_) from South America. _inc. +s._ Upper incisor. _inc. i._ Lower incisor. _m. s._, _m. i._ Upper and +lower molars, grinders or cheek-teeth.] + +I must ask the reader now to look at the figures here given (Figs. 16 +and 17) of the skull and the lower jaw of a goat. The lower jaw might +(except for size) pass for that of a sheep, ox, antelope or deer. They +are all alike. There are on each side six grinding cheek-teeth +(molars), and then as we pass to the front we find a long toothless +gap until we come to the middle line where the two halves of the jaw +unite. There we see a little semicircular group of eight chisel-like +teeth, which work against the toothless pad of the upper jaw opposed +to them, and are the instruments by which these animals, with an +upward jerk of the head, "crop" the grass and other herbage on which +they feed, to be afterwards triturated by the grinding cheek teeth. A +vast series of living and of fossil animals, called the +Ruminants--including the giraffes, the antler-bearing forms called +deer, the cavicorn or sheath-horned bovines, ovines and caprines, and +the large series of antelopes of Africa and India--all have precisely +this form of jaw, this number and shape and grouping of the teeth. Now +let me call to mind the lower jaw of a hare or rabbit or rat (Figs. 18 +and 19). There we find on each side the group of grinding cheek-teeth, +with transverse ridges on their crowns, and a long, toothless gap +before we arrive at the front teeth. But the front teeth are only two +in number, one on each side, close to each other, very large, and each +with a tremendously long, deeply set root. They meet a similar pair of +teeth in the upper jaw, and give the hare, rabbit, rats, mice, +beavers, and porcupines the power of "gnawing" tough substances. +These animals are hence called Rodents, or gnawers, and the two great +front teeth are called "rodent-teeth." No two arrangements of teeth +could be much more unlike than are the group of eight little +chisel-like teeth of the lower jaw of the Ruminants and the two +enormous gnawing teeth of the Rodents. Apparently the two rodent +incisors, or front teeth, of the lower jaw of the rat correspond to +the two middle incisors of the Ruminant's lower jaw; the other front +teeth of the Ruminant have atrophied, disappeared altogether. The +rodent condition has been developed from that of an ancestor which +had several front teeth and not two large ones only; but we have not +at present found the intermediate steps. + +[Illustration: Fig. 19.--View in the horizontal plane of the teeth of +the left half of the lower and the left half of the upper jaw of the +Coypu rat to show the single great gnawing incisor on each side, the +four flat grinding molars and the wide gap between molars and +incisors. Compare with Figs. 17 and 22.] + +The reader should compare the teeth of the goat and the large rat here +pictured with the more typical and complete series of the pig, given +in Fig. 10, p. 84. The pig's teeth are the same in number as those of +the ancestral primitive typidentate mammal, and their form is near to +that of the ancestor's teeth. + +Now I come to the extraordinary interest of Miss Bate's goat-like or +antelope-like animal from Majorca. Although it is shown by its skull +(Fig. 20) and other bones to be distinctly one of the sheath-horned +Ruminants, very like a small goat or antelope, the lower jaw, of which +there are several specimens, does not present in front the little +group of eight small chisel-like "cropping" teeth, but, instead, two +enormous rodent teeth placed side by side, very deeply fixed in the +jaw, and quite like those of some rat-like animals in shape. Hence the +name given to this little marvel by Miss Bate--"Myotragus," "the +rat-goat." This strange little animal also differs from goats and +antelopes in having proportionately much thicker and shorter "feet" +(cannon-bones) than they have. + +If the remains of this strange little creature had turned up in more +ancient strata--in Pliocene or Miocene--it would have not been quite +so astonishing. But it would be still very remarkable, since it has +all the characters of a goat-like creature in the shape of its skull, +its bony horn-cores, its limb-bones, and its cheek-teeth; and yet, as +it were monstrously and in a most disconcerting way, protrudes from +its lower jaw two great rats' teeth. Nothing like it or approaching it +or suggesting it, is known among recent or fossil Ruminants. They all +without exception have a lower jaw with the teeth of the exact number +and grouping which you may see in a sheep's lower jaw. We know +hundreds of them, both living and fossil, many from the Pleistocene, +others from Pliocene deposits, and even from the still older Miocene, +but all keep to the one pattern of lower jaw and lower jaw teeth. It +is only in this little island of Majorca, surrounded by very deep +water and not known to have nurtured any other animal so large in size +either in recent or geologic times, that we come upon a Ruminant with +horns like a goat's, but with great rat-like front teeth in place of +the semicircle of eight little cropping toothlets. The wonderful thing +is that the bones found by Miss Bate are light and well preserved, +evidently not very ancient--probably late Pleistocene in age. + +[Illustration: Fig. 20.--Drawing of the skull of the rat-toothed goat, +Myotragus--the new extinct beast discovered in limestone fissures in +the island of Majorca by Miss Bate. 1. Side view of the skull and +lower jaw. 2. Appearance of the two rat-like teeth as seen when the +end of the lower jaw is viewed from above.] + +The questions that arise are: Where did the rat-goat come from? How +did this utterly peculiar change in a Ruminant's teeth come about? +With regard to the second question, it is a matter of importance that +although we have hitherto not discovered any Ruminants with this +modification of the teeth, still less any cavicorn or sheath-horned +Ruminant so altered, yet it is by no means rare amongst herbivorous +mammals to find such rat-like teeth making their appearance, whilst +the smaller side-teeth of the incisor group or front teeth disappear. +The Australian kangaroos and wombats are a case in point--so is the +lemur-like aye-aye of Madagascar (an insect eater). So is the Hyrax or +"damian" of the Cape, and also the very ancient Plagiaulax from the +præ-chalk Purbeck clay. But perhaps the best case for comparison with +the ruminants is that of the rhinoceroses. There are a great many +species and even genera of fossil and recent rhinoceroses. An old +Miocene kind (called Hyracodon) has eight little teeth in the front of +the lower jaw. In a Pliocene kind of rhinoceros (called _R. +incisivus_) these are reduced to two, the middle two, which are of +great size and project far forward--like those of the rat-goat of +Majorca. Among living rhinoceroses the Indian species have these two +front teeth, but smaller, whilst the square-mouthed African rhinoceros +has none at all! This helps us, as a parallel, to understand "the +strange case" of Myotragus. But, of course, the rhinoceroses are a +distinct line of animal descent--remote from Ruminants. They are (like +horses and tapirs) odd-toed hoofed beasts--not even-toed ones, as are +pigs, camels, and ruminants. + + * * * * * + +On first considering the question of the origin of the rat-goat of +Majorca, some naturalists will, no doubt, be tempted to suggest that +it is a case of a sudden "sport," a "mutation" as they now call it, +and not a result of gradual slowly developed reduction of the now lost +teeth and correspondingly gradual enlargement of the two middle ones, +taking many thousand generations to bring about. The fact that the +rat-goat is found on an island cut off from competition with other +animals will favour this view. On the other hand, there is the +important and really remarkable fact that familiar as man has been for +ages with Ruminants of many kinds--such as sheep, goats, cattle, +deer--there is absolutely no case on record of an "oddity" or +"monstrosity" resembling the rat-goat's condition occurring in the +teeth of any of the hundreds of thousands of these animals killed and +eaten by man, and therefore closely examined. Professor Bateson, who +a few years ago ransacked the museums of Europe for instances of +"discontinuous variation," or "sports," and wrote a valuable book on +the subject, did not discover any example of the kind. Apart from the +view, which is very generally held, that such sudden "mutations" as +"rat-teeth in a ruminant" are--even should they occur--not +perpetuated, we are not really in any way driven to suppose that the +rat-goat of Majorca originated in that island. It is true that we know +nothing like it in the Pliocene and Miocene of the Mediterranean +region which could have been its immediate ancestor. But probably the +ancestors of the rat-goat were slowly developed from a Miocene +sheath-horned ruminant, a primitive sort of antelope in some part of +North-west Africa, or in an extension of it now submerged in the +Atlantic, and stragglers of this curious and now lost Ruminant stock +were left in Majorca when in Miocene or early Pliocene times that +island became detached from its Hispano-African connection. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +VEGETARIANS AND THEIR TEETH + + +No mistake, said Huxley, is more frequently made by clever people than +that of supposing that a cause or an opinion is unsound because the +arguments put forward in its favour by its advocates are foolish or +erroneous. Some of the arguments put forward in favour of the +exclusive use by mankind of a vegetable diet can be shown to be based +on misconception and error, and I propose now to mention one or two of +these. But I wish to guard against the supposition that I am convinced +in consequence that animal substances form the best possible diet for +man, or that an exclusively vegetable diet may not, if properly +selected, be advantageous for a large majority of mankind. That +question, as well as the question of the advantage of a mixed diet of +animal and vegetable substances, and the best proportion and quantity +of the substances so mixed, must be settled, as also the question as +to the harm or good in the habitual use of small quantities of +alcohol, by definite careful experiment by competent physiologists, +conducted on a scale large enough to give conclusive results. The +cogency of the arguments in favour of vegetarianism which I am about +to discuss is another matter. + +In the first place it is very generally asserted by those who advocate +a purely vegetable diet that man's teeth are of the shape and pattern +which we find in fruit-eating or in root-eating animals allied to him. +This is true. The warm-blooded hairy quadrupeds which suckle their +young and are called "mammals" (for which word perhaps "beasts" is the +nearest Anglo-Saxon equivalent) show in different groups and orders a +great variety in their teeth. The birds of to-day have no teeth, the +reptiles, amphibians, and fishes have usually simple conical or +peg-like teeth, which are used simply for holding and tearing. In some +cases the pointed pin-like teeth are broadened out so as to be +button-like, and act as crushing organs for breaking up shell-fish. +The mammals alone have a great variety and elaboration of the teeth. + +[Illustration: Fig. 21.--Side view of the skull of a clouded tiger +(_Felis nebulosa_) to show the teeth. _inc. s._ The three incisors. +_can. s._ Upper canine, corner-tooth, or dog-tooth. _can. i._ Lower +canine. _m. s._ The four upper molars or cheek-teeth (called +"grinders" in herbivorous animals). _m. i._ The three lower molars or +cheek-teeth.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 22.--View in the horizontal plane of the teeth of +the lower and upper jaw of the same clouded tiger's skull. _inc. i._ +Lower incisors. _inc. s._ Upper incisors. _can. i._ and _can. s._ +Lower and upper canine. _m._ The cheek-teeth--three only in the lower +jaw, a minute fourth molar present in the upper.] + +In shape and size, as well as in number, the teeth of mammals are very +clearly related to the nature of their food in the first place, and +secondly to their use as weapons of attack or of defence. When the +surface of the cheek-teeth is broad, with low and numerous tubercles, +the food of the animal is of a rather soft substance, which yields to +a grinding action. Such substances are fruits, nuts, roots, or leaves, +which are "triturated" and mixed with the saliva during the process +of mastication. Where the vegetable food is coarse grass or tree +twigs, requiring long and thorough grinding, transverse ridges of +enamel are present on the cheek-teeth, as in elephants, cattle, deer, +and rabbits (see Figs. 8, 17, 19). Truly carnivorous animals, which +eat the raw carcases of other animals, have a different shape of +teeth. Not only do they have large and dagger-like canines or +"dog-teeth" as weapons of attack, but the cheek-teeth (very few in +number) present a long, sharp-edged ridge running parallel to the +length of the jaw, the edges of which in corresponding upper and lower +teeth fit and work together like the blades of a pair of scissors. The +cats (including the lions, tigers and leopards) have this arrangement +in perfection (see Figs. 21 and 22). They cut the bones and muscles of +their prey into great lumps with the scissor-like cheek-teeth, and +swallow great pieces whole without mastication. Insect-eating mammals +have cheek-teeth with three or four sharp-pointed tubercles standing +up on the surface. They break the hard-shelled insects and swallow +them rapidly. The fish-eating whales have an immense number of +peg-like pointed teeth only. These serve as do those of the +seals--merely to catch and grip the fish, which are swallowed whole. + +It is quite clear that man's cheek-teeth do not enable him to cut +lumps of meat and bone from raw carcases and swallow them whole, nor +to grip live fish and swallow them straight off (Pl. VI). They are +broad, square-surfaced teeth, with four or fewer low rounded tubercles +fitted to crush soft food, as are those of monkeys (see Pl. VII and +its description). And there can be no doubt that man fed originally, +like monkeys, on easily crushed fruits, nuts, and roots. He could not +eat like a cat. + +A fundamental mistake has arisen amongst some of the advocates of +vegetarianism by the use of the words "carnivorous" and "flesh-eating" +in an ill-defined way. Man has never eaten lumps of raw meat and bone, +and no one proposes that he should do so to-day. Man did not take to +meat-eating until he had acquired the use of fire, and had learnt to +cook the meat before he ate it. He thus separated the bone and +intractable sinew from the flesh, which he rendered friable and +divisible by thorough grilling, roasting, or baking. To eat meat thus +altered, both chemically and in texture, is a very different thing +from eating the raw carcases of large animals. Man's teeth are +thoroughly fitted for the trituration of cooked meat, which is, +indeed, as well suited to their mechanical action as are fruits, nuts, +and roots. Hence we see that the objection to a meat diet based on the +structure of man's teeth does not apply to the use of cooked meat as +diet. The use by man of uncooked meat is not proposed or defended. + +Yet, further, it is well to take notice of the fact that there are +many vegetarian wild animals which do not hesitate to eat certain soft +animals or animal products when they get the chance. Thus, both +monkeys and primitive men will eat grubs and small soft animals, and +also the eggs of birds. Whilst the cat tribe, in regard to the +chemical action of their digestive juices, are so specialised for +eating raw meat that it is practically impossible for them to take +vegetable matter as even a small portion of their diet, and whilst, on +the other hand, the grass-eating cattle, sheep, goats, antelopes, deer +and giraffes are similarly disqualified from any form of meat-diet, +most other land-mammals can be induced, without harm to themselves, to +take a mixed diet, even in those cases where they do not naturally +seek it. Pigs, on the one hand, and bears, on the other, tend +naturally to a mixed diet. Many birds, under conditions adverse to the +finding of their usual food, will change from vegetable to animal +diet, or _vice-versâ_. Sea-gulls normally are fish-eaters, but some +will eat biscuit and grain when fish cannot be had. Pigeons have been +fed successfully on a meat diet; so, too, some parrots, and also the +familiar barn-door fowl. Many of our smaller birds eat both insects +and grain, according to opportunity. Hence it appears impossible to +base any argument against the use of cooked meat as part of man's diet +upon the structure of his teeth, or upon any far-reaching law of +Nature which decrees that every animal is absolutely either fitted +(internally and chemically, as well as in the matter of teeth) for a +diet consisting exclusively of vegetable substances, or else is +immutably assigned to one consisting exclusively of animal substances. +There is no _à priori_ assumption possible against the use as food by +man of nutritious matter derived from animals' bodies properly +prepared. + +So far as _à priori_ argument has any value in such a matter, it +suggests that the most perfect food for any animal--that which +supplies exactly the constituents needed by the animal in exactly +right quantity and smallest bulk--is the flesh and blood of another +animal of its own species. This is a startling theoretical +justification--from the purely dietetic point of view--of +cannibalism. It is, however, of no conclusive value; the only method +which can give us conclusions of any real value in this and similarly +complex matters is prolonged, full, well-devised, well-recorded +experiment. At the same time, we may just note that the favourite food +of the scorpion is the juice of the body of another scorpion, and that +the same preference for cannibalism exists in spiders, many insects, +fishes, and even higher animals. + +Another line of argument by which some advocates of vegetarianism +appeal to the popular judgment is by representing flesh-food derived +from animals as something dirty, foul, and revolting, full of microbic +germs, whilst vegetable products are extolled as being clean and +sweet--free from odour and putrescence and from the scaremonger's +microbes. This, I perhaps need hardly say, is a gigantic illusion and +misrepresentation. I came across it the other day in a very +unreasonable pamphlet on food by the American writer, Mr. Upton +Sinclair. Putrefactive microbes attack vegetable foods and produce +revolting smells and poisons in them, just as they do in foods of +animal origin. It is true that on the whole more varieties of +vegetable food can be kept dry and ready for use by softening with hot +water than is the case with foods prepared from animals. This is only +a question of not keeping food too long or in conditions tending to +the access of putrefactive bacteria. It is, on the whole, more usual +and necessary, in order to render it palatable, to apply heat to +flesh, fish, and fowl than to fruits. And it is by heat--heat of the +temperature of boiling water--applied for ten minutes or more, that +poison-producing and infective bacteria are killed and rendered +harmless. More people have become infected by deadly parasites and +have died from cholera and similar diseases, through having taken the +germs of those diseases into their stomachs with raw and over-ripe +fruit or uncooked vegetables and the manured products of the kitchen +garden, than have suffered from the presence of disease-germs or +putrefactive bacteria in well-cooked meat. Here, in fact, "cooking" +makes all the difference, just as it does in the matter we were +discussing above of the fitness of flesh and bone for trituration by +man's teeth. + +[Illustration: Plate VI.--The series of teeth in the upper (1) and +lower jaw (2) of a modern European (natural size). The teeth are +placed closely side by side without a gap--an arrangement which does +not occur in the apes nor in any other living mammal, although it is +found in some extinct herbivores--the Anoplotherium and the +Arsinöitherium. The shape of the arch formed by the row of teeth +should be compared with that shown by the same arch in the Gibbon (Pl. +VII). The crowns of the teeth are very carefully drawn in this figure, +which is from a plate published by Professor Selenka. + +It must be noted that the number of tubercles on the true molars may +be in exceptional cases one more or one less than that given in this +drawing which gives the most usual number. The word "molar" is often +used to include the five cheek-teeth on each side of each jaw, but +more strictly the anterior bicuspid teeth are called "pre-molars," and +the three larger teeth behind them, which have no predecessors or +representatives in the first or milk dentition, are called true molars +or simply "molars"--a rule we have followed here. + +In both upper and lower jaw we see the four incisors in the middle +(Inc. 1, Inc. 2); on each side of them is the conical crown of a +canine--a tooth which is greatly enlarged in the ape (see Pl. VII), +but is no larger proportionately than it is here even in the most +ancient known human jaw, that from the Pleistocene of Heidelberg (see +"Science from an Easy Chair," Methuen, 1910, p. 405). The two small +bicuspid "pre-molars" and the three large molars follow these on each +side in each jaw. The crown of the most anterior (or "first") molar of +the upper jaw has four cusps, tubercles, or cones on it. It is +"quadri-tuberculate." The second and third molars of the upper jaw +have three such prominent tubercles (excluding a row of small +tubercles on the hinder margin of the second); they are, in fact, +tri-tuberculate; whilst the two hindermost molars of the lower jaw +have four tubercles and are called quadri-tuberculate. The first molar +(M1) of the lower jaw has in this specimen five tubercles. In 60 per +cent. of European lower jaws this is the case. But in 40 per cent. +this tooth is quadri-tuberculate. In Polynesians, Chinese, Melanesians +and negroes five tubercles are found on this tooth in 90 per cent. of +the jaws examined. The apes are characterised by five tubercles on +this tooth, and they are found also on the first lower molars of +prehistoric men. Four tubercles only on this tooth is a departure from +the ape's condition and is found more frequently in Europeans. + +It is obvious that these big molar teeth, as well as the two smaller +ones in front of them on each side of each jaw, are adapted for +breaking up rather soft, pulpy food, and not for cutting lumps of bone +or raw flesh, as are the molars of the clouded tiger (identical with +those of all species of the genus _Felis_), shown in Figs. 21 and 22, +pp. 103, 104, nor for rubbing grain, grass or herbage to a paste, as +are those of the goat (Fig. 17), those of the Coypu rat (Fig. 19), and +those of the elephants and mastodons (Fig. 8).] + +[Illustration: Plate VII.--Drawings of (1) the upper and (2) the lower +series of teeth of the Gibbon (_Hylobates concolor_), one of the +anthropoid or most man-like apes (enlarged by one third). If these +drawings are compared with those in Pl. VI, showing man's teeth, the +most striking difference seen is that the "arch" or series of teeth is +here elongated and squared, not rounded in front, whilst there is +plenty of room in both jaws for the last or wisdom tooth, which is not +the case in modern races of men, though in the ancient Neander man's +jaw and in that from Heidelberg there is ample space for the last +molar as in the apes. The next most important difference is that in +the gibbon the four canine teeth are very large and tusk-like, and +must certainly be of value as weapons of attack--which man's are not. +Connected with the large size of the canines is the presence of a gap +(or "diastema" as it is called) between the four front teeth or +incisors of the upper jaw and the upper canine--which allows the lower +canine to fit in front of the upper canine when the jaw is closed. The +number of the tubercles or cones on the molars (the two smaller +pre-molars and the three hinder large molars) can be compared in +detail in these beautiful drawings from Professor Selenka's work, +which are the most careful and perfect which have ever been published. +The agreement of these teeth in man and the gibbon is very close: but +there are differences. The first, or most anterior pre-molar of the +lower jaw has one predominant cusp or cone; the second, like both in +the upper jaw, is "bicuspid," or bi-tuberculate, as in man. The three +big molars of the upper jaw are closely similar to those of man, with +some small differences, the second being quadri-tuberculate, whilst in +man it is as often tri-tuberculate (as it is in Pl. VI) as it is +quadri-tuberculate. But the two anterior big molars of the lower jaw +are seen to have each five well-marked cones, cusps or tubercles; they +are quinqui-tuberculate, whilst in man the first lower molar is often +quadri-tuberculate and the second even more frequently so. The last +lower molar (wisdom tooth) of the gibbon is like that of man, +quadri-tuberculate. + +The details of the tubercles on these molar teeth distinctly justify +the conclusion that they are adapted in the two animals +compared--namely, man and the gibbon--to food of the same mechanical +quality, and this undoubtedly is fruit and nuts. Nevertheless such a +form of tooth is equally well adapted to the texture of cooked meat, +which has served many races of man for probably hundreds of thousands +of years as food.] + +Once we remember that man is not fitted for the "raw meat" diet of the +carnivora, but is fitted for the "cooked meat" diet which he has +himself discovered--alone of all animals--we shall get rid of a +misleading prejudice in the consideration of the question as to +whether civilised men should or should not make cooked meat a portion +of their diet, with the purpose of maintaining themselves in as +healthy and vigorous a state as possible. Do not let us forget that +ancient Palæolithic cave-men certainly made use of fire to cook their +meals of animal flesh, and that probably this use of fire dates back +to a still earlier period when, in consequence of this application of +the red, running tongues of flame, which he had learned to produce, +primitive man was able to leave the warmer climates of the earth and +their abundant fruits, and to establish himself in temperate and even +sub-Arctic regions. + +Experiments on a large and decisive scale in regard to the value of +the different foods taken by man and the question of the desirability +of cooked meat as part of his diet have never been carried out, nor +has the use of alcohol been studied by direct experimental method on a +large scale. Inasmuch as the feeding of our Army and Navy, of +prisoners, lunatics, and paupers, is the business of the State, it is +obviously the duty of the Government to investigate this matter and +arrive at a decision. It can be done by the Government, and only by +the Government. The Army Medical Department is fully capable, and, I +am told, desirous, of undertaking this investigation. Five hundred +soldiers in barracks would find it no hardship, but an agreeable duty +(if rewarded in a suitable way), to submit to various diets, and to +comparative tests of the value of such diets. There would be no +difficulty in arranging the experimental investigation. Fifty years +ago similar work (but not precisely in regard to the questions now +raised) was done by the Army Medical Department, under Parkes, with +most valuable and widely recognised results. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +FOOD AND COOKERY + + +Animals, taking one kind with another, nourish themselves on an +immense variety of food. The flesh and the blood of other animals of +all kinds, warm or cold, the leaves, twigs, fruits, juices of plants, +putrid carcases, hair, feathers, skin, bran, sawdust, the vegetable +mould or "humus" of the earth's surface, the sand of the sea, with its +minute particles of organic detritus, all serve as food to different +kinds of animals. Some are very little fettered in their tastes, and +are called "omnivorous," others are bound in the strictest way to a +diet consisting of the leaves of some one species of plant or the +juices of one species of animal. Some of the latter class, under +stress or privation, can accommodate themselves to a new food very +different in character and origin from that which is habitual to them; +others have no elasticity in this respect, and must have their exact +habitual food-plant or food-animal, unless they are to die of +starvation. + +Man exhibits his great powers of accommodation to changed +circumstances in respect of food as well as in other matters. If we +are to suppose, as is probable, that our original ape-like ancestors +fed exclusively upon fruits and an occasional egg or juicy grub, how +vast are the changes in diet to which man has habituated himself! Man +is sometimes said to be omnivorous, but this is not a sufficient +description of the state of things which has grown up as he has spread +over the earth's surface. Every race--and even many a small group of +men--has its accustomed diet, to depart from which is a pain and a +difficulty, even though new kinds of food may be gradually accepted +and even become popular. Man has in this, as in so many other things, +a large range of possible accommodation, but he has at the same time +habits the continuance of which are necessary for the healthy working +of the nervous system. The psychical element in the matter of +food-habit is important in all higher animals, but most of all in man. +The digestive organs are controlled by the nervous system, and the +brain acts upon the latter in such a way as to favour or to restrain +the "appetite" and the secretion of the elaborate digestive juices, so +that fear, surprise, disgust, and "nausea" (that strange product of +mental and physical reactions) may destroy appetite and inhibit the +digestive process. There are vast populations of men who live on rice, +or beans, or meal, and never eat animal food, not even milk (after +babyhood), nor cheese, and would be, at a first attempt to eat it, +"put off" and disgusted by a mutton chop. There are others who subsist +almost entirely on fish, others who live on dried beef, others who +live on the fat of whales and seals, and would be for a generation or +two injured, half starved, and some of them even killed, by a change +of diet. Again, there are others who consider that they must have and +will be "ill" unless they had the cooked flesh of an ox or sheep as +part of their daily food. Let us examine this latter group a little +more fully--a group to which the nations of Europe belong, with the +exception of the Italians, who are essentially a meal-, fruit-, and +cheese-eating people. + +Apparently at a very early time, even before the last glacial period, +man had learnt the use of fire, and roasted or grilled the carcases of +other animals which he killed in the chase, in order to consume them +as food. We have no reason to suppose that man ever made use of the +raw flesh of higher animals as his habitual diet. His teeth are not, +and never were, from his earliest ape-like days, adapted to true +carnivorous diet. Cooked meat is not the food of a carnivor, but is an +adaptation of the flesh of animals to the requirements of a +frugivorous animal. Probably the use of grain and cultivated vegetable +food is a later step in human progress than the roasting of meat. The +Neandermen, and even the later Reindeer-men (Cromagnards), had no +cultivated fields, but lived on roasted meat (of beasts, birds, and +fish) and wild fruits. We know how thoroughly the most ancient Greeks +enjoyed the long slices of roasted meat cut from the chine, as told in +the Homeric poems, and everywhere in Europe after the neolithic or +polished-stone period, meat was a main article of diet, in conjunction +with the vegetable products of agriculture. In this country, after the +Norman conquest, meat-eating was greatly favoured by the important +industry which grew up in hides. The land was well suited for the +pasturage of cattle, and owing to the smallness of the population and +the abundance of cattle slaughtered for their hides, meat was almost +to be had for the asking. It was thus that Englishmen became great +meat-eaters and that "the roast beef of Old England" was established. +Later the same superfluity of meat--in this case, "mutton"--recurred +and became general when wool-growing and the manufacture of woollen +goods developed into important industries. Relatively to the +population there was more "meat" of oxen and sheep in this country +than on the continent of Europe, and this disproportion has been +maintained. + +But the increase of population has led to a considerable change in the +diet of a very large proportion--the poorer part--of the community. +Whilst the families of the better-paid working class and all the +middle and upper class continue to eat meat, the agricultural labourer +and the poorer workmen in towns live chiefly on flour, sugar, bacon, +and cheese. Probably they have become habituated to this diet, and, +provided that the quantity is sufficient, it cannot be maintained that +the diet, in which meat is nearly or altogether absent, is unhealthy. +Many vigorous and muscularly well-developed populations in other lands +thrive on exclusively vegetable food. + +A curious and not altogether comforting reflection is that if the +inexpensive and simple food of the agricultural labourer is +sufficient, the section of the community which spends from five to ten +shillings per head a day on a mixed diet of meat, fish, eggs, and +vegetables is guilty of waste and excess. Here, however, the +remarkable, and, in fact, exceptional domination of "habit" (in the +case of man), in regard to both the actual articles of food and the +mode of its preparation, has to be recognised. Such and such +inexpensive and unskilfully prepared food may contain more than the +necessary amount of proteids (that is, matters like flesh, the casein +of cheese and of vegetables, and the albumen of eggs), of +hydro-carbons (_i.e._, fats), of carbo-hydrates (_i.e._, starch and +sugar), yet if you were suddenly to compel a man accustomed to +well-cooked meat to live on such food he would be unable to assimilate +it, his digestive organs would refuse to work, and he would become, if +not seriously ill, yet so ill-nourished and sickly that he would be +unfit for his work and readily fall a victim to disease. It is, in +fact, impossible to lay down any scheme of diet based on the mere +provision of the necessary quantities of food materials whilst +ignoring the formed habits of the individual and the relation of the +psychical conditions which we call "taste," "appetite," "fancy," +"disgust," to the actual processes of digestion and the consequent +efficiency of the proposed diet. + +No doubt gradually, after a few generations, a whole people may become +healthily habituated to a diet which would have been positively +injurious to their forebears, and no doubt individuals may be led by +fortitude or by necessity in time (perhaps weeks, perhaps years) to +acquire a tolerance, or even enjoyment, of food at first repulsive, +and therefore injurious. The difficulty in the matter is not that of +correctly determining what is physiologically sufficient for the human +animal, nor even what would be a healthy diet for a community when +once, after a transition period of distress and injury, habituated or +"attuned" to that diet. The difficulty is to arrive at a conclusion as +to what is really the suitable and reasonable diet for an +individual--yourself or one like yourself--having regard to the +lifelong habits of the individual, and the consequent nervous +reactions established in him or her in relation to the taste, quality, +and mode of presentation of food. Robust people, so long as they get +what suits their own uncultivated taste, are apt to make very light of +what they call "fancies" about food, and to overlook their real +importance. + +Feeding on the part of civilised man is not the simple procedure which +it is with animals, although many animals are particular as to their +food and what is called "dainty." The necessity for civilised man of +cheerful company at his meal, and for the absence of mental anxiety, +is universally recognised, as well as the importance of an inviting +appeal to the appetite through the sense of smell and of sight, whilst +the injurious effect of the reverse conditions, which may lead to +nausea, and even vomiting, is admitted. Even the ceremonial features +of the dinner table, the change of clothes before sitting down to the +repast, the leisurely yet precise succession of approved and expected +dishes, accompanied by pleasant talk and light-hearted companionship, +are shown by strict scientific examination to be important aids to the +healthy digestion of food, which need not be large in quantity, +although it should be wisely presented. + +These psychical conditions of healthy feeding are not trivial matters, +as we are too apt to suppose. They are part, and a very important +part, of the physiology of nutrition, and so deserving of scientific +inquiry and of practical attention. They have been made the subject of +careful experiment by a Russian physiologist, Pavloff. At a recent +meeting of the British Association this matter was brought under +discussion in the Physiological Section, and it was pointed out by the +author of a very interesting communication that the whole question as +to what is and what is not a sound and healthy diet is too often dealt +with by writers who ignore the psychical (or shall we say the +cerebral?) factor. Cases were cited of dangerous arrest of the power +of digesting, or even of swallowing, food which were cured by giving +the patient some apparently inappropriate and probably harmful article +of food for which he or she had a fancy, such as a grilled +salmon-steak, the last thing which would be spontaneously recommended +by a medical man to a patient who had been suffering for weeks from +inability to take food. The willingness is all--the assent, the +approval of the cerebral centres, and the consequent unlocking of the +whole arrested mechanism of digestive secretions and movements. Such a +case is only an extreme instance. But it is undoubtedly the fact that +just as the sight of so small a thing as a drop of blood, or even the +word "blood," will on occasion cause a strong, healthy man to faint, +so quite a small excess or defect in the accustomed quality of food +will at times arrest the appetite and digestive processes of a healthy +man. To many a healthy individual one among many flavours and savours +associated with agreeable food is necessary in order that healthy +appetite and proper digestion may be set going, and the absence of the +right flavour and the presence of what is, in his experience, a wrong +and disgusting smell or taste in the food set before him, will produce +nausea and complete arrest of the digestive processes. + +It is apparently owing to this cause that "tinned meats" have proved +to be of little value as rations for an army in campaign, for +exploring expeditions, and for remote mining camps. It is not that +such tinned meats do not contain the necessary constituents of food, +or that they contain poisonous substances, but that they produce a +sense of disgust, and arrest the digestive processes. Soldiers, +travellers, and miners have assured me that they prefer a dry biscuit +and dried, or salted, or sugared meat, to the supposed more "tasty" +tinned meats, and that such is the general experience of their +comrades. + +Of similar nature is another very serious trouble, in regard to the +healthy feeding of the modern Englishman, which has come upon us in +consequence of the quite modern system of huge restaurants, whether in +London or in the very large hotels, which are now run in Swiss, +Italian and English summer resorts. Hundreds of visitors are "catered +for" daily. There is no attempt at anything which deserves the name of +cookery. Great monopolists control the supplies, and contract to +deliver to these hotels, even in out-of-the-way localities, so much +ice-stored, "mousey" fish, "mousey" quails, stringy meat, impossible +vegetables and fruits, gathered from the cheapest markets of Europe +and of a quality just not bad enough to cause a revolt among the hotel +visitors. The heating of the food is done by patent machinery in ovens +and by the use of boiling fat. No cook is in these circumstances +possible, with his artistic feeling for the production of a perfect +result of skill and taste. A kind of bottled meat-flavoured sauce, +manufactured from spent yeast, is used to make the soups, and is +poured, with an equally nauseating result, over the hard veal, the +tough chicken, the "mousey" quails, and the tasteless beef and mutton, +which are never roasted, but are baked or stewed in boiling +fat--though shamelessly described as "rôtis" in the pretentious and +mendacious "menu" placed on the dinner-table. The consequence is that +the tourist, who has been overfed at home, eats very little, and his +health benefits. But in such an hotel the man who lives carefully when +at home, and desires a simple but properly cooked meal, is reduced to +a state of indigestion, semi-starvation and misery. + +The Englishman who is disgusted by the new mechanical methods of +cookery in the great hotels of Continental "resorts," returns to +London, and finds the same atrocious system at work--not only in the +public restaurants, but in his club. Nowhere in London can you rely on +being served with really fresh fish, however highly you may pay for +it. Rarely it is fresh, usually it is not. The ice storage people take +good care that you shall not obtain fresh fish, and so retain your +taste for it. Nowhere at club or restaurant, with rare exceptions, can +you obtain meat roasted in the old-fashioned way on a roasting-jack, +carefully "basted" during the process, and served when exactly cooked +to a turn. There were, only a few years ago, one or two such places +surviving--both clubs and restaurants--where proper roasting was done, +but, like the rest, they have now adopted lazy, economical, +money-saving methods. Their managers calculate that what they do will +serve. It is good enough for the crowd! So at last you abandon the +efforts to obtain decent simple food, in club or hotel, and dine with +your friend _en famille_. The same thing confronts you. The joint has +been baked in an oven, of which it smells, and is surrounded by a +sickly gravy, produced by pouring hot water over it! In conversation +with your hostess, you find that she knows nothing whatever about the +simplest elements of the preparation of food. She tells you she avoids +roasting because it necessitates a large fire and an extra expenditure +of £5 a year on coal, and she also purchases those mouldy, +frost-bitten potatoes instead of the best, because they cost half as +much as sound ones--and she herself does not care for potatoes. They +are fattening! + +Sometimes at a restaurant or club, served by a foreign "chef," a +Yorkshire pudding, as hard as a stale loaf of bread, is handed round +in slabs with the so-called "roast" beef. It is not roasted: it is +baked beef, and the pudding is an ill-tasting baked mess, also. +Nowhere in London in public or private house do I ever see the +properly cooked article. True Yorkshire pudding can only be made by +placing it under the roasting joint, which drips digestion-promoting +essences into the pudding whilst itself rotating, hissing and +spluttering--as did the joints roasted in the caves long ago by the +prehistoric Reindeer-men. The scientific importance of good roasting +and grilling is that a savour is thereby produced which sets the whole +gastric and digestive economy of the man who sniffs it and tastes it, +at work. Possibly our successors, a generation or two hence, will have +learnt to do without this, and will have acquired as intimate and +happy a gastronomic relation to what now are for us the nauseous +flavours of superheated fat (rarely renewed), and of the all-pervading +gravy fabricated by chemical treatment of yeast, as that which we +ourselves have acquired in regard to the old-established and +painstaking cookery of the early Victorian and many preceding ages. + +Medical men who are occupied as specialists with the study of very +young children have clearly demonstrated that the implanting of +tastes, tendencies and habits in infants of from two to eight years of +age has an immense importance in their subsequent development. +Character and capacity are really formed in those early years. Food +preferences, no less than mental and moral qualities, are then +created. Yet the children of both rich and poor are in these early +stages either left to haphazard or entrusted to ignorant nursemaids. +For those of us who were not born to the present system the transition +to the new methods of wholesale cookery is an abomination, and to +escape from them a matter of difficulty. We have to secure an ancient +roasting-jack and a large clear fire in our own kitchen, and to +instruct our cook--since no woman has taught her what she ought to +know--in the art of roasting and grilling, in the preparation of +Yorkshire pudding, in the mystery of the marrow-bone and the proper +and distinct use of garlic, onions, shalots, chives, chervil, +tarragon, marjoram, basil, other herbs, and divers peppers, and +finally to train her in the supreme accomplishment of the seasoning of +a salad. + +Maybe that the present established relations of our appetites to the +time-honoured savours, by which the ancient Jews sought to propitiate +the Deity, are destined to be superseded. On the other hand it is +quite possible that all the juggling of modern "machine" cookery is a +false step, and injurious to digestion and health. It is not unlikely +that there is no relish which has so sure a hold on the digestion of +European man, no appeal to the cerebral mechanism controlling the +liberation of his gastric juices, which is so infallible as that +emanating from "well and truly" roasted or grilled meat. + +It is not easy to account for the present neglect of decent cookery +and the triumph of the sham French cookery (for it is not French at +all!) which is at present foisted on a long-suffering public. Probably +the enormously increased number of visitors to foreign resorts and of +frequenters of restaurants in London have led to huge enterprise in +"catering," and to a monopoly which has driven out of existence the +smaller establishments, where alone the artist-cook can flourish. But +it seems that the neglect of decent cooking is also due in this +country to a racial incapacity and indifference which leads both men +and women to despise "taking pains" about small things, and brings +them into the world devoid of the desire to carry out with skill those +small enterprises on which much of the sweetness and gaiety of life +depends. + +Even in the time of Charles II the skill and seriousness of French +cookery as compared with our own was recognised. The high reputation +of Scotch cooks at the present day seems to be due to an inheritance +of traditions from the days of close association of the Scotch and +French Courts. Up to nearly 100 years ago roasting was as usual a +method of cooking meat in Paris as in London. There were "rôtisseries" +in Paris in the old days. High prices and thrift have led to the +decadence of roasting as a popular method of cooking meat in France, +but the great "chef" in a private house in Paris still produces the +most perfect roast beef and roast saddle of mutton (better than you +will find in England) in the old-fashioned way. So indifferent, or +perhaps hopeless, are Englishmen in regard to cookery that they drink +a strong champagne throughout dinner, content to drown the insipid +taste of the food in the fine flavour of a drink upon which they can +rely. An Englishman dining at a first-rate restaurant will usually +spend twice as much for wine as for food, whilst a Frenchman will +reverse the proportions. Another difference is one for which women are +responsible. In Paris a party of French men and women at a table in a +good restaurant enjoy their food, laugh and talk with one another, and +do not concern themselves with the company at other tables. It would +be bad manners to do so. But English-speaking women, when dining in +public, seem to be chiefly interested, not in their food nor in their +own party, but in pointing out to one another the celebrities or +notorieties or eccentricities seated at other tables. So long as the +place is fashionable and noisy, the food is negligible and neglected. + +For some reason, which I am unable to discover, the women of England +(it is not the case with those of France and Germany) have, with rare +exceptions, no interest in or liking for "cookery," and yet the men +have left the management of it entirely in their hands. Male "chefs" +of English nationality are rare specimens, though they are, as a rule, +the best at grilling and roasting. On the other hand, in France, where +women no less than men value and understand cookery, there is an +enormous body of professional male cooks. English-women of means and +education have to such a degree neglected all knowledge of cookery and +of the quality and criticism of kitchen supplies, such as meat, fish, +birds, and vegetables, that there is no one to teach the poor country +girls (who become cooks in the majority of households) the elements of +the very difficult and important duties which they are expected--in +virtue of some kind of inspiration or native genius--to discharge with +skill and judgment: nor is there any head of a household capable of +seeing that the necessary care and trouble are given. It is wonderful, +under the circumstances, how clever and willing our domestic cooks +are. A considerable section of English middle-class women at the +present day are allowed by the men, who should guide them so as to +make them honourable and useful members of the community, to grow up +in complete ignorance of the essential parts of the art of cookery. +This was not the case a hundred years ago. Now a large proportion of +them have been led by bad example and foolish notions to give up such +matters to "the servants," whether they are able to afford competent +servants or even to judge of the competence of a servant or not. Many +of these "mistresses" now devote themselves exclusively to "dress," +"amusements," "charity," "politics," and dabbling inconsequently in +various crazes. They are not to blame. It is the men who are to blame +who deliberately neglect to give to their womenkind a training and +education which shall make them real mistresses of household arts and +business, so that they may be thus filled with the happy conviction +(which is the one thing they most desire and most often cannot gain) +that they are of real use--are really wanted--in the world. + +In conclusion, let me tell of a great German sports-man, Major von +Wissman, Governor of German East Africa, now no more, who came to see +me at the Museum nine years ago. It was his first visit to London, and +I took him to lunch at a famous grill-room. Happily, though roasting +is dying out, the art of grilling still survives in this country, but +nowhere else in Europe. Von Wissman said--"Can I have beer where we +are going?" "Yes, certainly," I said. "German beer?" he asked. "No," I +replied. "Something much better." When we were seated, I ordered a +pint tankard of Reid's London stout for my friend. It was in perfect +condition. He put his lips to it in doubt, but did not remove them +until, with reverential drooping of the eyelids, he had emptied the +tankard. "The very finest beer I have ever swallowed," he said. "What +in the name of goodness is it?" I told him, and ordered him more. Soon +a perfectly grilled chop and a large, clean, floury potato were before +him. He proceeded to eat, and was really and unaffectedly astonished. +"But this is marvellous," he said, "wonderful! enchanting! I have +never really tasted meat before in my life. Reitzend! Colossal!" He +had a steak to follow, and I was pleased to have been able to show him +something which I knew (by experience of that city) they could not +produce in Berlin. Three days later I went over to the same hospitable +grill-room for a chop, and told the gifted grill-cook (the French, in +former centuries, had a proverb, "Anyone may learn to be a cook, but +one must be born a 'rotisseur'") of the admiration he had excited in +the Emperor William's friend. "Yes, sir," he said, "I fancy he did +like it, for he came here by himself yesterday and the day before, and +took the same grills and stout." Von Wissman was staying at the German +Embassy, but was drawn all the way to South Kensington by the sweet +savour of the grill-room--an instance of what the physiologists call +"positive chemotaxis." + +What I have here written on food and cookery is no "gourmet's" praise +of indulgence in the pleasures of the table, nor is it an expression +of a mere personal preference. It is a protest, based on scientific +grounds, against the neglect of one of the bulwarks of health--the +honest traditional cookery which flourished in London forty years ago. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +SMELLS AND PERFUMES + + +The old saying, "_De gustibus non disputandum_," is based upon the +fact that both liking and the repulsion evinced by human beings for +different odours (including those odours which we call flavours) are +not matters of general agreement. Thus the smells of garlic and of +onions, and even of assafoetida, are to many men among the most +attractive and appetising in existence--to very many they are, on the +other hand, repulsive. High game, a certain kind of putrid fish +("Bombay ducks"), and again rotten cheese are attractive to many men +and offensive to as many more. Many animals revel in the smell and +flavour of carrion, and even of manure, which they devour. There are +well-known flowers which attract insects, not by the possession of the +sweet perfumes appreciated and extracted by mankind, but by a smell +like that of putrid meat, which so far misleads blue-bottle flies as +to cause them to lay their eggs on the reeking blossom. So diverse are +the tastes of men and animals in these matters that it is remarkable +when we find agreement among them, as, for instance, in the attraction +for butterflies of those delicate scents which also are agreeable to +ourselves in such flowers as the rose, the jasmine, the heliotrope and +the honeysuckle. + +There seems to be no rule or principle at work by which smells can be +definitely classed as either pleasant or unpleasant. Even perfumes +carried by some of the inhabitants of Western Europe with the +intention of making themselves attractive to their fellow-citizens are +often repulsive to a certain proportion of those who come near them, +as, for instance, is the case with the extract of the East Indian herb +"patchouli." In regard to our other senses there is a general +agreement amongst mankind, which extends also to all animals, as to +what is agreeable and what is disagreeable. There are definite +mathematical laws as to harmony and melody in sound and colour which +affect animals and ourselves to a large extent similarly. Sweets are +agreeable and bitters are disagreeable, though it is the fact that the +snail, which loves sugar, recoils from saccharine, and there are +"mites" (_Acari_) which feed with avidity on bitter strychnine! Excess +of heat and of cold is disliked by animals and all men, whilst the +sense of touch is pleasurably or painfully affected in much the same +way in most men and animals, more than is the case with regard to any +other of the senses. The sense of smell depends upon immediate and +personal experience of "association" for the determination of pleasure +or pain, attraction or repulsion, as the result of its being called +into operation. It is a very general experience that odours are more +efficient in arousing memory than are mere colour effects or sounds. +Not only in animals with acutely developed olfactory powers, but also +in man, an odour--a peculiar perfume--will start a whole chain of +reminiscence when sight and sound have failed to do so. It is due to +this close association with memory (conscious or unconscious) that an +odour is agreeable or disagreeable. + +In itself an odour is neither attractive nor repulsive. The acrid +fumes of sulphur, chlorine, ammonia, and such bodies are not simply +"odours" but corrosive chemical vapours, which act painfully upon the +nerves of common sensation within the air-passages of the nose and +throat and not exclusively, if at all, on the terminations of the +olfactory nerves. An odour--that which acts on the special nerves of +smell distributed in chambers of the nose--acquires its attractive or +its repulsive quality only as the result of mental association with +what is beneficial (suitable food, mates, friends, safety, home, the +nest), or with what is injurious (unsuitable food, poison, enemies, +danger, strange surroundings, solitude). Hence it is intelligible that +the man accustomed to garlic or onions in his food is strongly +attracted by their smell. So too the man whose tribe or companions +have learnt by necessity to eat slightly putrid meat, fish, and cheese +is attracted by their odour, though for others these odours are +associated rather with what is poisonous and injurious. The dislike of +the smell of sewer-gas and foul accumulations of refuse was not known +to former generations of men (even in European cities a couple of +hundred years ago) any more than it is to-day to the more unfortunate +poorer classes, to many modern savages, to hyenas, and several other +animals and birds which inhabit lairs and caves which they make foul. +The odour of putrescence has become actually painful and almost +intolerable to the more cleanly classes of mankind, owing to the +association with it, as the result of education, of fear of disease +and poisoning. Either conscious or unconscious association of an odour +with what is held, either as the result of tradition or through +personal experience, to be beneficial and of pleasant memory, or, on +the contrary, injurious and of painful connection, determines man's +liking for and choice or rejection of, odours and flavours. One can +account with fair success on this basis for one's own preferences and +dislikes in the matter. + +On the other hand, odours exist in vast variety amongst plants and +animals which have not acquired any special association or +significance. We find that some organisms produce as a result of their +chemical life material which oxidises and gives out light and so these +organisms are "phosphorescent" without any consequence, good or bad, +to themselves. And then we come upon others (as, for instance, the +glow-worms and fire-flies) which have made use of this "accidental" +quality, and produce phosphorescent light in special organs so as to +attract the opposite sex. Again, we find that the red-coloured +oxygen-seizing crystalline substance hæmoglobin exists in the blood of +a vast number of animals, and might as well be green or colourless for +all the good its colour does them. Yet here and there the splendid red +colour which this chemical gives to the blood becomes of great +importance as a "decoration," or "sex-ornament." The comb of the +domestic fowl, the wattles of the turkey, but above all the supreme +beauty of the human race--the cherry-red lips and the crimson-blushing +cheek of healthy youth--owe their wonderful colour to the red blood +which flows through them. So at last the redness, of the +oxygen-carrier is turned to account. So it must be also with odorous +substances. Many have been called into existence, but few have been +chosen in the long course of animal evolution and selected as the +important means of repulsion or attraction. + +There are odorous substances attached to many of the lower animals +which seem to have no significance, but just happen to be the result +of necessary chemical changes, not aimed (so to speak) at their +production. Of course, it is very difficult to form a certain and +definite conclusion as to their uselessness as odours. For instance, +nearly all the sponges when fresh and filled with living protoplasm +have a curious smell which reminds one of that given off by a stick of +phosphorus. Marine sponges have it and so has the beautiful green or +flesh-coloured liver sponge (common on the wood of rafts and weirs in +the Thames). A rather uncommon marine worm, called _Balanoglossus_ or +the acorn worm, has a very strong and unpleasant smell like that of +iodoform. In neither case is the nature of the odorous body known, nor +its use to the animal suggested. Smelts smell like cucumbers: the +green-bone fish and the mackerel smell alike. One of the common +earth-worms has a strong aromatic smell, and the common snail, as well +as the sea-hare and one of the cuttle-fishes (_Eledone_), smells like +musk. Musk itself is produced, as a scent attracting the opposite sex, +by several animals--musk-deer, musk-sheep, musk-rats. I am not now +attempting to enumerate the well-recognised odours of animals such as +are extracted from them by man in order to "opsonize" himself, but am +pointing to the more obscure cases. There is not a very great or +marked variety in the odours of fishes; but reptiles with their dry, +oily skins give off various aromatic smells, none of which are valued +by man. Toads have distinct odours, and one kind (_Pelobates fuscus_, +or the heel-clawed toad), common in Europe, but not British, is known +locally as the garlic toad on account of its smell. There are amongst +carnivorous mammals various smells allied to that of civet which are +not so agreeable to man as that substance; for instance, the odour of +the fox and of the badger, and yet more celebrated, the terrible, +awe-inspiring smell of the fluid emitted in self-defence by the skunk +from a sac in the hinder part of the body. Horses, cows, goats, sheep, +and the giraffe have their distinctive odours. Many of the herbivorous +animals secrete a colourless fluid from large glands opening on or +near the feet, and also from a gland in front of the eye (similar +glands occur in other strange positions), which has not a smell +familiar to man--that is to say, not one which has been recognised and +described--yet seems to be readily "smelt" by the animals of its own +kind. The bats--especially the large frugivorous bats--have a very +unpleasant, frowsy smell. + +An important fact about animal smells is that many which we might be +inclined to attribute to the animal which diffuses them, are really +due to the fermentative or putrefactive action of bacteria which swarm +on the skin and in the intestines of animals. It is often difficult to +decide how far a peculiar animal odour is due directly to a substance +secreted by the animal, and how far the odour of that substance is +modified or even entirely produced by the chemical changes set up in +secretions of the body-surface by bacteria. Several distinct repulsive +smells liable to occur on the human body are due to want of +cleanliness in destroying bacteria by proper antiseptics. The fatty +and waxy secretions of the skin are often decomposed by bacteria, even +before complete extrusion from the glands in which they are formed, +whilst the decomposition of food in the mouth and intestines by +bacteria alters materially both the natural odour of the animal's +breath and the smell of the intestinal contents. In young and healthy +animals in natural conditions there is some check--it is not easy to +say what--upon the putrefactive activities of the omnipresent +bacteria. The skin of a healthy young animal has a pleasant odour, +and its breath (notably in the case of the cow and the giraffe) is +naturally sweet-smelling. The same should be the case, under perfectly +healthy conditions, with human beings. + +There is one important cause of animal odours and flavours upon which +I have not hitherto touched. Many animals acquire an odour or flavour +directly from the food upon which they feed. Certain odorous bodies +are in the food and are taken up into the blood of the consuming +animal unchanged, and are then thrown out by secreting glands on the +skin. This is the case with the odorous substance of onions. People do +not smell of onions after they have eaten them in consequence of +particles of onion remaining in the mouth. The volatile odoriferous +matter of the onion is absorbed into the blood. It passes out first +through the lungs and later through the small fat-forming glands in +the skin. It is difficult to ascertain how far animals derive their +odours in this way in a complete state from their food, and how far +they chemically construct them afresh by their own activity. No doubt +both processes occur; but in plants the odorous bodies are built up +entirely by the chemical action of the plant itself upon simple salts +of carbonic acid, ammonia and nitrates. Animals can certainly take +highly elaborated chemical bodies into their digestive organs without +destroying them and absorb them unchanged into the blood and deposit +them in the tissues. Thus the canary is made to take up the red colour +of cayenne pepper and deposit it in the feathers. Thus the green +oysters of Marennes acquire their colour from minute blue plants +(diatoms) on which they feed. And thus, too, the canvas-backed ducks +of the United States take into their tissues the odorous matter of +celery, and our own grouse the flavour of heather, whilst fish-eating +birds and whales in this way acquire a fishy taste. So, too, the +flounders and the eels of the Thames, and even salmon in muddy rivers, +acquire a taste like the smell of river mud. It is probable that many +of the odours of animals (but by no means all) are thus derived +directly from their food, or are produced by very slight changes of +the odorous bodies absorbed in food. Mutton and beef owe their savour +in some degree to the scents of the grasses on which sheep and oxen +feed. And it is not improbable that the sheep-like smell which the +Chinese detect in the European, comes to the latter direct from his +general use of the sheep as food. + +Plants are the great chemical manufacturers in the world of life, and +second to them come our human industrial and scientific chemists. And +though we must claim for animals some power of manufacturing distinct +odorous bodies from inodorous nutritive matter assimilated by them, it +is probable that in many cases the odour which is characteristic of an +animal is derived by no very complicated change from odorous bodies +existing in its habitual food. + +A curious case of a substance valued as perfume by civilised man, and +yet coming from a source whence sweet odours would hardly be expected, +is that which is known as "ambergris," or "ambre gris" (grey amber). +It is still used in the manufacture of esteemed perfumes, and is sold +at five guineas the ounce. It is found floating on the surface of the +ocean, and is a concretion of imperfectly digested matter from the +intestine of a whale--probably the sperm-whale. It is a grey, powdery +substance, and in it are embedded innumerable fragments of the horny +beaks and sucker-rings of cuttle-fishes--creatures which form the +chief food of the sperm-whale and other toothed whales. I have already +mentioned above that one of our common cuttle-fishes (the _Eledone +moschata_) has a strong odour of musk, and it is possible that +ambergris owes its perfume to the musk-like scent of the cuttle-fish +eaten by the whale in whose intestine it is formed. Another "smell" +which is extremely mysterious is that produced by two quartz-pebbles, +or even two rock-crystals, or two pebbles of flint or of corundum, +when rubbed one against the other. A flash of light is seen, and this +is accompanied by a very distinct smell, like that given out by +burning cotton-wool. It is demonstrated--by careful chemical cleaning +before the experiment--that this is not due to the presence of any +organic matter on or in the stones or crystals used. It seems to be an +exception to the rule that "odours" (as distinct from pungent vapours +or gases) are only produced by substances formed by plants or animals. +Perhaps that is not so completely a rule as I was inclined to think. +It is true that one can distinguish the "smells" of chlorine, of +bromine, and of iodine from one another. And there are statements +current as to the distinctive smells of metals--though they may +possibly be due to the action of the metals on organic matter. In any +case it seems, according to our present knowledge, that the smell +given out by the rubbing of pieces of silica (quartz, flint, etc.) is +due to particles of silica (oxide of silicon) volatilised by the heat +of friction, which are capable of acting specifically on the olfactory +sense-organ. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +KISSES + + + "Among thy fancies, tell me this, + What is the thing we call a kiss? + I shall resolve ye what it is." + + --Robert Herrick + +Kissing is an extremely ancient habit of mankind coming to us from far +beyond the range of history, and undoubtedly practised by the remote +animal-like ancestors of the human race. Poets have exalted it, and in +these hygienic days doctors have condemned it. In the United States +they have even proposed to forbid it by law, on the ground that +disease germs may be (and undeniably are in some cases) conveyed by it +from one individual to another. But it is too deep-rooted in human +nature, and has a significance and origin too closely associated with +human well-being in the past, and even in the present, to permit of +its being altogether "tabooed" by medical authority. + +There are two kinds of "kissing" practised by mankind at the present +time--one takes the form of "nose-rubbing"--each kiss-giver rubbing +his nose against that of the other. The second kind, which is that +familiar to us in Europe, consists in pressing the lips against the +lips, skin, or hair of another individual, and making a short, quick +inspiration, resulting in a more or less audible sound. Both kinds are +really of the nature of "sniffing," the active effort to smell or +explore by the olfactory sense. The "nose-kiss" exists in races so far +apart from one another as the Maoris of New Zealand and the Esquimaux +of the Arctic regions. It is the habit of the Chinese, of the Malays, +and other Asiatic races. The only Europeans who practise it are the +Laplanders. The lip-kiss is distinguished by some authorities as "the +salute by taste" from nose-rubbing, which is "the salute by smell." +The word "kiss" is connected by Skeat with the Latin "gustus," taste; +both words signify essentially "choice." But it would be a mistake to +regard the lip-kiss as merely an effort to taste in the strict sense, +since the act of inspiration accompanying it brings the olfactory +passages of the nose into play. Lip-kissing is frequently mentioned in +the most ancient Hebrew books of the Bible, and it was also the method +of affectionate salutation among the Ancient Greeks. Primarily both +kinds of kissing were, there can be no doubt, an act of exploration, +discrimination, and recognition dependent on the sense of smell. The +more primitive character of the kiss is retained by the lovers' kiss, +the mother's kissing and sniffing of her babe, and by the kiss of +salutation to a friend returning from or setting out on a distant +journey. Identification and memorising by the sense of smell is the +remote origin and explanation of those kisses. The kissing of one +another by grown-up men as a salutation was abandoned in this country +as late as the eighteenth century. "'Tis not the fashion here," says a +London gentleman to his country-bred friend in Congreve's "Way of the +World." But we have, most of us, witnessed it abroad, and perhaps been +unexpectedly subjected to the process, as I once was by an +affectionate scientific colleague. Independently of the more ordinary +practice of kissing--there is the "ceremonial kiss"--the kissing of +hands, or of feet and toes, which still survives in Court +functions--whilst the Viennese and the Spaniards, though they no +longer actually carry out their threat, habitually startle a foreigner +by exclaiming--"I kiss your hands." The Russian Sclavs are the most +profuse and indiscriminate of European peoples in their kissing. I +have seen a Russian gentleman about to depart on a journey "devoured" +by the kisses of his relations and household retainers, male and +female. Among the poor in rural districts in Russia this excessive +habit of kissing leads to the propagation of the most terrible +ulcerative disease among innocent people--as related by Metchnikoff in +the lectures on modern hygiene which he gave in London some seven or +eight years ago (published by Heinemann). + +We may take it, then, that the act of kissing is primarily and in its +remote origin an exploration by the sense of smell, which has either +lost its original significance, and become ceremonial, or has, even +though still appealing to the sense of smell, ceased to be (if, +indeed, it ever was so) consciously and deliberately an exercise of +that sense. This leads us to the very interesting subject of the sense +of smell in man and in other animals. There is no doubt that the sense +of smell is not so acute in man as it is in many of the higher +animals, and even in some of the lower forms, such as insects. It is +the fact that so far as we can trace its existence and function in +animals, the sense of smell is of prime importance as distinguishing +odours which are associated either with objects or conditions +favourable to the individual and its race, or, on the other hand, +hostile and injurious to it. It never reaches such an extended +development as a source of information or general relation of the +individual to its surroundings as do the senses of sight, hearing and +touch. It depends for its utility on the existence of odorous bodies +which are not very widely present, and are far from universal +accompaniments of natural objects. Apart from some pungent mineral +gases, all odorous bodies are of organic origin. Even as recognised by +the less acute olfactory sense of man, the number and variety of +agreeable and of disagreeable scents, produced by various species of +animals and plants, is very considerable. But there is no doubt that +the number and variety discriminated by such animals as dogs and many +of the other hairy, warm-blooded beasts is far greater. The nature of +the particles given off by odorous bodies which act on the +nerve-endings of the organs of smell of animals, is remarkable. They +are volatile; that is to say, they are thrown off from their source +and float in the air in a state of extreme subdivision. Unlike the +particles which act upon the nerves of taste, they are not +necessarily soluble in water, and though often spread through and +carried by liquids, are in fact rarely dissolved in water. The +dissolved particles which act upon the nerves of taste can be +distinguished by man into four groups--sweet, sour, bitter, and +saline. But no such classification of "smells" is possible. As a rule +mankind confuses the "taste" of things with their accompanying +"smell." The finer flavours of food and drink not included in the four +classes of tastes are really due to odoriferous particles present in +the food or drink, which act on the terminations of the olfactory +nerves in the recesses of the nose, and excite no sensation through +the nerves of taste. + +The part of the brain from which the nerves of smell arise is of +relatively enormous size in the lower vertebrates--as much as one +fifth of the volume of the entire brain in fishes--a fact which seems +to indicate great importance for the sense of smell in those forms. +Even in the mammals (the hairy, warm-blooded, young-suckling beasts) +the size of the olfactory lobes of the brain and of the olfactory +nerves, and the labyrinthine chambers of the nose on which the nerves +are spread, is very large, as one may see by looking at a mammal's +skull divided into right and left halves. And it seems immoderately +large to us--to man--because, after all, so far as our conscious lives +are concerned, the sense of smell has very small importance. Yet man +has a very considerable set of olfactive chambers within the nostrils +and has large olfactory nerves. Not rarely men and women are found who +are absolutely devoid of the sense of smell, and the same thing occurs +with domesticated cats and dogs. In these cases the olfactory lobes of +the brain are imperfectly developed. It is found that men in this +condition suffer but little inconvenience in consequence. We are able, +through their statements, to ascertain what parts of the savoury +qualities of food and drink belong to taste and what to smell. Such +individuals do not perceive perfumes, the bouquet of wine, or the +fragrance of tobacco, nor can they appreciate the artistic efforts of +a good cook. But they are spared the pain of foul smells, and +possibly in this way they may incur some danger in civilised life +through not being able to detect the escape of sewer-gas or of +coal-gas into a house, or the putrid condition of ice-stored fish, +birds, and meat. A friend of my own, who is devoid of the sense of +smell, inherited this defect from his father, and has transmitted it +to some of his children. I was surprised to find in conversing with +him how often I alluded to smells, either pleasant or unpleasant, when +(as we had agreed he should) he would interrupt me and say that my +remark had no meaning for him. + +Some have a far more acute sense of smell than others, and again some +men, probably without being more acutely endowed in that way, pay more +attention to smells, and use the memory of them in description and +conversation. Guy de Maupassant is remarkable as a writer for his +abundant introduction of references to agreeable and mysterious +perfumes, and also to repulsive odours. But some men certainly have an +exceptionally acute sense of smell, and can, on entering an empty +room, recognise that such and such a person has been there by the +faint traces--not of perfumery carried by the visitor--but of his +individual smell or odour. This brings us to one of the most important +facts about odorous bodies and the sense of smell, namely, that not +only do the various species of animals (and plants) each have their +own odour--often difficult or impossible for man, with his aborted +olfactory powers, to distinguish--but that every individual has its +own special odour. As to how far this can be considered a universal +disposition is doubtful. It is probable that the power of +discriminating such individual odours is limited (even in the case of +dogs, where it is sometimes very highly developed), to a power of +discriminating the distinctive smells of the individuals of certain +species of animals, and not of every individual of every species. +Everyone knows of the wonderful power of the bloodhound in tracking an +individual man by his smell, but dogs of other breeds also often +possess what seems to us extraordinary powers of the kind. On a pebbly +beach I pick up one smooth flint pebble as big as a walnut. It is +closely similar to thousands of others lying there. I hold it in my +hand without letting my fox-terrier see it, and then I throw it. It +drops some eighty yards off among the other pebbles, and I could not +myself find it again. But the dog runs forward, notes vaguely by ear +and by eye the spot where it strikes, and then commences a systematic +circling within about ten yards of the spot. In half a minute he +pounces with the utmost assurance on to one selected stone, and brings +it to me. It is invariably the stone which had been in my hand, unseen +by the dog, thrown by me, and detected by the smell I have +communicated to it. + +Not only is the discrimination of individuals by the sense of smell a +very astonishing thing, but so also is the obvious fact that the total +amount of odoriferous matter which is sufficient to give a definite +and discriminative sensation through the organ of smell is of a +minuteness beyond all calculation or conception. These two facts--the +almost infinite individual diversity of smell and the almost infinite +minuteness of the particles exciting it--render it very difficult to +form a satisfactory conclusion as to the nature of those particles. It +has been from time to time suggested that the end organs of the +olfactory nerves may be excited, not by chemically active particles, +but by "rays," olfactive undulations comparable to those of light. +Physicists have not yet been able to deal with the problem, but the +recent discoveries and theories as to radio-active bodies such as +radium may possibly lead to some more plausible theory as to the +diffusion and minuteness of odorous particles than any which has yet +been formulated. An example of the minuteness of odoriferous particles +is afforded by a piece of musk which for ten years in succession has +given off into the changing air of an ordinary room "particles" +causing a readily recognised smell of musk, and yet is found at the +end of that time to have lost no weight, that is to say, no weight +which can be appreciated by the finest chemical balance. An analogy (I +say only an analogy, a resemblance) to this is furnished by a pinch of +the salt known as radium chloride, no bigger than a rape-seed, and +enclosed in a glass tube, which will continue for months and years to +emit penetrating particles producing continuously without cessation +most obvious luminous and electrical effects upon distant objects, the +particles being so minute that no loss of weight can be detected in +the pinch of salt from which they are given off. + +The sense of smell is of service to animals-- + +(1) In avoiding enemies and noxious things. + +(2) In tracing and following and discriminating prey or other food. + +(3) In recognising members of their own species and individuals of +their own herd or troop, and in finding their own young and their own +nests. + +(4) In seeking individuals of the opposite sex at the breeding season. + +It is in connection with the last of these services that we come +across some of the most curious observations as to the production and +perception of odorous particles. Butterflies and moths and some other +insects have olfactory organs in the ends of the antennæ and the +"palps" about the mouth. The perfumes of flowers have been developed +so as to attract insects by the sense of smell, as their colours have +been also developed to attract insects by the eye. The insects serve +the flowers by carrying the fertilizing pollen from one flower to +another, and thus promoting cross-fertilization among separate +individual plants of the same species. But probably concurrently with +this has grown up the production of perfume by the scales on the wings +of moths and butterflies--perfumes which have the most powerful +attraction for the opposite sex of the same species. Curiously enough +(for these perfumes might very well exist without being detected by +man) some of the perfumes produced by butterflies are "smellable" by +man. That of the green-veined white is described as resembling the +agreeable odour of the lemon verbena. It is produced by certain scales +on the front border of the hinder wings of the male insects, and not +at all by the females, who are, however, attracted by it, and flutter +around the sweet-smelling male. Other male butterflies produce a scent +like that of sweet briar, others like honeysuckle, others like +jasmine, and so attract the females. Other butterflies are known which +produce repulsive odours, and so protect themselves from being eaten +by birds and lizards. Again, there are moths (for instance, the +emperor moth, Saturnia), the females of which produce a perfume which +attracts the males, and is of far-reaching power. The French +entomologist, Fabre, placed one of these female moths in a box covered +with net-gauze, and left it in a room with open window, facing the +countryside. In less than an hour the room was full of male emperor +moths--more than a hundred arrived, although none had been previously +visible in the neighbourhood. They crowded over the box, and even +afterwards, when the female moth had been removed, the perfume +remained in the box, and the male moths eagerly sought it. The perfume +must have carried far from the room where the female was, out into the +woods where it was perceived, and followed up to its source by the +male moths. + +Such perfumes are very generally produced by little pockets or glands +in the skin, the secretion having, in the case of insects, birds and +mammals, an oily nature. In mammals they are largely produced by both +males and females, and serve to attract the sexes to one another. +Hairs are situated close to the minute odoriferous glands and serve an +important part in accumulating and diffusing the characteristic +perfume. Musk and civet are of this nature, and it is a significant +fact that these substances are used as perfumes by human beings. It +would seem as though mankind had lost either the power of +satisfactorily perceiving the perfumes naturally produced by the human +skin, or that the production of such perfumes had for some reason +diminished. Either condition would account for the use by mankind of +the perfumes of other animals and of flowers. There are a variety of +odorous substances produced by different parts of the human body, of +which some are agreeable and others disagreeable. One of the most +curious facts in regard to odorous bodies is the close resemblance +between agreeable and repulsive odours, and the readiness with which +the judgment of human beings may pronounce the same odour agreeable at +one period or place, and disagreeable at another. There also seems to +be a "dulling" of the power to perceive an odour which is a +consequence of constant exposure to that odour. Thus the Chinese say +that Europeans all smell unpleasantly, the odour resembling that of +sheep, although we do not observe it; whilst Europeans notice and +dislike the smell of the negro, a smell of the existence of which he +is unaware. The blood of animals, including that of man, has, when +freshly shed, a smell peculiar to the species, which has not, however, +any resemblance to that of the skin or of the waxy glands of the same +animal. + +It seems that in regard to the exercise of the sense of smell by man, +we must distinguish not only greater from less acuteness and variety +of perception, but in the case of this sense-organ, as in regard to +the others, we must distinguish "unconscious" from "conscious" +sensation. All our movements are guided and determined by sensations +to touch and sight, and to some extent, of hearing, of which we are +unconscious. A vast amount of our sense-experience comes to us and is +recorded without our having consciousness of anything of the kind +going on. It is probable that the world of smells in which a dog with +a fine olfactive sense lives, produces little or nothing in the dog's +mind which is equivalent to our conscious perception of degrees of +agreeable and disagreeable odours. The dog is simply attracted and +repulsed in this direction and in that by the operation of his +olfactive organs, without, so to speak, giving any attention to the +sensation which is guiding him or being "aware" of it. No doubt at +times, and with special intensities of smell, he is, in his way, +conscious of a specific sensation. It is probable that whilst man's +general acuteness in perceiving and discriminating smells has dwindled +(as has that of the apes) in comparison with what it was in his remote +animal ancestry, yet he retains a large inherited capacity of +unconscious smell-sense, which most of us are unable to recognise, +although it is there, operating in ourselves unknown to us and +unobserved. The consciousness of smell-sensations is what we value and +talk of. It does not extend to the more primal smell-excitations, +except in extraordinary individuals. Thus, it seems to be not +improbable that we are attracted or repelled by other human +individuals by the unconscious operation upon us of attractive or +repulsive odours, and that the unaccountable liking or disliking which +we sometimes experience in regard to other individuals is due to +perfumes and odours emanating from such persons, which act upon us +through our olfactory organs without our being conscious of the fact. +It seems that we can thus arrive at a probable explanation of the +universality of the habit of kissing, and of "what is that thing we +call a kiss." It is not consciously used among civilised populations +as a deliberate attempt to smell the person kissed, but it +nevertheless serves to allow the unconscious exercise of +smell-preference, testing, and selection, with which are mingled, more +or less frequently, moments of conscious appreciation of the complex +of odours appertaining as an individual quality to the person kissed. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +LAUGHTER + + +The ancients associated laughter with the New Year. I am not sure +whether or no it is of good omen to begin the New Year with laughter. +Omens are such tricky things that I have given up paying any attention +to them. One would think it might be held to be unlucky to stumble on +the doorstep as you set out from home, but the old omen-wizards, +apparently from sheer love of contradiction, said, "Not at all! It is +unlucky to stumble as you come into the house, and therefore it is +lucky to stumble as you go out!" + +What is laughter? It is a spasmodic movement of various muscles of the +body, beginning with those which half close the eyes and those which +draw backwards and upwards the sides of the mouth, and open it so as +to expose the teeth, next affecting those of respiration so as to +produce short rapidly succeeding expirations accompanied by sound +(called "guffaws" when in excess) and then extending to the limbs, +causing up and down movement of the half-closed fists and stamping of +the feet, and ending in a rolling on the ground and various +contortions of the body. Clapping the hands is not part of the +laughter "process," but a separate, often involuntary, action which +has the calling of attention to oneself as its explanation, just as +slapping the ground or a table or one's thigh has. Laughter is +spontaneous, that is to say, the movements are not designed or +directed by the conscious will. But in mankind, in proportion as +individuals are trained in self-control, it is more or less completely +under command, and in spite of the most urgent tendency of the +automatic mechanism to enter upon the progressive series of movements +which we distinguish as (1) smile, (2) broad smile or grin, (3) +laugh, (4) loud laughter, (5) paroxysms of uncontrolled laughter, a +man or woman can prevent all indication by muscular movement of a +desire to laugh or even to smile. Usually laughter is excited by +certain pleasurable emotions, and is to be regarded as an "expression" +of such emotion just as certain movements and the flow of tears are an +"expression" of the painful emotion of grief and physical suffering, +and as other movements of the face and limbs are an "expression" of +anger, others of "fear." The Greek gods of Olympus enjoyed +"inextinguishable laughter." + +It is interesting to see how far we can account for the strange +movements of laughter as part of the inherited automatic mechanism of +man. Why do we laugh? What is the advantage to the individual or the +species of "laughing"? Why do we "express" our pleasurable emotion and +why in this way? It is said that the outcast diminutive race of Ceylon +known as the Veddas never laugh, and it has even been seriously but +erroneously stated that the muscles which move the face in laughter +are wanting in them. A planter induced some of these people to camp in +his "compound," or park, in order to learn something of their habits, +language, and beliefs. One day he said to the chief man of the little +tribe, "You Veddas never laugh. Why do you never laugh?" The little +wild man replied, "It is true; we never laugh. What is there for us to +laugh at?"--an answer almost terrible in its pathetic submission to a +joyless life. For laughter is primarily, to all races and conditions +of men, the accompaniment, the expression of the simple joy of life. +It has acquired a variety of relations and significations in the +course of the long development of conscious man--but primarily it is +an expression of emotion, set going by the experience of the +elementary joys of life--the light and heat of the sun, the approach +of food, of love of triumph. + +Before we look further into the matter it is well to note some +exceptional cases of the causation of laughter. The first of these is +the excitation of laughter by a purely mechanical "stimulus" or action +from the exterior, without any corresponding mental emotion of +joy--namely by "tickling," that is to say, by light rubbing or +touching of the skin under the arms or at the side of the neck, or on +the soles of the feet. Yet a certain readiness to respond is necessary +on the part of the person who is "tickled," for, although an unwilling +subject may be thus made to laugh, yet there are conditions of mind +and of body in which "tickling" produces no response. I do not propose +to discuss why it is that "tickling," or gentle friction of the skin +produces laughter. It is probably one of those cases in which a +mechanism of the living body is set to work, as a machine may be, by +directly causing the final movement (say the turning of a wheel), for +the production of which a special train of apparatus, to be started by +the letting loose of a spring or the turning of a steam-cock, is +provided, and in ordinary circumstance is the regular mode in which +the working of the mechanism is started. The apparatus of laughter is +when due to "tickling" set at work by a short cut to the nerves and +related muscles without recourse to the normal emotional steam-cock. + +Then we have laughter which is purely due to imitation and suggestion. +People laugh because others are laughing, without knowing why. This +throws a good deal of light on the significance of laughter. It is +essentially a social appeal and response. Only in rare cases do people +laugh when they are alone. Under conditions which in the presence of +others would cause them to laugh they only "chuckle" or smile, and +may, though ready to burst into laughter, not even exhibit its minor +expressions when alone. On the other hand, some sane people have the +habit of laughing aloud when alone, and there is a recognised form of +idiocy which is accompanied by incessant laughter, ceasing only with +sleep. Then there is that peculiar condition of laughter which is +called "giggling," which is laughter asserting itself in spite of +efforts made to restrain it, and frequently only because the occasion +is one when the "giggler" is especially anxious not to laugh. This +kind of "inverted suggestion," as in the case where an individual +"blurts out" the very word or phrase which he is anxious not to use, +is obviously not primitive, but connected with the long training and +drilling of mankind into approved "behaviour" by "taboos" and +restrictive injunctions. Efforts to behave correctly, by causing +anxiety and mental disturbance in excitable or so-called "nervous" +subjects, lead to an over mastering impulse to do the very thing which +must not be done! + +It seems that laughter has its origin far back in the animal ancestry +of man, and is essentially an expression to others of the joy and +exhilaration felt by the laugher. It is an appeal through the eye and +ear for sympathy and comradeship in enjoyment. Its use to social +animals is in the binding together of the members of a group or +society in common feeling and action. Many monkeys laugh, some of them +grinning so as to show the teeth, partly opening the mouth and making +sounds by spasmodic breathing, identical with those made by man. I +have seen and heard the chimpanzees at the Zoological Gardens laugh +like children at the approach of their friend and my friend, the +distinguished naturalist, Mr. George Boulenger, F.R.S., recognising +him among the crowd in front of their cage when he was still far off. +And I have often made chimpanzees laugh--"roar with laughter," and +roll over in excitement--by tickling them under the arms. The saying +of Aristotle (inscribed over the curtain of the Palais Royal Theatre +in Paris) that "Laughter is better than tears, because laughter is the +speciality of man," is not true. Not only do the higher apes and some +of the smaller monkeys laugh, but dogs also laugh, although they do +not make sounds whilst indulging in "spasms of laughter." But their +distant cousin, the hyena, does laugh aloud, and its laughter agrees +with that of the dog and with the laughter of children and grown men +in simpler moods in that it is caused by the pleasurable emotion set +up by the imminent gratification of a healthy desire. The hyena +laughs, the dog grins and bounds, the child laughs and jumps for joy +at the approach of something good to eat. But it is a curious fact +that the whole attitude is changed when the food is within reach, and +the serious business of consuming it has commenced! Nor, indeed, is +the satisfaction which is felt after the gratification of appetite +accompanied by laughter. It seems that the display of the teeth by +drawing back the corners of the mouth, which is called a "grin," and +is associated in many dogs with a short, sharp, demonstrative bark, +and in mankind with the cackle we call a "laugh," is a retention, a +survival, of the playful, good-natured movement of gently biting or +pulling a companion with the teeth used by our animal ancestors to +draw attention to their joy and to communicate it to others. Gradually +it has lost the actual character of a friendly bite; the fore-feet or +hand pull instead of the teeth; the sound emitted has become further +differentiated from other sounds made by the animal. But the movement +for the display of the teeth, though no longer needed as a part of the +act of gripping, remains as an understood and universal indication of +joy and kindly feeling. So universal is it that this friendly display +of the teeth under the name "smile" is attributed to Nature, to +Fortune, and to deities by all races of men when those powers seem to +favour them. + +Laughter is, then, in its essence and origin, a communication or +expression to others of the joyous mood of the laugher. There are many +and strangely varied occasions when laughter seizes on man, and it is +interesting to see how far they can be explained by this conception of +the primary and essential nature of the laugh, for many of them seem +at first sight remote from it. There is, first of all, the laughter of +revivification and escape from death or danger. After railway +accidents, earthquakes, and such terrible occurrences, those who have +been in great danger often burst into laughter. The nervous balance +has been upset by the shock (we call them "shocking accidents"), and +the emotional joy of escape, the joy of recovered life, asserts itself +in what appears to the onlooker to be an unseemly, an unfeeling laugh. +It is recorded that one of the entombed French coal miners, who two +years ago were imprisoned without food or light for twenty days a +thousand feet below in the bowels of the earth, burst into a ghastly +laugh when he was rescued and brought to the upper air once more. The +Greeks and Romans in some of their festal ceremonies made the priest +or actor who represented dead nature returning to life in the spring, +burst into a laugh--a ceremonial or "ritual" laugh. Our poets speak of +the smiles, and even of the laughter of spring, and that is why +laughter is appropriate to New Year's Day. It is the laughter of +escape from the death of winter and of return to life, for the true +and old-established New Year's Day was not in mid-winter, but a +quarter of a year later, when buds and flowers are bursting into life. +It is recorded by ancient writers that the "ritual laugh" was enforced +by the Sardinians and others who habitually killed their old people +(their parents) upon their victims. They smiled and laughed as part of +the ceremony, the executioners also smiling. The old people were +supposed to laugh with joy at the revivification which was in store +for them in a future state. So, too, the Hindoo widows used to laugh +when seated on the funeral pyre ready to be burnt. So, too, is +explained (by Reinach) the laughter of Joan of Arc when she made her +abjuration in front of the faggots which were to burn her to death. +Her laugh was caused by the thought of her escape from persecution and +of the joyful resurrection soon to come. It was not an indication that +she was not serious, and that her abjuration of witchcraft was a +farce, as her enemies asserted. + +More difficult to explain is the laughter excited by scenes or +narrations which we call ludicrous, funny, grotesque, comic; and still +more so the derisive and contemptuous laugh. Caricature or burlesque +of well known men is a favourite method of producing laughter among +savages as well as civilised peoples. Why do we laugh when a man on +the stage searches everywhere for his hat, which is all the time on +his head? Why do we laugh when a pompous gentleman slips on a piece of +orange-peel and falls to the ground, or when one buffoon unexpectedly +hits another on the head, and, before he has time to recover, with +equal unexpectedness hooks his legs with a stick and brings him +heavily to the ground? Why did we laugh at the adventures of Mr. +Penley in "Charley's Aunt"? In all of these "ludicrous" affairs there +is an element of surprise, a slight shock which puts us off our mental +balance, and the subsequent laughter, when we realise either that no +serious harm has been done or that the whole thing is make-believe, +seems to partake of the character of the "laugh of escape." It is +caused by a sense of relief when we recognise that the disaster is not +real. We laugh at the "unreal" when we should be filled with horror +and grief were we assured that there was real pain and cruelty going +on in front of us. The laughter caused by grotesque mimicry or +caricature of pompous or solemn individuals seems to arise from the +same (more or less unconscious) working of the mind as that caused by +some unexpected neglect of those social "taboos" or laws of behaviour +which we call modesty, decency, and propriety. They either cause +indignation and resentment in the onlooker at the neglect of respect +for the taboo, or, on the contrary, the natural man, long oppressed by +pomposity or by the fetters of propriety imposed by society, suddenly +feels a joyous sense of escape from his bonds, and bursts into +laughter--the laughter of a return to vitality and nature--which is +enormously encouraged and developed into "roars of merriment" by the +sympathy of others around him who are experiencing the same emotion +and expressing it in the same way. + +The laugh of derision and contempt and the laugh of exultation and +triumph are of a different character. I cannot now discuss them +further than to say that they are either genuine or pretended +assertions of joy in one's own superior vitality or other superiority. +The "sardonic smile" and "sardonic laughter" have been supposed by +some learned men to refer to the smiles of the ancient Sardinians when +stoning their aged parents. But they have no more to do with +Sardinians than they have with sardines or sardonyx. The word +"sardonic" is related to a Greek word which means "to snarl," and a +sardonic grin is merely a snarl. In it the teeth are shown with +malicious intent, and not as they are in the benevolent appeal of true +laughter. Mrs. Grote, the wife of the great historian (who was +herself declared by a French wit to furnish the explanation of the +word "grotesque"), wrote of "Owen's sugar-of-lead smile"--referring to +the great naturalist, Richard Owen. There was no malice in the +description, for he had, as some others have, a very sweet smile, +accompanied by a strangely grave and disapproving glare in his large +blue prominent eyes. It was only apparently sugar of lead; really, it +was sugar of milk--the milk of human kindness. The smile of the lost +picture called "La Gioconda" is by fanciful people regarded as +something very wonderful. It is really the clever portraiture of the +habitual "leer" of a somewhat wearied sensual woman. It had a +fascination for the great Leonardo, but no profound significance. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +FATHERLESS FROGS + + +One of the most interesting discoveries of recent date in +regard to the processes which go on in that all-important +material--protoplasm--which is the physical basis of life and the +essential constituent of "cells"--those minute corpuscles of which all +living bodies are built--was made in 1910 by a French naturalist, M. +Bataillon, and has been examined and confirmed by another French +biologist, M. Henneguy. To explain this discovery, a few words as to +well-known facts are necessary. It is well known that if we isolate a +female frog at the egg-laying season and let her swim in perfectly +pure filtered water, and proceed to deposit some of her eggs in that +water, the eggs will not germinate; they remain unchanged for a time +and then decompose--become, in fact, "rotten." It is a matter of +common knowledge that it is necessary for the eggs to be "fertilised" +in order that they may start on that series of changes and growth +which we call "development," and become tadpoles and eventually young +frogs. The "fertilisation" of the frog's eggs is effected in ordinary +conditions by the presence in the water of the pond, into which the +female sheds them, of microscopic sperm-filaments (often called +spermatozoa, or simply "sperms") which are shed into the water at the +same time by the male frog. + +The egg (the blackish-brown spherical body, as big as a rape-seed, +which is imbedded in a thin jelly, and is familiar to those who are +drawn by curiosity to look into the waters of wayside ponds in spring) +is a single cell or corpuscle of protoplasm distended with +dark-coloured and other granules of nutrient substance. A single sperm +(though requiring the microscope to render it visible) is also a +single cell. It is a minute oval body, with a long serpentine tail of +actively undulating protoplasm. Hundreds of thousands of these are +shed into the water at the breeding season by the male frog. One is +enough to fertilise the egg. The sperm-cells swim in the water, and +are chemically attracted by the eggs. As there are so many sperms, one +of them is sure to reach each black egg-sphere. It drives its way into +the substance of the egg, making a minute hole in its surface; then +the protoplasm of the sperm fuses with the protoplasm of the egg, and +becomes intimately mixed with it. The egg-cell has a "nucleus," that +dense, peculiar, deep-lying, and well-marked "kernel" of its +protoplasm which all cells have. It is of essential importance in the +life and activity of the cell. The sperm-cell has also a "nucleus," +and now (as has been carefully ascertained) the nucleus of the sperm +and the nucleus of the egg-cell unite and form one single nucleus. The +egg is thereupon said to be "fertilised"--that is to say, "rendered +fertile." It at once commences to move. Its surface ripples and +contracts and nips in deeply, so that the sphere is marked out into +two hemispheres. These are two "cells," or masses of protoplasm, +adhering to each other. Each is provided with its own distinct nucleus +or cell-kernel, for the first step in the division of the egg-sphere +is the division within it of its newly constituted nucleus into two, +each half consisting of nearly equal proportions of the mingled +substance of the sperm-nucleus and the egg-nucleus. The two first +cells or hemispheres again divide, and so the process goes on until +the little black egg has the appearance of a mulberry, each granule of +the berry being a cell provided with its own nucleus derived from the +original nucleus formed by the fusion of the nuclei of the paternal +and maternal cells. In the course of a day or two the division has +proceeded so far that the resulting "cells" are so small as to be +invisible with a hand-glass, and require one to use a high magnifying +power in order to distinguish them. And there are hundreds of them; +the whole mass of the "egg" within, as well as on the surface, has +divided into separate cells. They go on multiplying, take up water, +and nourish themselves on the granular nutritive matter present from +the first in the egg-cell. The little mass elongates, increases in +size, and gradually assumes the form of a young tadpole. + +We see, then that the process of fertilisation consists in two things, +the latter of which necessitates the former, viz. in the breaking or +penetration of the surface of the egg-cell by the active sperm +filament and second in the fusion of the substance of the sperm +filament with that of the egg in such a way that there is a distinct +and intimate fusion of the nucleus of the sperm filament with the +nucleus of the egg-cell. The recent discovery of M. Bataillon is this, +viz. that you can make the frog's egg develop in a perfectly regular +way and become a tadpole and then a young frog without the admission +to it of a sperm-filament or of any substance derived from the male +frog. All you have to do--and the operation, though it sounds easy and +simple, is an exceedingly delicate and difficult one--is to prick with +a fine needle the surface of the little black egg-sphere (not merely +of the jelly surrounding it) when it is shed by the female frog into +perfectly pure water free from sperms or anything of the sort. The +slight artificial puncture acts as does the natural puncture by the +swimming sperm-filament, and is sufficient! The egg proceeds to +develop quite regularly. There is no fusion of the nucleus of the +egg-cell with any matter from the outside; no paternal "material" is +introduced, but the nucleus of the egg-cell divides just as though +there had been! The whole progeny of cells, successively formed, are +the pure offspring of the maternal egg-cell and its nucleus. The +tadpoles and young frogs so produced are examples of what is called +"parthenogenesis"--that is to say, virginal reproduction--reproduction +without fertilisation by material derived from a male parent! The +needle, which gives off no material, but simply makes a tiny break in +the surface of the egg, does all that is necessary! + +To those not acquainted with all that has been ascertained as to the +reproduction of lower animals such as insects, crustaceans, and worms, +this discovery will appear more astonishing than it really is. We +know of many lower animals in which the egg-cells produced by the +females do regularly and naturally develop without the intervention of +a male and without fertilisation. In an earlier volume[7] of this +"Easy Chair Series" I wrote of this curious subject, and described the +virgin reproduction or parthenogenesis of the hop-louse and +other plant lice, of some moths, of some fresh-water shrimps, +and of the queen bee (who produces only drones by eggs which are +not fertilised). But I had to point out then that no case was known of +"parthenogenesis"--that is to say, reproduction by unfertilised +eggs--among the whole series of vertebrate animals, the fishes, +amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. The chief point of novelty +in M. Bataillon's discovery is that we have now an experimental +demonstration of parthenogenesis in a vertebrate animal, and in one so +highly organised as the frog. And equally interesting, indeed more +important from the point of view as to the real meaning and nature of +fertilisation, is the mode in which the parthenogenesis of the frog is +set going, namely, by a mere prick of the surface film of the ripe +egg! + +There have, however, been important experiments on the subject of the +development of eggs without fertilisation in recent years, prior to +these discoveries as to the frog's egg. A favourite subject for such +inquiries is the sea urchin (Echinus of different kinds). The female +sea urchin, or sea egg, like its close allies the star fishes, lays a +great number of very transparent minute eggs (each about the 1/200th +of an inch in diameter) in sea-water, and they are there fertilised by +the mobile sperm filaments discharged by the males. The eggs are so +transparent and so easily kept alive in jars of sea-water that there +is no difficulty in watching under the microscope the penetration of +the egg by a sperm, and the fusion and other changes in the nuclei. +Delages of Paris, and Loeb of California, have made valuable studies +on these eggs. Loeb has shown that they may be artificially +started on the course of development and cell division without +fertilisation--simply by the action of minute quantities of simple +chemicals (fatty acids, etc.) introduced into the sea-water by the +experimenter. These chemicals appear to act on the delicate pellicle +which forms the surface of the egg-cell in much the same way as the +prick of a needle acts on a frog's egg. A limited and delicately +adjusted disturbance of the cohesion (or of the surface-tension) of +the egg-cell seems to be all that is necessary for starting the +egg-cell on its career of development. It becomes, in the light of +these experiments, not so much a wonder that egg-cells should develop +"on their own," but that they do not more frequently do so. It must be +remembered that the "germination" and development of unfertilised +eggs, even when the whole range of animals and plants is taken into +account (for plants also are reproduced by single cells identical in +character with the egg-cells and sperm-cells of animals), that is to +say, the existence of "parthenogenesis" as a natural, regularly +recurring process, is exceptional. We must distinguish cases in which +it regularly occurs as part of the life-history of an animal or plant +from cases in which it has been successfully brought about by +experimental "artificial" methods designed by man. The plant-lice +"naturally" reproduce through the summer by unfertilised eggs +producing only females, but in the first cold of autumn males are +hatched from some of the eggs, and the eggs of this generation are +fertilised and bide through the winter, hatching in the following +spring. Some few moths and flies also reproduce naturally during +summer by unfertilised eggs, and the brine-shrimps and some other +fresh-water shrimps produce "fatherless" broods from their eggs, +sometimes for years in succession, until "one fine day" some males are +hatched, owing to what causes we do not know. The queen bee naturally +and regularly lays a certain number of unfertilised eggs, and these +produce, not females as do the unfertilised eggs of plant-lice, etc., +but male bees--the drones--and it is only from such eggs that the +drones of bees are born. These are the chief cases of regular and +natural parthenogenesis, but there are others which might be +enumerated. + +On the other hand, examples of artificially induced development of +eggs, not fertilised, are very few. The first known came accidentally +to notice. Female silkworm moths reared in confinement sometimes lay +eggs when kept apart from the male, and these have been found to +hatch, and give rise to caterpillars, which were not reared to +maturity. Other moths bred by collectors behaved in the same way, but +the grubs were reared to maturity, and three successive generations of +"fatherless" moths were obtained. In these cases the hatching of +unfertilised eggs is not known to occur in a state of nature, although +it probably occurs occasionally. It has also been observed--an +important fact when considered with the history of the frog's egg and +the needle--that "brushing" the unfertilised eggs of the silkworm and +other moths, that is to say, gently polishing the little egg-shells +with a soft camel's-hair brush, has the effect of starting +development. Taking two lots of unfertilised eggs adhering to slips of +paper, as laid by the mother moth, it is found that those gently +brushed will hatch, whilst those not brushed will either not hatch at +all, or in very small number. The brushing seems to disturb the +equilibrium of the protoplasmic egg-cell within the egg-shell just +sufficiently to set it going--going on its course of division and +development. The only other case of "artificially-induced +parthenogenesis" at present recorded is that of the common frog, due +to M. Bataillon. There are questions of great interest still to be +made out as the result of his discovery. Can the fatherless brood be +reared to maturity and again made to yield a fatherless generation? +What is the precise structure of the nuclei of the cells which +originate from the nucleus of the egg-cell only, and not from a +nucleus formed by the fusion of that with a sperm-cell nucleus? These +and similar questions are the motive of further careful study now in +progress. + +The important conclusion is forced upon us by these experiments with a +needle, that even in so typical and highly organised a creature as one +of the higher or five-fingered, air-breathing vertebrates, the +egg-cell does not require any material admixture from the sperm-cell +in order that it may successfully germinate and develop, but only a +disturbance of equilibrium, which can be administered as well by a +needle's point as by a sperm-filament! Yet the whole process of sexual +reproduction undoubtedly has, as its origin and explanation, the +fusion in the first cell of the new generation from which all the rest +will arise, of the material of two distinct individuals. Thus the +qualities of the young are not a repetition of the qualities of one +parent, nor are they a mere mixture of the qualities of both parents +(for contradictory qualities cannot mix). They are a new grouping of +qualities comprising some of the one parent and some of the other and +hence a great opportunity for variation, for departure from either +parent's exact "make-up," is afforded, and for the selection and +survival of the new combination. It is, it would seem, only in +exceptional cases and for limited periods that uni-sexual or +fatherless reproduction can be advantageous to a species of plant or +animal. Such cases are those in which abundant food, present for a +limited season, renders the most rapid multiplication of individuals +an advantage to the species. But after this exceptional abundance has +come to an end, the more usual process of reproduction by fertilised +eggs (also necessary and advantageous for the preservation of the race +by "natural selection in the struggle for existence" of the new +varieties so produced) is resumed until again the abundant food is +present, as in the annual history of plant lice and the plants on +which they feed. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 7: "Science from an Easy Chair," Methuen & Co., 1910.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +PRIMITIVE BELIEFS ABOUT FATHERLESS PROGENY + + +In the preceding chapter I related the curious and exceptional cases +of "fatherless reproduction" by means of true egg-cells, those cells +of special nature produced in the organs called "ovaries," present in +all but the simplest animals and plants. These egg-cells are usually, +with elaborate sureness and precise mechanism after liberation from +the ovary, fertilised by (that is to say, fused with) the complemental +reproductive cells--the sperm-filaments--produced by other +individuals, the males. + +But we must not forget--and, indeed, one should not enter on the +consideration of this subject without a knowledge of the fact--that +vast numbers of animals and plants reproduce themselves "asexually," +as it is termed, namely, by breaking-off or separating buds, branches, +or other good solid bits of their structure which, when thus +separated, are capable of individual life and growth. Thus plants very +largely multiply, using this method in addition to the sexual method +of egg-cells and sperm-cells. One may take "cuttings" from plants and +rear them, and plants also "cut" or detach such bits themselves, in +the form of runners, of dividing bulbs, of bulbules, and such +reproductive growths seen on the lily, on the viviparous, alpine +grass, and many other plants. Even a bit cut off from the leaf of a +plant (for instance, a begonia) will sprout, root itself, and grow +into a completely formed and healthy individual. Animals, too, such as +polyps or zoophytes, and many beautiful and elaborate worms, multiply +by "fission," dividing into two or more parts, each of which becomes a +complete animal. This process is not seen in any fish, amphibian, +reptile, bird, or mammal, nor in molluscs, nor in insects, +crustaceans, myriapods, and arachnids (spiders and scorpions). It is +almost wholly confined to lower animals (worms and polyps) and to +plants, and hence is often called "vegetative reproduction." The most +remarkable case of its appearance among higher forms is that of the +marine Ascidians, or tunicates--close allies of the true +vertebrates--where reproduction by budding and the formation of +wonderfully elaborate star-like forms produced by budding and the +cohesion of the budded individuals as one composite individual are +well known. Their beautiful shapes and colours have been reproduced in +hundreds of exquisite pictures by our great artist-naturalists. We +thus have to recognise that there are two distinct kinds of +reproduction in living things. One is "asexual," by means of division +or separation of large or special masses of their existence, made up +of ordinary tissue cells. Co-existing with this, often in the same +individuals, is the other method, the "sexual," by means of detached +egg-cells and sperm-cells which are thrown off from the parents, and +do not (except in rare instances) proceed to develop unless the +egg-cell is "fertilised" by the fusion with it of a sperm-cell. + +The whole subject of the reproduction of animals and plants was, until +the introduction of the microscope, involved in obscurity and mystery. +The Greeks and Romans had necessarily very imperfect and erroneous +notions on the subject, and it was not until 300 years ago that +William Harvey, the discoverer of the circulation of the blood, +declared, as a general law, that every living thing is born from an +egg. During that 300 years his conclusion has been examined and +modified, corrected and expanded, and the microscope has at last +enabled us to see and follow the excessively minute particles and +structures by which sexual reproduction is effected. Harvey's dictum +was a step in advance when it was made, for previously the belief was +current that living things were "bred" in all sorts of queer ways. It +was supposed that the putrefying flesh of a dead animal actually was +converted by a sudden process into maggots, and that rotten wood +would breed, out of its own substance, ships' barnacles and even young +geese and mice--an opinion contested only 200 years ago by Sir Thomas +Browne! No difficulty was felt in admitting that whole swarms of +insects, fishes, and even herds of larger beasts were spontaneously +generated from mud, from putrid matter, or from the waters of the sea. +That, indeed, was the popular notion set forth by the poet, John +Milton, as to the mode in which living things were "miraculously" +brought into existence at the beginning of things by the "fiat" of the +Creator. What more probable than that such a creation should still be, +here and there, at work? However, not three centuries ago, actual +experiment gradually convinced the learned that maggots are bred in a +dead body only from the eggs laid by parent flies, as shown by the +Italian Redi in 1668 who found that no maggots were bred when he +simply excluded the flies from access to the dead body by covering it +with wire gauze, but that the blow-flies swarmed on the gauze and +vainly laid their eggs on it! It was only gradually recognised that +birth by means of eggs or germs extruded from parental organisms of +the same history and character as their offspring is the explanation +of all such swarms of flies, worms, and even mushrooms and moulds as +had been formerly ascribed to a mysterious power of breeding these +organisms possessed by inanimate dirt and refuse. + +In spite of this progress in knowledge the belief in "spontaneous +generation" of such excessively minute organisms as the bacteria and +yeasts was general until Theodore Schwann in 1836 performed with them +just the same experiment as Redi had performed with blow-flies in +1668. He showed that if a putrescible liquid (for instance, soup) were +boiled in a retort so as to destroy all germs, and then the open neck +of the retort was kept heated in a flame, so that no floating germs +could enter alive, the soup did not putrefy, and no bacteria or other +organisms appeared in it. The old notions, nevertheless, survive to +this day. Peasants, fisher-folk, and even uneducated wealthy +countrymen cling to them with the confidence arising from profound +ignorance. And occasionally a man of some scientific training and +knowledge astonishes the world by a futile attempt to show that the +old fancies were true in regard, at any rate, to the lowest +microscopic forms of life. But these are but the echoes of the past; +we do not believe nowadays in "spontaneous generation," nor in sudden +transformations of lower into higher forms of life. The doctrine, +"_omne vivum e vivo_"--every living thing (in the present condition of +our earth) is born from a living thing--is now held by scientific +investigators as a reasonable generalisation of experience. + +On the other hand, Harvey's dictum, "Every living thing comes from an +egg," is only true in a limited sense, namely, that whilst the +individual among most larger animals and plants is always traceable to +an egg-cell detached from a parental individual of a like kind of +species, there are whole groups and series of lower animals and most +plants in which the individual born or "developed" from an egg-cell +does not proceed when grown to full size to reproduce in turn by eggs +and fertilising sperms, but divides into two or more individuals or +gives off detached buds or reproductive bulbs, which become separate +individuals, and only after these and several successive generations +of individuals have been thus produced "asexually," by fission or by +budding, does a generation appear which produces true egg-cells and +sperm-cells and reproduces by their means. Thus it is true that the +individuals "budded off" or separated by fission from an asexual +parent can be ultimately traced through one or more generations of +previous asexual parents to an egg-cell produced and fertilised in the +regular way, and with this important modification Harvey's dictum is +justified. These facts and the wonderful histories of the animals and +plants in which egg-and-sperm-producing generations "alternate" with +generations which multiply by fission and budding have only been +worked out in detail and by the aid of the microscope during the great +century of scientific discovery which lies just behind us. Often the +two generations, reproducing, the one by fission, the other by egg and +sperm-cells, are alike in appearance, but often they are very +different, and have naturally been supposed at first to have nothing +to do with each other. + +Thus some of the little "coralline polyps" and other most beautiful +little marine flower-like polyps attached to rocks, weeds, and shells +in the sea reproduce by budding and division. But after a period of +such growth and such budding they produce on their stalks--jelly-fish! +These jelly-fish are budded and thrown off by them, as glass-like +swimming bells, which lead an independent life, seize prey, nourish +themselves, and grow to a size varying from that of a sixpence to that +of a cart-wheel. These "bells" are commonly known as "jelly-fish." +They discharge thousands of egg-cells into the sea and fertilise them +with sperms! From those fertilised eggs grow young polyps, which fix +themselves to rocks or weeds, and grow up to bud and multiply by +fission, and eventually to produce again by fission a generation of +jelly-fishes! Such a marvellous history of alternating modes of +reproduction has been discovered, and described in greatest +microscopic detail and with most ample pictorial representations of +all the minutest structures of the organisms studied, not only in many +marine polyps, but also in the case of many parasitic worms, such as +the tape worms and the liver-flukes. Some of the most fascinating +cases, on account of the beauty of the little creatures concerned, are +found amongst the surface-swimming Ascidians of the sea--the +glass-like Salps. But our common ferns and mosses also show this same +alternation of sexual and sexless generations, the two generations +differing greatly in size, form, and structure from one another, +whilst the whole story of "flowers" and their structure is bound up +with a wonderful "telescoping" or rolling of the two generations +(sexless and sexual) into one plant! + +It was not until long after Harvey's time that these things were +understood, and there was every excuse--in the absence of observation +of the facts, especially those yet to be revealed by the +microscope--for the erroneous suppositions and explanations which were +formerly entertained as to the mode of reproduction of the less +familiar plants and animals. If we go back to the starting-point of +European science, to the great Aristotle, we find that he had formed +singularly correct conclusions as to the reproduction of the larger +kinds of animals, though he knew nothing about "sperms," having no +microscope, and only regarded the fluid produced by male animals as +exercising a fertilising effect on the eggs, which in many instances +are large enough for anyone to see. But, of course, he could not have +any knowledge of the egg-cell, nor does he say anything about the +reproduction of plants. Later, however, the sexuality of flowering +plants was taught by his pupils, and at the time of the Roman Empire +there was a very definite belief among learned men (such as Pliny) +that the larger plants and animals reproduce by eggs or by seeds +produced by the females which require to be "fertilised" by a product +formed in the males--the spermatic fluid in the case of animals and by +the pollen in the case of a few flowering plants (_e.g._ the +date-palm). But there was no idea of holding this as a general and +universal law. From Pliny to Harvey and later, those who concerned +themselves with natural history accepted without difficulty any +strange accounts or appearances as to the reproduction or the sudden +production in fanciful and astonishing ways of the lower and smaller +animals and plants. They did not expect these inferior creatures to +have the same methods of reproduction as the higher and bigger +creatures. It is only now, since the later years of the nineteenth +century, that we are able to show that all animals and plants, even +the minutest microscopic kinds, reproduce by the formation and +separation of egg-cells, and that these egg-cells are (in all but a +few exceptional cases) fertilised by sperm cells, which are smaller +than the egg-cells, and usually provided with active swimming +filaments. + +Not only did our mediæval ancestors believe all sorts of fancies as to +the propagation of lower animals and plants, but they were quite +prepared to accept stories as to reproduction in the case of higher +animals, and even in mankind, by irregular methods, such as +parthenogenesis, or the defect of an ordinary male parent. In the +Middle Ages in Europe, and earlier in the East, the belief in the +frequent occurrence of the birth of a child which had no human male +parent was common. It was, so to speak, an admitted though irregular +occurrence. A very curious thing is that when such cases were supposed +to occur, they were not ascribed to any natural process such as we now +recognise in the "parthenogenesis" of insects and crustaceans, but to +the visitation of the mother by a spirit--a floating, volatile demon +or angel (known as an "incubus" in the Middle Ages) beneficent or +malicious as the case might be. Stories of the nocturnal visits of +these mysterious ghostly "incubi" are on record in great number and +variety, both in European and Oriental tradition and legend. There +seems to have been a readiness to believe the theory of paternity from +among the hidden world of goblins, fairies, and sprites which was very +naturally made use of by a woman and her relatives when she could not +produce the father of her child. + +We come across examples of such beliefs in invisible agents of +paternity even among the more cultivated Romans. Thus Virgil in his +"Georgics" cites as a fact that mares are fertilised by the wind. His +words are given on the next page. + +It is now known that, quite apart from any motive of concealment of +the true paternity of their offspring, some of the native tribes of +Australia have the belief that, as the regular and normal thing, +children are begotten by strange fairy-like spirits which haunt the +rocks and trees of certain localities and enter the future mother as +she passes by these haunted rocks and trees. These Australian "black +fellows" hold that the human father counts for nothing in the matter. +The belief of these Australian savages is referred to by writers on +the subject (Mr. Andrew Lang and others) as "the spiritual theory of +conception." There are some reasons for thinking that this curious +theory and the accompanying ignorance as to the natural causes of +conception were widely spread among primeval men. The fact that most +trees are fertilised by the wind (which carries to their female +flowers the invisible powder, or pollen, of the male flowers, +conveyed in the case of smaller plants which have gay-coloured flowers +by bees and butterflies) may have been noticed by primitive man, and +have started the belief that there are fertilising spirits or demons +in the air. However the fancy arose, it is only a parallel to the +strange fancies as to spontaneous generation of all sorts of animals +and plants current 200 years ago among civilised men. And, further, it +is worth noting that the uncanny belief in the "incubus" which was +generally prevalent in the Middle Ages may possibly be considered as a +survival in (or incursion into) Europe of the primitive spiritual +theory of all human conception, and of the fertilising activity of the +haunting spirits of the air which was held by primeval man, and is +still found in full force among the Arunta tribes of Australia. + + "Ore omnes versæ in Zephyrum stant rupibus altis + Exceptantque leves auras et sæpe sine ullis + Conjugiis vento gravidæ, mirabile dictu." + + Georgic iii. 275. + + (Facing the west on lofty rocks + All stand and sniff the buoyant breeze + And often--marvellous to tell-- + Without conjunction with a sire, + Bear young engendered by the wind.) + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +THE PYGMY RACES OF MEN + + +The tradition of the existence of dwarfs, not as isolated examples, +but as a race with their own customs, government, and language is +familiar among civilised people, and exists among scattered and remote +savages. We have all heard of them in that treasury of primitive +beliefs--the nursery. Therefore, the fact that there are at this +moment in various parts of the world dwarf or pygmy tribes of men, +living in proximity to but apart from those races which have a stature +identical with our own, has a great fascination and interest. Some few +races of men have an average height of an inch, or thereabouts, +greater than that of the people of the British Islands, whilst some +are shorter by as much as two or three inches. But, on the whole, it +may be said that, putting aside the pygmy races, of which I am about +to write, mankind generally does not show a very striking range of +normal stature--the mass in any race or region of the globe varying +from 5 ft. 4 in. to 5 ft. 8 in., and tending to the higher rather than +the lower figure. + +The pygmy races are sharply separated from normal mankind by as much +as a foot, and even more, in average stature, ranging from 4 ft. to +something less than 4 ft. 11 in. in height. They are, enumerating them +in the order of their purity of race and completeness of their +isolation: (1) The Mincopies, or Andaman Islanders; (2) the Congo +pygmies (comprising the tribes known as the Akkas, or Tiki-Tikis, the +Bambutis, the Watwas, the Obongos, and Bayagas); (3) the bushmen of +South Africa; (4) the Aetas of the Philippine Islands; (5) the Samangs +of Malacca, and very similar isolated pygmy tribes which have been +observed in New Guinea, and also in the Solomon Islands and in +Formosa. The Veddas of Ceylon, the Senois of Malacca, and the Toalas +of Celebes are apparently races which have resulted from the +"crossing" of true pygmies with other normal-statured races inhabiting +the islands in which they are found. The Brahouis of Beloochistan and +the "monkey-men," or Bandra-Loks, east of the Indus, appear also to +belong to the pygmy race. + +Next to their agreement in small size, the most interesting facts +about the pygmies we have just enumerated is that, notwithstanding the +wide area over which they are found in scattered, isolated +communities--viz. from the Congo to South Africa on the one hand, and, +on the other hand, from Central Africa to the Indian Ocean, and on to +New Guinea, the Philippine Islands, and Formosa--yet they all have +short, round skulls of full average brain capacity, and have their +hair growing in tightly curled-up peppercorn-like tufts--two +characters found combined in no other race. They usually have +finely-developed, straight foreheads, and the jaws do not project +strongly; the lips are usually fine and thin, and the nose, though +very broad, is not always greatly flattened. They are well-shaped, +well-proportioned little people, neither grotesque nor deformed. To a +great extent their corporeal features suggest an infantile or +child-like stage of development, and the same is true of their +intellectual condition and of their productions. Their habitations are +very primitive, either caves or low clay-made huts, of the shape of +half an egg. They do not make pottery, and neither keep herds nor till +the ground, contenting themselves with such food as wild fruits and +roots and the animals they kill with spear or arrow or capture in +traps. They do not mutilate or bedaub their bodies (though the +Andamanese indulge in a kind of "tattooing"). Among them the struggle +for life does not exist in its more brutal forms. They take care of +the sick and feeble, the children, and the old people. Cannibalism is +unknown amongst them; they punish murder and theft. They are honest, +and, moreover, are monogamous, and punish adultery, which is rare +among them. Their religion is remarkably simple. It is limited to +reverence for a Supreme Being, without any offering of sacrifice, and +they do not worship ancestors nor exhibit the superstitions known as +"animism." It has been argued that these characteristics, taken +together, indicate a primitive condition of humanity. On the other +hand, many writers regard them as degenerate offshoots of negro-like +races of larger stature and more complicated mental development. + +There is no name by which the whole series of these small-sized people +is indicated excepting the ancient designation of "pygmies." Many +careful students of human races separate the pygmies of Africa as +"negrilloes" from the pygmies of Asia, whom they designate +"negritoes," and it is held that the negrilloes (Congo pygmies and +bushmen) hold the same relation to African negroes and Zulus as the +negritoes (Andamanese, and scattered tribes in New Guinea, the +Philippines, Formosa and the Solomon Islands, as well as in Malacca +and Annam and in the north-west and in other parts of Hindustan) hold +to the full-sized, frizzly haired Papuans. This, no doubt, is a +convenient way of stating the case, but the important fact remains +that the pygmies of purest race, both of Africa and Asia, have the +remarkable characteristics in common which we have noted above. Their +bodily and mental peculiarities certainly suggest, whether the +suggestion can be verified or not, the former existence in the +tropical regions of Africa and Asia of a widely spread pygmy race of +uniform character, a race which has been, to a large extent, destroyed +by other races of larger and more powerful individuals, but has also +in many regions (especially on the Asiatic Continent) intermarried +with the surrounding larger people, and given rise to hybrid races. At +the same time, it seems that in other regions this race has, by +isolation in forests and mountain ranges and by the exercise of +special skill in the use of poisoned arrows and in the arts of +concealment, evasion, and terrorising, succeeded in maintaining its +existence and primitive independence dating from remote prehistoric +times. + +Whether we regard the pygmies as one race or as the result of local +modification of larger races, it is noteworthy that they are of +lighter tint than the black races close to or among whom they live. +Some, both of the African and Asiatic pygmies, are very dark +brown--practically black--but many are of a paler and yellowish tint. +We must not forget that the babies and quite young children of negroes +are nearly "white." The Asiatic pygmies, notably the Andamanese, are +darker than their African fellows. It must necessarily be difficult in +studying such a race to make due allowance not merely for admixture of +blood from surrounding populations, but to estimate correctly what the +little people have learnt in the way of art and habit from their +neighbours and what is their own. The Andaman Islanders, though +provided with metal by trading, still use the sharp-edged splinters of +volcanic glass-stone to shave their heads, which they keep entirely +bald! + +It is one of the merits of the showman's enterprise in modern times +that he brings to a great city like London groups of interesting +savages, without imposture and without ill-treatment, and enables us +to see and talk with them almost as though we had travelled to their +remote native forests. It would certainly be a successful and worthy +enterprise on the part of the Anthropological Society of London to +start a garden and houses such as those maintained by the Zoological +Society, but arranged so as to receive some five or six groups of +interesting "savages." The society would be responsible for careful +and humane treatment of their guests, and return them after a sojourn, +say, of a couple years, to their native country and replace them by +specimens of other races. Under the auspices of showmen I have seen +Zulu Kaffirs, Guiana Indians, North American Indians, Kalmuck Tartars, +South African bushmen, and Congo pygmies in London, besides many +hundreds of African negroes of various tribes. Farini's bushmen and +Harrison's Congo pygmies were perfect samples of the dwarf race about +which I am writing. But I also saw and examined carefully, in 1872, at +Naples, with my friend Professor Panceri, the two African pygmies, +Tebo and Chairallah, who were the first to reach Europe. They were +subsequently adopted by and lived for some years under the care of +Count Miniscalchi Erizzo. They were very intelligent, and learnt to +read and to write well, and to play difficult music on the piano, with +feeling and appreciation. We were especially concerned to determine by +the stage of growth of their teeth and other indications whether they +were merely ordinary young negroes, as some anthropologists supposed, +or really representatives of the dwarf race as asserted by the +traveller Miani, who bought them, in exchange for a dog and a calf, in +the country of the Mombootoos, south of the Welle River, and west of +the Albert Nyanza. They were still young and growing when we examined +them, but Tebo ceased growth when he had reached a stature of 4 ft. 8 +in. We had no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that they were, +when we saw them, really of exceptionally small stature for their age +as indicated by the teeth which were in place in their jaws. + +[Illustration: Fig. 23.--Copy of a figure from a group drawn on a +Greek vase (dating from 300 B.C.), representing a number of the +pygmies of the remote Upper Nile engaged in battle. The resemblance of +the peaked cap and of the beard to those of the little figures carved +by Black Forest peasants and intended to represent the mythical +"gnomes" or dwarf mining-elves is noteworthy. (From Saglio and +Derenberg's "Dictionnaire des Antiquités Grecs et Romaines.")] + +The Akkas living near the sources of the Nile were known to the +ancient Egyptians, and were the foundation of stories and fabulous +exaggerations among the ancient Greeks. Even before Homer these +stories existed, and the little people were called "pygmies," which +means "of the length of the forearm" (Greek, pugmé). Homer refers to +the wars of these pygmies with the cranes, and as a matter of fact the +African pygmies do wage a kind of war upon the great cranes which +swarm in the marsh-land of their country. Naturally enough the really +small size of the African pygmies (they are about 4 ft. in height, +some two or three inches less, some as much as eight inches more) was +exaggerated by report and tradition, just as the really big eggs of +the great extinct ostrich-like bird of Madagascar were represented in +the story of Sindbad, in the "Arabian Nights," as being as large as +the dome of a temple, and the bird large in proportion. The Egyptians, +as we have seen, knew the pygmy Akkas, and Egyptian fact was ever the +romance of the Greeks. + +Herodotus mentions the African pygmies from beyond the Libyan desert, +citing, as is his wont, the accounts of certain travellers with whom +he had conversed, and a later Greek writer tells of a pygmy race in +India, a statement which our present knowledge confirms. It is a +curious fact that Swift's Lilliputians are thus traceable to the +Central African dwarf race, for Greek legend related that Hercules +visited the country of the pygmies, where on waking from sleep he +found one division of the army guarding his right leg, another his +left, and others his arms. Hercules got up, swept them all into the +lion's skin which he used as a cloak, and went on his way, shaking out +his small tormentors from their prison as though they were so many +ants. It seems fairly certain that Swift derived the initial scene in +his story of Gulliver's adventures among the Lilliputians from this +legend. + +Miani's pygmies were members of a tribe discovered by the +distinguished traveller Schweinfurth, who, in 1870, was the first to +visit the country of the Niam-Niam, to the west of the sources of the +Nile, and had the honour of showing that the myths of the ancient +Greeks as to a nation of pygmies were based on fact, and that the +definite words of Aristotle as to the existence of these pygmy people +on the upper reaches of the Nile were correct. Schweinfurth found to +the south of the Niam-Niam country a tribe of full-statured negroes +called the Mombootoos, whose chief, Moonza, kept close to the Royal +residence a colony of pygmies who were called in that country by the +name "Akkas." Schweinfurth ascertained that they are spread to the +number of many thousands along the borders of the great Congo forest +and form numerous tribes. They are very generally well treated by +their more powerful neighbours, as by Moonza. Partly from fear of +their poisoned arrows and their crafty methods of attack and +subsequent disappearance into the forest, partly on account of a +superstitious dread of them, the Congo pygmies are not only tolerated, +but protected, by the larger people. They alone are at home in the +steaming darkness of the immeasurable forest into which no other +natives dare to enter. + +It is a remarkable fact that the Egyptologist Mariette had, before +these discoveries, found on an ancient Egyptian monument the portrait +of a dwarf inscribed with the word "akka"--the identical name by which +they are known at this day in the region where Schweinfurth found +them. + +Public interest in the pygmy race was rearoused three years ago by the +announcement that the party of English naturalists at that time +exploring the interior of New Guinea had come across a tribe of these +little people in the mountains of that island. The existence of these +pygmies in New Guinea was already well known, but fuller accounts of +them will be valuable. The Italian traveller Beccari, in 1876, speaks +of them as "Karonis," and states that they occupy a chain of mountains +parallel to the north coast of the north-west peninsular of the +island. D'Albertis, Lawes, and other travellers have seen and +described individuals of the pygmy race of the mountains of New +Guinea. It is interesting to find that they are described as having +the body covered with fine, woolly hair, a feature which is recorded +by Schweinfurth, by Stanley, and by an ancient Greek writer, in regard +to the Congo pygmies of Africa, and led in former times to the notion +that the old traditions and accounts of African pygmies referred, not +to human beings, but to chimpanzees! + +The Laplanders are the only very small-sized people in Europe, but +they run from 5 ft. upwards, whereas the negrites and negrillos run +from about 4 ft. to less than 5 ft. The Lapps (of whom there are about +25,000 in Finmark and Lapmark) are a thick-set, round-headed +(brachycephalic), dark-yellow race, and have always been credited with +powers of witchcraft and magic by their neighbours and by modern +sailors. They live in immediate contact with the Finns (both are +Mongolian races), who are very tall and have fair hair and blue eyes. +Some writers have supposed that the Lapps are the remnants of a small +race which was formerly spread over the whole of Europe, and was +exterminated or driven out by the larger races. But we have no +evidence in favour of this view and strong evidence against it, since +we now know the skulls and skeletons of a great number of the +prehistoric inhabitants of Europe belonging to the Bronze, to the +Neolithic, and to the Palæolithic periods. None of these skeletons +belong to an abnormally small-sized race, though the Bronze-age people +were smaller than their predecessors and successors. The cave-dwellers +of the "reindeer" epoch of the Palæolithic period were big men, with +fine, high skulls, and even the earlier Palæolithic men of the glacial +period, the man of the Neanderthal, the couple from Spy, and the three +recently dug up near Perigueux (of whom I have written in another +book),[8] were not diminutive men. It is true they were not tall--only +about 5 ft. 4 in. in height--but they were very powerful and muscular, +and totally different physically from the Lapps or from any of the +tropical pygmy men. It is a remarkable fact that in one cave at +Mentone, on the Riviera, explored by the Prince of Monaco, two +skeletons have been found belonging to a shortish negro-like race +(indicated by the form of the skull), and apparently a little later in +date than the Neandermen. We must remember that at that remote date +there was continuous land connection between Europe and Africa. There +is, in fact, no reason to suppose that a pygmy race ever existed in +Europe, though, of course, individuals of exceptionally small stature +are often produced, and in some regions the whole population is +shorter than it is in others. + + * * * * * + +A very interesting question in connection with the origin and +significance of pygmy races of men is, "Why is any race smaller in +size than another?" Every species among the higher animals has its +standard size from which only in the rarest cases are there +departures. That in itself is a curious fact. How was the standard +size determined, and how is it maintained? The whole question lies +there. At first sight it seems to many people quite simple to account +for "pygmies"; they will tell you that the poor creatures are +half-starved and so unable to grow to full size. That explanation does +not, however, meet the case, for the African and Asiatic pygmy races +are just as well nourished as most of their neighbours. Also if we +look a little further we find that the women of every race are smaller +than the men, and often much smaller. That is not because they are +ill-nourished as compared with the men. And, again, we find very +closely similar species of animals existing side by side, one a large +species and the other a small one, having the same opportunities of +obtaining regular nourishment. There are many instances, but take for +example the beautiful Great Koodoo antelope of Africa, with its fine +spiral horns, which measures 5 ft. at the shoulder, and the Little +Koodoo, a complete miniature of it existing alongside of it, and +standing only 3 ft. 5 in. at the shoulder. Take the two common white +butterflies of this country, the Large White and the Small White, also +the Large Tortoiseshell butterfly and the small. Take the instance of +many plant genera of which larger and smaller species are found +growing side by side. The difference in size in these cases cannot be +traced to any insufficiency of nutrition in the smaller kind. + +It is evident that difference of size in animals has some deep-lying +cause, which is not merely the greater or less abundance of food. +Numerous specimens of a perfectly well-formed elephant, closely allied +in structure to the Indian elephant, but only 3 ft. high, are found +fossil in Malta and the neighbouring Mediterranean region, and in +Liberia a species of hippopotamus, distinct from that of other African +regions, is common, which is not bigger than a common pig. Pygmy hogs, +pygmy deer, pygmy buffaloes (and many other pygmy animals) are known +as thriving wild species, so that it seems clear that there are other +causes at work than semi-starvation in the production of pygmy races. + +A second suggestion which is sometimes made is that the smaller race, +or smaller species of two allied forms, is the original one, and that +the larger forms have developed from these and established themselves, +without completely destroying the smaller original race. This view has +at various times been favoured in regard to the pygmy race of man. +There is something plausible in the view that these little men are +nearer than normal mankind are to the monkeys, and the fur-like +hairiness of their skin has been cited in support of it; but a fatal +objection is that the men of the pure pygmy race of Africa and Asia +are really not more, but less, monkey-like than many full-sized +savages. They have heads and faces nearer in shape to those of +Europeans than have the Australians, the Tasmanians, and the negroes. +They are more intelligent, shrewd, and skilful than their full-sized +neighbours. It is quite possible that they are a very ancient +race--more ancient, in their isolation and freedom from complicated +customs, habits, and mode of life than other savages--but they are not +primitive in the sense of being ape-like in structure or in want of +mental capacity. + +A third possibility in regard to the pygmy people is that they have +been "selected" by natural conditions which favoured the survival of +small individuals, and thus established a small race--just as man has +established small races of horses, dogs, cattle, or what not, by +continually selecting small individuals for breeding, until he has +produced such races as the Shetland pony, the toy terrier, and the +Kerry cow. It is necessary to discover or to suggest (if this +explanation is to be accepted) what precisely is the advantage, in a +state of nature, to a small-sized race in being of small size. The +guess is made that the small people can more easily hide, whether in +forest or among the rocks and caves of mountainous regions, from +aggressive larger-sized mankind. The objection to this view is that +though it may explain the present habits and dwelling-places of some +of the pygmy race, it is not capable of explaining their first +segregation and formation as a distinct race. Another general +advantage which small animals have over larger ones of the same +species is that if the food of the species is widely distributed but +limited in amount, a hundred individuals weighing 5 st. each will +secure more of it than fifty individuals weighing 10 st. each. The +total weight of individuals is the same, but the smaller series will +cover twice the area and have twice as much opportunity to secure the +limited amount of food, whilst, in proportion to their size, requiring +less. It cannot be doubted that, other things being equal, this +obvious relation must tend to limit the increase in size of animals +which have to search for their special food, and must favour small +races. + +Some writers have supposed that small limited areas, such as small +islands, favour the production of small races by some mysterious law +of appropriateness similar to that which lays down that "who drives +fat oxen should himself be fat." The pygmy buffalo of the island of +Celebes, the Anoa, is cited as an instance, and the pygmy men of the +Andaman Islands as another. But there are plenty of facts which would +lead to an exactly opposite conclusion. Gigantic tortoises are found +in the Galapagos Islands and in the minute islands of the Indian +Ocean, and never on the big continents. Gigantic birds bigger than +ostriches abounded in the islands of New Zealand and Madagascar. Some +of the tallest races of men are found in the Pacific islands, whilst +the tallest European population is that of the north of the island +called Great Britain. Probably the real relation of islands to the +matter is that owing to their isolation and freedom from the general +competition of the vast variety of living things in continental areas, +they offer unoccupied territory in which either exceptionally small or +exceptionally big races may flourish--if once they reach the island +shelter, or are by variation produced there--without competitive +interference. + +An important consideration in regard to the formation and segregation +of a human variety or race is that mankind shows a tendency to +segregate in groups, like with like. To a large extent this is true +also of animals, but in man it acquires a special dominance, owing to +the greater activity in him of psychical or mental influences in all +his proceedings. The "cagots" of mid-France are the descendants of +former leper families. They remain separated from the rest of the +population, and do not now know why, nor do their hostile neighbours. +Such "outcast" or "accursed" tribes and family groups are found also +in Great Britain, and throughout the world. Possibly the "pygmies" owe +their preservation to this tendency. Virchow regarded the Lapps as a +race produced by disease--a pathological product. It is possible that +former liability to disease and present immunity from it is the final +explanation of the tropical pygmy race. In the United States black +pigs are able to eat, without harm, a common marsh herb, the +"Red-root" _Lachnanthes tinctoria_, which kills other pigs. Hence a +black race is established, not because it is black, but because, in +it, blackness is "the outward and visible sign of an inward and +chemical grace"--that is to say, of a physiological or chemical power +of resistance to, and immunity from, the poison of an otherwise +nutritious plant. Such "correlations" were described by Darwin, and +are of extreme importance and interest--far more so than is, at +present, recognised by naturalists. I am inclined to the supposition +that the obvious outward signs, the round head, bombous forehead, +furry skin, and diminutive size of the pygmies are the outcome of an +inward physiological condition peculiar to them, which has enabled +them to resist disease or to eat certain kinds of food, or possibly to +develop great mental acuteness, and so has led to the establishment of +these peculiar small people as a race, without their smallness itself +having anything to do with their selection and preservation. In that +case smallness would be a "by-product," a "correlated" character, not +the "effective life-saving" character. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 8: "Science from an Easy Chair," Methuen, 1909.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +PREHISTORIC PETTICOATS + + +After the last great extension of glaciers in Europe, during which +nearly all of Great Britain and the North of France and Germany were +buried with Scandinavia under one great ice-sheet--and when this +ice-sheet had receded, and the climate was like that of the Russian +"steppes," cold and dry--there were men inhabiting the caverns on both +sides of the Pyrenees. The tract of land which we call "Great Britain" +was a part of the Continent of Europe. There was no "English Channel." +The Thames and the Rhine opened by a common mouth into the North Sea. +The mammoth and the hairy rhinoceros still lingered on in France and +the more central regions of Europe. Wild horses, the great ox +(Aurochs), the bison, ibex, chamois, were abundant, and the +thick-nosed Saiga antelope, now confined to the Russian and Asiatic +steppes, was present. The most abundant and important animal +immediately north of the Pyrenees was the reindeer. The cave-men of +France and Central Europe were a fine race--living by the chase, and +fabricating flint knives and scrapers, fine bone spearheads and +harpoons, as well as occupying themselves in carving ivory and +reindeer antlers, so as to produce highly artistic representations of +the animals around them. + +They rarely attempted the human face or figure, and when they did were +not so successful as in their animal work. They also painted on the +walls of some of their caverns, with red and yellow ochre, carbon, and +white chalk representations--usually about one-third the size of +nature--of some of the most important animals of the chase. They must +have used lamps, fed with animal fat, to illuminate the walls, both +when they were at work on the pictures and also afterwards, when they +exhibited the finished pictures to the less gifted members of the +tribe, as wonderful, even magical appearances. It is uncertain to what +extent races of men succeeded one another or were cotemporaries in +this period in Europe, but there is good reason for attributing the +cave pictures to an early occupation of the caves by men who also +carved, in ivory and stone, small figures of women resembling the +Hottentot Venus--whilst the later occupants made no such statuettes, +but carved in relief on bone or engraved it. + +This was probably not less than 50,000 years ago, and may well have +been much more. Earlier than the date of these Reindeer men (the +Magdalenians, Solutrians and the Aurignacians[9]), in the preceding +cold, humid period of the glacial extension (probably from 80,000 to +150,000 years ago) these and other caves were occupied by an inferior +race--the Neandermen. They could not carve beasts on ivory nor paint, +but could make very good and well "dressed" flint weapons, and could +make large fires in and about the caves, both to cook their meat and +to keep off the wild beasts (lions, bears, and hyenas), who contended +with the strange, low-browed Neandermen for the use of the caves as +habitations. + +On this side of the Pyrenees the Reindeer men have left some +wall-pictures, and new discoveries of great importance in the form of +rock carvings of human figures as well as pictures and huge figures of +horses, etc., are being made in France as I write these lines. But the +best preserved and most numerous wall pictures are those of the cave +of Altamira near Santander. These comprise some partially preserved +representations in yellow, red, white, and black of the great bison, +the wild boar, the horse, and other animals. A group representing some +twenty-five or more animals (each about one third the size of nature), +irregularly arranged, exists on a part of the roof, and others are +found in other parts of the cavern. Among the wall-pictures made by +ancient cave-men are numerous drawings of human beings in masks +representing animals' heads--probably indicating the "dressing-up" in +animal masks of priests or medicine men in the way in which we know +to-day is the custom among many savage tribes. Twenty-seven of these +"decorated" caverns were known in 1910--eleven in Spain, one in Italy, +and fifteen in South and Central France--and others are continually +being discovered. The most careful and critical examination by +scientific men leaves no doubt as to the vast antiquity of these +paintings, and as to their dating from a time when the animals painted +(including in some cases mammoth and rhinoceros, as well as bison, +reindeer, wild boar, ibex, red deer, bear, and felines) were existing +in the locality. The covering up of some of the drawings (which are +partly engraved and partly painted) by earthy deposits and by +encrustations of lime, and the presence in the cave deposits of the +worked flints and bones characteristic of the Reindeer men, leave no +doubt that these pictures are of that immense antiquity which we +express by the words "Quaternary period," "Upper Pleistocene" or +"Reindeer epoch." + +It is, of course, only in accordance with what one would expect that +these pictures are of very varying degrees of artistic merit. But some +(a considerable number) are quite remarkable for their true artistic +quality. In this respect they differ from the rock paintings of modern +savage races--the Bushmen of South Africa, the Australians, and the +Californian Indians--with which, however, it is instructive to compare +them. Many of them agree in their essential artistic character with +the carving and engraving of animals on bone and ivory so abundantly +produced by the later Reindeer men. It is also the fact that these +Franco-Spanish wall paintings were executed at different periods in +the Reindeer epoch. Some are more primitive than others; some are very +badly preserved, mere scratched outlines with all the paint washed +away by the moisture of ages; but others are bright and sharp in their +colouring to a degree which is surprising when their age and long +exposure are considered. The French prehistorians, M.M. Cartailac and +the Abbé Breuil, have produced a sumptuous volume containing an +account, with large coloured plates, of the best preserved of the +Altamira paintings--a copy of which I owe to the kindness of H.S.H. +the Prince of Monaco, who has ordered the publication of the work at +his own charges. This has been followed by an equally fine work under +the same auspices, illustrating the wall-pictures of the Cavern of the +Font-de-Gaume in the Dordogne, for which we have to thank the Abbé +Breuil. A further volume on Spanish Caves has also appeared from the +same source in the present year. It is not surprising that the country +folk, who, in some of the Spanish localities, have known the existence +of these paintings from time immemorial, should regard them as the +work of the ancient Moors, all ancient work in Spain being popularly +attributed to the Moors, as a sort of starting-point in history. It +is, however, very remarkable that little damage appears to have been +done by the population to the paintings, even when they exist in +shallow caves or on overhanging rocks. No doubt weathering, and the +oozing of moisture, and the flaking caused by it, has destroyed most +of the Pleistocene paintings which once existed, and it is an +ascertained fact that some--for instance, those of Altamira--are +breaking to pieces owing to the opening-up and frequentation of the +caverns. + +It has been remarked that, although these paintings belong to what is +called the "reindeer epoch," yet in the cave of Altamira there are no +representations of reindeer, but chiefly of bison and wild boar. It is +also remarkable that in the case of the painted rock shelters of +Calapata (Lower Aragon) and of Cogul (near Lerida, in Catalonia), no +reindeer are represented; but on the former there are very admirable +drawings of the red deer, and on the latter silhouettes of the bull, +of the red deer, and the ibex. In fact, no representations of reindeer +have been observed on cave walls or rock-shelters south of the +Pyrenees. It is possible that this may be due to the date of the +Spanish paintings being a good deal later than that of those French +cave-paintings which show reindeer, mammoth, and rhinoceros. And we +have to bear in mind that in the North of Africa (Oran) engraved +drawings on exposed rocks are known, which are for good reasons +attributed to the Neolithic period; that is to say, they are later +than the Reindeer epoch of the Palæolithic period, whilst some are +even much later. + +In any case we have to remember that there are two very different and +possible explanations of the presence or absence either of certain +animals' bones or of representations of certain animals in one +"decorated" cave and not in another. The one explanation is that +animals have succeeded one another in time in Western Europe--changing +as the climatic conditions have changed--and that when, in two +cave-decorations or cave-deposits compared, the animals are different, +the cause may be that the one deposit or cave-decoration is more +recent than the other. The other explanation is that (as we well know) +at one and the same moment very different animals occupy tracts of +land which are only a hundred miles or so apart, but differ in climate +and general conditions. At this moment there are wild bears and also +wolves in France, but none in England; the elk occurs in Sweden and +Russia, but not in the West of Europe; the porcupine in Italy and in +Spain, but not in France. As late as the historic period the African +elephant flourished on the African shore of the Mediterranean, but not +in Spain; now it is not found north of the Sahara at all. So we have +various possibilities to consider in comparing the animal pictures on +the cave walls of Spain with those found in France, and may well +suspend judgment till we have knowledge of a greatly extended area. + + * * * * * + +I am anxious to draw attention in this chapter to the painted group of +ten human figures lately discovered on a rock shelter at Cogul, near +Lerida, in Catalonia, and figured and described in the admirable +French journal called "L'Anthropologie." These figures are those of +young women dressed in short skirts and curious sleeves, the hair done +up in a conical mass rising from the sides to the top of the head. +Each figure is about ten inches high. The great interest about these +drawings is that they are probably tens of thousands of years old, +and present to us the women of the reindeer or late Pleistocene epoch. +No other such painting of the women of this period is known, and the +astonishing thing is that, though these are by no means fine specimens +of prehistoric art, yet there is a definitely modern look about the +figures and a freedom of touch about the drawing which makes one think +at first that the picture is some modern, hasty but clever sketch in +silhouette of a number of short skirted school girls at play. The +waist is extremely small and elongated, the skirt, or petticoat, bell +shaped, and the whole figure "sinuous." One of the figures appears to +have a cloak or jacket, but the breasts and legs are bare. + +[Illustration: Fig. 24.--Reproduction of drawings from a rock shelter +near Lerida, in Catalonia, representing a group of women clothed in +jacket and skirt with "wasp-like" waists. The original figures are ten +inches high, and the drawing probably dates from the late Palæolithic +period.] + +[Illustration: Fig. 25.--A further portion of the same group as that +shown in Fig. 24. In front is a small deer-like animal.] + +Some three years ago Sir Arthur Evans discovered in the palace of the +ancient Kings of Crete coloured frescoes some 3,500 years old +representing in great detail elegant young women with greatly +compressed waists, strongly-pronounced bustles, and elaborately +ornamented skirts. These Cretan paintings of prehistoric young women, +both in costume and pose, are like nothing so much as the portraits of +distinguished ladies of the fashionable world of Paris exhibited by +the painter, Boldini, in the "Salon." It is remarkable that explorers +should have found contemporary paintings of young ladies who lived +nearly as long before Cleopatra as she lived before us. And it is +still more remarkable that those young ladies were "got up" in the +same style, and apparently aimed at much the same effects of line and +movement, as those which have become the latest fashion in Paris, and +may be described as sinuous and serpentine. Not only is that the case, +but it is evident that the painter of Knossos, the Minotaur city, and +M. Boldini have experienced the same artistic impression, and have +presented in their pictures the same significance of pose and the same +form, from the tip of the nose to the ends of the fingers and the +points of the toes--thus revealing a sympathy reaching across many +ages. It seems to me that the same artistic impression is to be +detected in the still earlier paintings of the wasp-waisted little +ladies of the Cogul rock-shelter in Catalonia. We find here the same +sinuous figure with exaggeratedly compressed waist, prominent bosom, +and emphasised haunches. But it is many, perhaps forty, thousands +years earlier! One is led to wonder whether this type of human +female--to-day expressed with such masterly skill by Boldini--may not +be at the back of the mind of a portion of the human race--that which +populated what are now the shores of the Mediterranean, and probably +came there travelling northwards from the centre of Africa. Possibly +they brought with them that tendency to, and admiration for, +megalopygy which is evidenced by the makers of the earliest known +palæolithic cave sculptures (the Aurignacians), and has persisted in +some degree ever since in Europe--a tendency and a taste which are on +the one hand totally absent in the East and Far East (Japan), and on +the other hand have a strong development in the modern Bushmen (and +the related Hottentots), an African race, and like the Spanish +cave-men, rock painters. + +[Illustration: Plate VIII.--Votary or priestess of the goddess to whom +snakes were sacred. The original is a statuette in faïence, ten inches +high, and was discovered by Sir Arthur Evans in the palace at Knossos +in Crete. It dates from 1600 B.C.] + +I am able to reproduce here (Plates VIII and IX), through the kindness +of Sir Arthur Evans and Dr. Hogarth, the keeper of the Ashmolean +Museum at Oxford, two very interesting drawings--showing certain +features in the dress of women in the prehistoric race which inhabited +the island of Crete for some three thousand years previous to the date +of these representations, which is about 1600 B.C. They are +interesting to compare both with the much more ancient figures from +the Spanish cave and with modern female costume. The first (Plate +VIII) is a figure in coloured pottery (faïence), representing either a +votary or priestess of a goddess to whom snakes were sacred. The +petticoat of this lady is very modern, being long, decorated with +flounces (a series of five) and bell-shaped. The dress is further +remarkable for a tight ring-like girdle which greatly compresses the +waist and emphasises the broad hips. The little statue is about ten +inches high, and was found by Sir Arthur Evans at Knossos, the ancient +buried city the capital of Crete, in the Later Palace. Its date is +that of the close of the Minoan period, namely 1600 B.C. The two +figures in Plate IX are copied from frescoes representing acrobatic +women from the bull-ring, also from the Later Palace at Knossos, and +are a couple of centuries later in date. Religious ceremonies in +connection with the worship of the bull (whence the fable of the +minotaur) were practised in Knossos, and possibly there was a kind of +baiting of bulls and jumping over and away from the infuriated animals +such as may be seen at this day in the South of France and in +Portugal. Possibly the employment of girls in this sport gave rise to +the story of the maiden tribute from Athens to be sacrificed to the +Cretan minotaur. The drawings are remarkable for the pose--that of the +left-hand resembling an attitude assumed in boxing, whilst the +dress--a kind of maillot or "tights"--is gripped round the waist by a +firm ring (like a table-napkin ring), the compression of which is no +doubt exaggerated. This fresco and many others of extraordinary +interest, as well as much beautiful pottery and the whole of the plan +of the city, its public buildings, granaries, library and sewers at +several successive ages (the remains lying in layers one over the +other), were discovered and described by Sir Arthur Evans, who is +still at work on the wonderful history and art of these prehistoric +Cretans, from whom the Mycenæans of the mainland of Greece were an +offshoot. + +The point to which I chiefly desire to call attention is that this +Cretan people practised compression of the waist, and so have a +certain point of agreement with the prehistoric race of Lerida +represented in Figs. 24 and 25 and with Boldini's modern ladies. We +know from carvings and pottery that the men as well as the women of +the Mycenæan people wore a tightly-compressing girdle. The form of +figure thus produced--viz. relatively small, flexible waist, and large +hips with protruding buttocks--seems to be a less pronounced variety +of that of the small ivory figures of Aurignacian age (late +Palæolithic) found in cave deposits of France and of that of the +Bushmen women. It seems as though the "ideal" female figure or that +admired and pictured by these races and by the modern Latin races is +the same in its main features, and differs altogether from that +admired in the Far East. Such deeply seated tastes may possibly +(indeed, not improbably) be due to a common origin of the +Mediterranean and African peoples distinct from that of the Mongoloid +Asiatic races. + +[Illustration: Plate IX.--Fresco drawing of two female acrobats from +the palace of Knossos, date about 1400 B.C. The originals were +discovered by Sir Arthur Evans.] + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 9: A brief account of the skulls and implements of primitive +man, with illustrations, is given in the first series of "Science from +an Easy Chair," published in 1910 by Methuen & Co.] + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +NEW YEAR'S DAY AND THE CALENDAR + + +I came across a discussion the other day as to whether it is right to +tell children and to let them believe that Santa Claus puts Christmas +presents in their stockings, and that Peter Pan really comes in at the +window and teaches nice little boys and girls to float through the +air. I was surprised that anyone should be so singularly ignorant of +child-nature as to hold that children really believe these things. +Children have a wonderful and special faculty of "make-believe," which +is not the same as "belief." All the time when a child is indulging in +"make-believe" (a sort of willing self-illusion or waking dream) its +real, though tender, reasoning-power is merely "suspended," and is not +offended or outraged. That power can on emergency be brought to the +front, and the little one will say, "Of course, they're not real," or +"I always knew he didn't really come down the chimney." So that I do +not think anyone need be anxious as to doing harm or laying the +foundations of future distrust by telling fairy-tales to the very +young. If told in the right form and spirit they are received by +six-year-old and older children readily and naturally as belonging to +that delicious world of "make-believe" which (as one of their own +orators, I believe, has said) "children of even the meanest +intelligence will not be guilty of confounding with that very inferior +every-day world of reality in which we find, much to our regret, that +it is necessary to spend so large a part of our time." The power of +make-believe is almost limitless, and makes its appearance even in the +speechless infant of less than two years old, who will gather fruit +from a coloured picture, generously offer you a bite, and pretend to +swallow the rest itself. Make-believe must have been a very big +factor in the life of the ape-like predecessors of prehistoric man. + +Deception in the world of reality is very different from make-believe, +and a terrible thing. To the child--deception in regard to real +things, whatever excuses adults may put forward in its defence, is +well-nigh unforgivable. To be one who never says "it is" when it is +not, nor "it will be" when it will not be--that is to be a friend on +whom a child rests in perfect trust and happiness. + +What have these thoughts to do with the New Year? Merely this, that it +is not only with and for children that we make-believe at this +season--we all of us, more or less, indulge in a make-believe about +the New Year. As the clock strikes its twelve notes at midnight on +December 31st, and all the bells of a great city are heard hovering in +the air, sending forth their sweet sounds from far and near into the +fateful night, there are few of us who have not a feeling that a great +event has occurred. A physical change has set in--the Old Year is dead +and gone, and the New Year, something tangible, which you can let in +at the door or the window--has just come into being, and is there +waiting for us. We are, of course, indulging in "make-believe," for +there is no New Year, with any natural, noteworthy thing to mark its +commencement, starting at midnight on December 31st. New Years begin +every day and hour, and it is by no means agreed upon by all nations +of the earth to pretend that the 1st of January is the critical day +which we must regard as that portentous epoch, the beginning of the +New Year. This choice of a day was made by the Romans, and that +wonderful man Julius Cæsar had a great deal to do with it; modern +Europe adopted his arrangement of the year or calendar. But the Jews +have their own calendar and their own New Year's Day, which varies +from year to year, from our September 5th to our October 7th. It is, +however, to them always the first day of the month Tishri, and the +first day of their new year. The Mahomedans took the date of the +flight of Mohammed from Mecca to Medina--the night of July 15th, 622 +A.D.--as the commencement of their "era," and its anniversary is the +first day of their month Muharram and the first day of their +year--their New Year's Day. As, although they reckon twelve months to +the year, their months are true lunar months, and are not corrected as +are those in use by us (as I will explain below); their year consists +of 354 days 8 hours, and so does not run parallel to our year at all. +Their New Year's day, which began by being our July 16th, was in the +next year coincident with our July 6th, then in three successive years +it occurred on different days of June, and so on through May, April, +and the preceding months, so that in thirty-two and a half of our +years their New Year's Day has run through all our months and comes +back again to July. + +So much for New Year's Days; they are arbitrary selections, and though +the Roman New Year's Day, or January 1st, has been precisely defined +and fixed by the determination by astronomers of the position of the +earth on that day in its revolution around the sun, yet the original +selection of January 1st for the beginning of the year seems to have +been merely the result of previous errors and negligence in attempting +to fix the winter solstice (which now comes out as December 22nd). +This is the day when the sun is lowest and the day shortest; after it +has passed the sun appears gradually to acquire a new power, and +increases the duration of his stay above the horizon until the longest +day is reached--the summer solstice (June 21st). Julius Cæsar took +January 1st for New Year's Day as being the first day of a month +nearest to the winter solstice. The ancient Greeks regarded the +beginning of September as "New Year." + +Were mankind content with the measure of time by the completion of a +cycle of revolution of the earth around the sun--that is the year--and +by the revolution of the earth on its own axis--that is the day or +day-night ([Greek: nychthêmeron]) of the Greeks--the notation of time +and of seasons would be comparatively simple. No one seems to know why +or when the day was first divided into twenty-four hours, nor why +sixty minutes were taken in the hour and sixty seconds in the minute. +The ancient astronomers of Egypt and China, and their beliefs in +mystical numbers, have to do with the first choosing of these +intervals in unrecorded ages of antiquity (as much as 2000 or 3000 +B.C.). The seven days of the week correspond to the five planets known +to the ancients, with the addition of the sun and the moon. But the +Greeks made three weeks of ten days each in a month. The true +year--the exact period of a complete revolution of the earth around +the sun--is 365 days 5 hours 18 minutes and 46 seconds. It was +measured with a fair amount of accuracy by very ancient races of men, +who fixed the position of the rising sun at the longest day by +erecting big stones, one close at hand and one at a distance, so as to +give a line pointing exactly to the rising spot of the sun on the +horizon, as at Stonehenge. They recorded the number of days which +elapsed before the longest day again appeared, and they marked also +the division of that period by the two events of equally long sunlight +and darkness--the spring and the autumn "equinox." It is obvious that +if they took 365 days roughly as the period of revolution they would +(owing to the odd hours and minutes left out) get about a day wrong in +four years, and it was the business of the priests--even in ancient +Rome the pontiffs were charged with this duty--to make the correction +add the missing day, and proclaim the chief days of the year--the +shortest day, the longest day, and the equinox-days of equal halves of +sunshine and darkness. In ancient China, if the State astronomer made +a wrong calculation in predicting an eclipse he was decapitated. + +It is easy to understand how it became desirable to recognise more +convenient divisions of the year than the four quarters marked by the +solstices and the equinoxes. Various astronomical events were studied, +and their regular recurrence ascertained, and they were used for this +purpose. But the most obvious natural timekeeper to make use of, +besides the sun, was the moon. The moon completes its cycle of change +on the average in 29-1/2 days. It was used by every man to mark the +passage of the year, and its periods from new moon to new moon were +called, as in our language, "months" or "moons," and divided into +quarters. It is, however, an awkward fact that twelve lunar months +give 354 days, so that there are eleven days left over when the solar +year is divided into lunar months. The attempt to invent and cause the +adoption of a system which shall regularly mark out the year into the +popular and universally recognised "moons," and yet shall not make the +year itself, so built up, of a length which does not agree with the +true year recorded by the return of the rising sun to exactly the same +spot on the horizon after 365 days and a few hours, has been +throughout all the history of civilised man, and even among +prehistoric peoples, a matter of difficulty. It has led to the most +varied and ingenious systems, entrusted to the most learned priests +and state officers, and mostly so complicated as to break down in the +working, until we come to the great clear-headed man Julius Cæsar. + +In the very earliest times of the city of Rome the solar year, or +complete cycle of the seasons, was divided into ten lunar months +covering 304 days, and it is not known how the remaining days +necessary to complete the solar revolution were dealt with, or +disposed of. The year was considered to commence with March, probably +with the intention of getting New Year's Day near to the spring +equinox. The Celtic people and the Druids, with their mistletoe rites, +kept New Year also at that time. The ten Roman months were named +Martius, Aprilus, Maius, Junius, Quintillis, Sextilis, September, +October, November, December. In the reign of the King Numa two months +were added to the year--namely, Januarius at the beginning and +Februarius at the end. In 452 B.C. February was removed from the end +and given second place. The Romans thus arranged twelve months into +the year, as the ancient Egyptians and the Greeks had long before +done. The months were made by law to consist alternately of +twenty-nine and of thirty days (thus keeping near to the average +length of a true lunar cycle), and an odd day was thrown in for luck, +making the year to consist of 355 days. This, of course, differs from +the solar year by ten days and a bit. To make the solar year and the +civil or calendar year coincide as nearly as might be, Numa ordered +that a special or "intercalary" month should be inserted every second +year between February 23rd and 24th. It was called "Mercedonius," and +consisted of twenty-two and of twenty-three days alternately, so that +four years contained 1465 days, giving a mean of 366-1/4 days to each +year. But this gave nearly a day too much in each year of the calendar +(as the legal or civil year is called) as compared with the true solar +year, agreement with which was the object in view. So another law was +made to reduce the excess of days in every twenty-four years. +Obviously the superintendence of these variations, and the public +declaration of the calendar for each year, was a very serious and +important task, affecting all kinds of legal contracts. The pontiffs +to whom the duty was assigned abused their power for political ends, +and so little care had they taken to regulate the civil year and keep +it in coincidence with the solar year that in the time of Julius Cæsar +the civil equinox differed from the astronomical by three months, the +real spring equinox occurring, not at the end of what was called March +by the calendar, but in June! + +Julius Cæsar took the matter in hand and put things into better order. +He abolished all attempt to record by the calendar a lunar year of +twelve lunar months; he fixed the length of the civil year to agree as +near as might be with that of the solar year, and arbitrarily altered +the months; in fact, abandoned the "lunar month" and instituted the +"calendar month." Thus he decreed that the ordinary year should be 365 +days, but that every fourth year (which, for some perverse reason, we +call "leap" year) should have an extra day. He ordered that the +alternate months, from January to November inclusive, should have +thirty-one days and the others thirty days, excepting February, which +was to have in common years twenty-nine, but in every fourth year (our +leap year) thirty. This perfectly reasonable, though arbitrary, +definition of the months was accompanied by the alteration of the name +of the month Quintilis to Julius, in honour of the great man. Later +Augustus had the name of the month Sextilis altered to Augustus for +his own glorification, and in order to gratify his vanity a law was +passed taking away a day from February and putting it on to August, so +that August might have thirty-one days as well as July, and not the +inferior total of thirty previously assigned to it! At the same time, +so that three months of thirty-one days might not come together, +September and November were reduced to thirty days, and thirty-one +given to October and December. In order to get everything into order +and start fair Julius Cæsar restored the spring equinox to March 25th +(Numa's date for it, but really four days late). For this purpose he +ordered two extraordinary months, as well as Numa's intercalary month +Mercedonius, to be inserted in the year 47 B.C., giving that year in +all 445 days. It was called "the last year of confusion." January 1st, +forty-six years before the birth of Christ and the 708th since the +foundation of the city, was the first day of "the first Julian year." + +Although Julius Cæsar's correction and his provisions for keeping the +"civil" year coincident with the astronomical year were admirable, yet +they were not perfect. His astronomer, by name Sosigenes, did his +best, but assumed the astronomical year to be 11 min. 14 sec. longer +than it really is. In 400 years this amounts to an error of three +days. The increasing disagreement of the "civil" and the "real" +equinox was noticed by learned men in successive centuries. At last, +in A.D. 1582, it was found that the real astronomical equinox, which +was supposed to occur on March 25th, when Julius Cæsar introduced his +calendar (not on March 21st, as was later discovered to be the fact), +had retrograded towards the beginning of the civil year, so that it +coincided with March 11th of the calendar. In order to restore the +equinox to its proper place (March 21st), Pope Gregory XIII directed +ten days to be suppressed in the calendar--of that year--and to +prevent things going wrong again it was enacted that leap-year day +shall not be reckoned in those centenary years which are not multiples +of 400. Thus Pope Gregory got rid of three days out of the Julian +calendar, or civil year, in every 400 years, since 1600 was retained +as a leap-year, but 1700, 1800 and 1900, though according to the +former law leap-years, were made common years, whilst 2000 will be a +leap-year. In order to correct a further minute error, namely, the +fact that the calendar year as now amended is 26 sec. longer than the +true solar year, it is proposed that the year 4000 and all its +multiples shall be common years, and not leap years. This is a matter +which, though practical, is of distinctly remote importance. Some +people like to look well ahead. + +The alteration in the calendar made by Pope Gregory was successfully +opposed for a long time in Great Britain by popular prejudice. It was +called "new style," and was at last accepted, as in other European +countries, but has never been adopted in Russia, which retains the +"old style." An Act of Parliament was passed in 1751 ordering that the +day following September 2nd, 1752, should be accounted the fourteenth +of that month. Many people thought that they had been cheated out of +eleven days of life, and there were serious riots! The change had been +already made in Scotland in the year 1600 without much outcry. The +Scotch were either too "canny" or too dull to "fash" themselves about +it. + +Let us now revert for a moment to the proceedings of Oriental +potentates in regard to astronomers, a class of scientific +functionaries whom they have from remote ages been in the habit of +employing. It appears that in China there is no attempt to make the +civil year or year of the calendar coincide with the astronomical +year. The astronomical year is reckoned as beginning when the sun +enters Capricorn, our winter solstice, and is thus more reasonably +defined than is the commencement of our New Year, which is nine days +late. Twelve months are recognised; the first is called Tzu, the +second Chou, and the third Yin, and the rest respectively Mao, Chen, +Su, Wu, Wei, Shen, Yu, Hsu, Hai. But the calendar year, on the other +hand, begins just when the Emperor chooses to say it shall. He is like +the captain of a ship, who says of the hour, "Make it so," and it is +so. With great ceremony he issues a calendar ten months in advance, +fixing as he pleases all the important festive and lucky days of the +year. Various emperors have made New Year's Day in the fourth, third, +second, first, or twelfth month. It has now been fixed for many +centuries in the second astronomical month. I have mentioned above +that the ancient Greeks reckoned the New Year as beginning about the +end of September. But the reckoning differed in the different States, +and so did the names of the months. Although the Greek astronomers +determined the real solar year with remarkable accuracy, and proposed +very clever modes of correcting the calendar so as to use the lunar +months in reckoning, there was no general system adopted, no agreement +among the "home-ruling" States. + +I have stated above that the official Chinese astronomers sometimes +get their heads cut off for not correctly foretelling an eclipse. +Illustrating this there is the following story of a visit paid about +forty years ago to the Observatory in Greenwich Park by the Shah of +Persia of that date. The Persians have many close links with the +Chinese, and share their view of astronomy as a sort of State +function, in which the Emperor has special authority. The Shah +accordingly made a great point of visiting the British State +observatory, in company with King Edward, who was then Prince of +Wales. Sir George Airy was the Astronomer Royal, and showed the party +over the building and gave them peeps through telescopes. "Now show me +an eclipse of the sun," said the Shah, speaking in French. Sir George +pretended not to hear, and led the way to another instrument. "Dog of +an astronomer," said the Shah, "produce me an eclipse!" Sir George +politely said he had not got one and could not oblige the King of +Kings. "Ho, ho!" said the Shah, turning in great indignation to the +Prince of Wales. "You hear! cut his head off!" Sir George's life was, +as a matter of fact, spared, but in the course of a year he retired, +and was succeeded by another Astronomer Royal. On his appointment that +gentleman was astonished at receiving a letter of congratulation from +the Shah of Persia. The Shah evidently thought that his bloodthirsty +request had been attended to, though with some delay. He proceeded to +tell the new Astronomer Royal that he had a few days before writing +witnessed a total eclipse of the sun in the observatory at Teheran. +This was perfectly correct. The suggestion was that the Teheran +astronomers knew their business, and had the good sense to arrange an +eclipse when a Royal Visitor wished for one, and so escape +decapitation--a course which the kindly Shah evidently wished to +indicate to the new and young Astronomer Royal as that which he should +pursue in order to avoid the fate of his unhappy and obstinate +predecessor. The attitude of the Shah towards science is one which is +not altogether unknown in this country. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +EASTERTIDE, SHAMROCKS AND SPERMACETI + + +Most people think of Easter as a Christian festival, but it is really +in name and origin a pagan one. The word "Easter" is the modern form +of "Eastra," the name of the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring (in +primitive Germanic, "Austro"). The Germans, like ourselves, keep its +true pagan name, "Ostern." The Latin nations use for Easter the word +Pascha (French, Pâque), the Greek form of the Jewish name for the +feast of the Passover, with which it is historically associated by the +Christian Church. Terrible quarrels have occurred in early ages over +fixing Easter Day and its exact relation to the Jewish calendar. This +is the explanation of its being "a movable feast" and of the +consequent inconvenience to Parliament, schoolboys, and +Bank-holiday-makers at the present day. It must be admitted that when +Easter comes as early as it sometimes does those who have but the +short spring holiday of the Easter week-end are hardly used. Instead +of enjoying the sunny spring weather of Austro, and the flowers and +the bursting buds which an Easter at the end of April often gives, +they have to put up with the dreary chill of arid March, and this, +absurdly enough, is all on account of a mistaken attempt at accuracy +made by the Church some sixteen hundred or more years ago in trying to +bring the Christian festival into line with the Jewish Passover. If it +were desired to celebrate the Feast of the Resurrection each year on +the day corresponding astronomically with that indicated in the +Gospels, the Astronomer Royal would have no difficulty in exactly +fixing the day, making due allowance for the changes of the calendar +and for the irregularities of the Jewish year. I do not know what day +in what month such a calculation would finally establish as that of +the ecclesiastical festival, but the Bank Holiday and the Anglo-Saxon +Easter might be dealt with separately, and assigned, once for all, to +the end of April, the real "opening," or spring month. + +The yellow "tansy cakes" which used to be, and the coloured eggs which +still are, given away at Easter throughout Europe, are not of +Christian origin, but belong to the Roman celebration (at the same +season, viz., April 12th to 15th) of the goddess of Plenty--Ceres. +Eggs are the symbols of fecundity and the renewal of life in the +spring. They were decorated and given in baskets by rich Romans to +their friends and dependents at this season. "Hot-cross buns" are +peculiar to England, and no doubt have a Christian significance. They +have not survived in Scotland, although Easter eggs are well known +there (sometimes they are called "pace-eggs"), nor on the Continent, +where "Pascal eggs" are an institution. "Buns" owe their name to the +old Norse word "bunga," a convexity or round lump, preserved also in +our words "bunion" and "bung." In Norman French it became "bonne," and +in the fourteenth century was applied to the round loaf of bread given +to a horse; the loaf was called Bayard's bonne (pronounced "bun"). In +some parts of England a "bunny" still means a swelling due to a blow. + +The April fish, the "poisson d'Avril," is the polite French term for +what we call an "April fool." But why a fish is introduced in this +connection I am unable to say. The custom of sending people on fool's +errands on the First of April is probably due to the change of the +calendar in France in 1564; but there is a Hindoo feast on March 31st, +when similar jokes are perpetrated. It is called "Huli," which, in +accordance with phonetic laws, readily becomes "Fooli." This is +probably only a coincidence. + +A curious Easter custom in country districts in England used to be +(perhaps still is) that called "lifting" or "heaving." On Easter +Monday two men will join hands so as to form a seat; their companions +then "by right of custom" compel the women they may meet to sit, one +after the other, on the improvised throne and be lifted or heaved as +high as may be. On Easter Tuesday the women perform the same rite upon +the men. Strangers thus assailed have been much disconcerted and have +recorded their astonishment in "notes of travel." The custom is said +to be a popular degeneration of the celebration of the Resurrection. + + * * * * * + +An early Easter falls little in advance of St. Patrick's Day, when +there is much "wearing of the green" and questioning as to what plant +is "the real shamrock." This matter has become so involved and +developed by wild enthusiasm, ignorance, and false sentiment that it +is difficult to deal with it. A distinguished Irishman once showed me +the "shamrock" he was wearing in his buttonhole as "the true" plant of +that name. He assured me that he had studied the subject from boyhood +and knew well the true and the false. "What is its flower like?" I +asked him. "It never has a flower at all," he said. Another injustice +to Ireland, one must suppose, or a miracle of St. Patrick's! His +"green" was a bit of the small variety of the common clover, +_Trifolium repens_, which, of course, produces the usual tuft of +florets or clover-head. It is true that this plant has now been +vulgarly substituted for St. Patrick's shamrock. The shamrock is not +really the common clover nor any variety of it. The common Dutch +clover and its varieties were introduced into Ireland two hundred +years ago from England and are not Irish at all! The true shamrock is +the delicate little wood-sorrel, _Oxalis acetosella_, which has a +beautifully formed three-split or trefoil leaf of the most vivid green +colour, and a white flower like that of a geranium. It is called +"fairy-bell" by the Welsh, and was believed to ring chimes for the +elfin folk. It was also greatly esteemed for its acid flavour and for +various reputed medicinal and magical properties by the Druids and +among the early inhabitants of Great Britain and Ireland. Pliny says +it never shelters a snake, and is an antidote to the poison of +serpents and scorpions--a good reason for its association with St. +Patrick! It had already a reputation and sanctity when, if tradition +be true, St. Patrick used its threefold leaf to symbolise the doctrine +of the Trinity. + +It is much rarer to find the wood-sorrel trefoil with a fourth leaflet +than it is to find the clover trefoil so provided. The two plants +belong to families widely separated from one another. The ancient +architectural decoration of trefoil carving, and also the heraldic +shamrock in the arms of the United Kingdom, represent the leaf of the +wood-sorrel, and not that of the clover. No doubt there has been some +sentimental intention in putting forward the humble, abundant, +down-trodden dwarf-clover, the very sod itself of Ireland (really +introduced from England) as "the shamrock!" But, as often happens in +such cases, truth and the ancient and honourable tradition of a +beautiful thing have been wantonly disregarded in order to do business +in cheap sentiment. Traders are always ready to take advantage of an +ignorant public. Common sprats are called "sardines," the name of +another and rarer fish, in order to conceal the fact that they are +sprats; clarified horse fat is called "fresh country butter," and +Irish regiments are made to decorate themselves with common clover +under the delusion that it is the shamrock. Other plants have been +from time to time utilised to usurp the title of "shamrock." Thus the +small Lucerne clover or medicago is often sold as "shamrock" to Irish +patriots, and the watercress has been solemnly pat forward as the true +shamrock simply because old writers tell us, as evidence of the +barbarous state of the Irish, that they fed upon shamrocks and +watercress. The true shamrock (the wood-sorrel) was formerly greatly +valued all over Europe as a salad and a flavouring herb on account of +its leaves containing oxalic acid. It was used for the manufacture of +oxalic acid, which was sold as "salts of lemons" for removing +iron-mould. It was the basis of the soup and of the green sauce for +fish, in which the dock-sorrel (Rumex) has now taken its place. The +name "shamrock" is an old Irish word, written "seamragg," and means a +little "trefoil." Curiously enough there appears to be an Oriental +word, "shamrakh," which I am told is of Arabic origin, and also means +a trefoil. In English writers from the seventeenth century onwards the +Irish shamrock is variously written of as "shamroots," "shamerags" +(this and the next following with hostile intent), "shame-rogues," +"sham-brogues," and "sham-rug." + +I am sorry to say that Shakespeare does not mention the shamrock at +all. No Irishman who knows the little oxalis or wood-sorrel could wish +for a more beautiful floral emblem of the Emerald Isle, or dream of +letting the vulgar Saxon intruder--the dwarf clover--take its place. +Perhaps it is the Ulstermen who have set up the foreign "Dutch" clover +to replace the true shamrock, the wood-sorrel. These changes are +easily made. For instance, "green" is not the original colour of +Ireland, but light blue--Cambridge blue! + + * * * * * + +This chapter is one of varied material, and I now pass abruptly from +fresh emerald leaflets to the waxy crystals stewed out of the fat of a +monster's head. There has seldom been a controversy so entertaining as +that between Dr. Bode (the talented director of the Art Gallery of +Berlin) and his opponents, in regard to the age of the wax-bust which +he purchased not long ago for £8,000 in Bond Street in the belief that +it was the work of Leonardo da Vinci. Science has had its share in the +examination of the bust. The last scientific contribution to the +matter was the discovery by an analytical chemist, Dr. Pinkus, that +the waxy mixture of which the bust is composed consists in definite +proportion of spermaceti. Now since spermaceti was not used before the +year 1700, the bust cannot (say Dr. Bode's opponents) have been made +by Leonardo da Vinci, who died in the early part of the sixteenth +century. "Nonsense!" reply Dr. Bode's supporters, "Shakespeare makes +Hotspur speak of 'parmaceti,' and it was well known to the doctors of +Salerno in 1100 A.D., and probably used by the ancients." + +Nevertheless, the opponents of Dr. Bode are right. I am sorry, because +Dr. Bode is, in regard to "works of art," a most able expert, and I +think it is better that experts should always be right. Spermaceti was +known, probably from classical times onwards, as a rare and precious +unguent, "resolutive and mollifying," as M. Pomel, "chief druggist to +the late French King Louis XIV," says in his treatise on drugs, +translated into English in 1737. It was applied as a liniment for +hardness of the skin and breasts, and was also taken internally. +Shakespeare's reference to it is "parmaceti for an inward bruise." The +fact is it was known and used in small quantity before 1700 A.D. in +connection with medicine and the toilet, but was not consumed by the +thousand tons a year, as it was after the hunting of the sperm whale +or cachalot (_Physeter mecrocephalus_) had been set a-going by the +brave fishermen of Nantucket and the Northern Atlantic coast of +America in 1690. In 1730 or thereabouts the English and the Dutch also +sent out ships to take part in this perilous industry, which is now +again, in its dwindled condition, exclusively American. It is the +pursuit of by far the biggest and fiercest animal which man has doomed +to extinction. Those who enjoy such stories of adventure should read +Mr. Bullen's personal narrative, "The Cruise of the Cachalot." It was +at the end of the eighteenth century that spermaceti became so +abundant in the market that candles of it were manufactured and sold +cheaper than those of wax. From about 1860 it was superseded by +paraffin and other wax-like products: and it was at its cheapest +period, and when it was most widely in use, that Lucas, the English +artist, who made many wax busts and statuettes, is known to have mixed +it, in the form of "old candles," with beeswax, in order to form the +composition which he used in his works. The evidence given by the +chemist, Dr. Pinkus, appears to me to be conclusive (even without the +evidence of the old clothes stuffed into the hollow of the bust) +against the theory that the Bode wax-bust of Flora is more ancient +than the nineteenth century, and much in favour of its being the work +of Lucas, who is exceptionally known as a wax-modeller of repute sixty +years ago, who did use spermaceti. + +Spermaceti is a perfectly definite chemical body, which can be +recognised without chance of error. It is a combination of palmitic +acid and a peculiar hydrocarbon, called (after the whale) "cetyl," and +easily forms pure crystals. Before sperm whales were hunted it was +obtained in relatively small quantity from individual sperm whales, +which by misadventure landed themselves on the coast of France, Spain, +or Great Britain, and was eagerly purchased by the apothecaries and +perfumers of the great cities of Europe. There are several records of +such strange mistakes on the part of the great sperm whale. Only ten +or fifteen years ago one was stranded on the Lincolnshire coast, +whilst the specimen exhibited in the Natural History Museum was washed +ashore at Thurso in Caithness. The spermaceti is found dissolved in +the more ordinary oil (or fat), which occupies a huge region above the +bones of the upper jaw and gives the sperm whale its barrel-shaped +head. It separates on cooling, from the liquid oil, in crystalline +flakes, forming great masses, which are purified by re-melting and +cooling. In early times the fine waxy, flaky material thus obtained +was known in samples of a few ounces, and sold by apothecaries. It was +known that it came from a whale, and was believed to be the seed or +sperm of that animal, hence its name "spermaceti." M. Pomel, whom I +cited above, believed it to come from the brain of the whale called +"cachalot." No one would have dreamt in the sixteenth century of +mixing this precious stuff with beeswax for modelling purposes. At +that date one would as soon have mixed amber with pitch. That reminds +me that "grey amber" or "ambergris" is also a product of the sperm +whale not to be confounded with spermaceti. It is an unhealthy +intestinal concretion like bezoar-stone (see p. 64), only +exceptionally produced. It is found floating in the ocean, and is +recognised as coming from the cachalot owing to its being largely made +up of the horny beaks of cuttle-fish, upon which the cachalot feeds. +It is still used in perfumery, and fetches the extraordinary price of +four guineas the ounce. A piece weighing 4-1/2 oz. may be seen in +Cromwell Road. + +Though the oils (or fats) of plants and animals are very similar to +one another in appearance, there are a very large number of them +differing chemically from one another. Thus the fat or oil of dozens +of different nuts and plant-products and of lower animals and fishes, +and of sheep, oxen, pigs, dogs, elephants, and men contain different +and special chemical substances, corresponding to the "cetyl" which is +present in the fat of the sperm whale's head. Many of them have +acquired as a result of experience and tradition special value for +some special purpose. Several oils have peculiar fitness and great +value for oiling delicate machinery; others are used in curing +leather, for burning, and for medicinal ointments, whilst a large +variety is used as human food. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +MUSEUMS + + +The word "museum" is not one of those which explain themselves and +give an indication of what the thing to which they are applied should +be, when it has ceased to be what it was intended to be. In ancient +Greece the word "mouseion" meant "the place of the Muses"--a grove or +a temple--and there was such a place on a part of the Acropolis of +Athens, the rocky temple-crowned hill around which the city was built. +There were other "museums," or seats of the Muses, in ancient Greece; +those on the slopes of Mount Helicon and of Mount Olympus were the +most famous. In modern times a picture gallery and art collection, +that of the Louvre, in Paris, is called "the Musée," whilst "the +Muséum" (the Latin form of the same word) is the name distinctively +applied in Paris to the collections of natural history and the +laboratories connected with them in the Jardin des Plantes. In London +"the British Museum," founded in 1753, originally comprised the +national library as well as collections of antiquities and of natural +history. In Heidelberg "the Museum" was the name, when I was there, +for a delightful club, with a garden. It belonged to the professors, +their families, and their friends in the town, and concerts and dances +were given in it. It seems that the Heidelberg "Museum" comes nearest +to the original meaning of the word as "a seat of Muses," for nearly +all those mythical ladies were remarkable for their special patronage +of music, dancing, and song. + +Who were these goddesses, the Muses, and what were their names? What +was the speciality of each, and how do they come to have to do with +collections of works of art and specimens of natural history? Two +learned "classical" friends whom I lately met in Paris could not help +me further than by giving me the names of the first three. I was a +little shocked, but the next evening discovered that these goddesses +are, in modern times, very generally neglected and ignored. In an +extremely amusing play, called "Le Bois Sacré"--the Sacred Grove (of +the Muses)--a name applied jocosely to the Ministry of Fine Arts--I +found that the minister of that department was represented as a +pompous and fatuous person who completely fails to call to mind, in +the course of an eloquent speech, the name of more than one. On +ringing for his secretaries and airily asking them to refresh his +memory, he did not succeed in extracting from them more than two +doubtful additions to his list! + +I am able, nevertheless (after due investigation), to put my reader in +possession of the facts so unfamiliar to the modern oracles of +classical mythology! Briefly, it appears that in the best period of +ancient Greece nine Muses were recognised, namely, Calliope, the Muse +of epic poetry; Euterpé, of lyric poetry; Erato, of erotic poetry; +Melpomené, of tragedy; Thalia, of comedy; Polyhymnia, of sacred hymns; +Terpsichoré, of choral song and dance; Clio, of history; and Urania, +of astronomy. The last two seem to have very little in common with the +addiction to singing and dancing characteristic of the rest, and are +the only ones who can be imagined as feeling themselves at home in a +modern museum, excepting on those evenings when the authorities use +the museum (as is the custom in London) for a "conversazione," +enlivened by brass bands and songs. + +Apollo was said to be the leader and master of the Muses, but was not +related to them. They were in origin the "nymphs" or "genii" of +mountain streams worshipped by an ancient bardic race (resembling our +own sweet-singing Welsh folk), the Thracians. At first the number of +the Muses was indefinite, and they had no names. Then three were +named--one of Meditation (Meleté), one of Memory (Mnemé), and one of +Song (Aöidé)--a much prettier embodiment of the impression made on a +poetical mind by rock-pools and cascades and leafy gorges than the +formal and redundant nine of later times. One can associate the +primitive three with a museum of natural history; but the later +official goddesses, each insisting on her own department of poetry, +are too clearly representative of the all-appropriating pretensions of +literature in modern seats of learning. They remind me of the +enumeration of studies which a dear old head of an Oxford college +innocently regarded as complete and reasonable when he assured me that +all branches of knowledge were fairly and equally represented on the +college staff. "We have," he said, "a lecturer on Greek literature, +one on Latin literature, one on Greek history, one on Roman history, +one on classical philology, one on modern history, one on mathematics +and one on the natural sciences." What more, he asked, could you wish +for? + +It appears that, without any special reference to the attributes of +the Muses, the word "museum" has been adopted in recent times for a +building in which collections of works of art and specimens of natural +history are housed, and even for the collections themselves--in +consequence of the foundation by the Ptolemaic Kings of Egypt of a +splendid institution at Alexandria to which the name museum (mouseion) +was given. It included the great library, apparatus for the study of +astronomy, anatomy, and other sciences, and collections of all kinds. +The most learned men were employed in its management and were lodged +there and provided with the means of study and teaching. It was a +combination of university, learned academy, and temple, and was the +pride of the ancient world. It survived many changes of lordship, but +at last the library and collections were deliberately destroyed by +Moslem invaders in 640 A.D. The precious manuscripts were served out +as fuel for the public baths, and were so numerous that it took some +months to consume them! The destruction of the museum of Alexandria +marks the commencement of the "Dark Ages"; the ancient culture was +dead. Eight centuries of submergence with strange mysterious +upfloatings were its fate until the Renascence, when its fragments +were recovered, and soon did more harm than good to the +fetish-worshipping peoples of Europe. + + * * * * * + +The first use of the word "museum" in this country for a place in +which collections of ancient works of art and specimens of natural +history were stored and arranged for exhibition was in the early +eighteenth century, when it was applied to the building at Oxford, +erected for Mr. Ashmole's collections, presented to the University. +This was called "Ashmole's Museum," or the Ashmolean Museum. +Previously such a collection and its location were spoken of as "a +cabinet of rare and curious objects." "Museum" was occasionally used +for what we now call a "study," and even to describe lecture-rooms and +library. I have not been able to discover that the word was used in +its modern sense at an earlier date on the Continent than in England. +The first great typical example of a "museum" was the British Museum, +founded in 1753. Montagu House, in Bloomsbury, was purchased by the +State to serve as a "repository" (the word used in the Act of +Parliament of that date) for the vast collections of natural history +made by Sir Hans Sloane, with which were associated certain valuable +libraries and collections of manuscripts, of coins, and antique +marbles. A large part of the money required for the undertaking was +raised by a public lottery, over which the Archbishop of Canterbury, +the Lord Chancellor, and the Speaker presided (according to the custom +of those days in regard to State lotteries), and it is thus that this +remarkable group of great officials became, and have remained ever +since, "the Three Principal Trustees of the British Museum." +Additional trustees were named (since increased to a total of nearly +fifty), and provision was made for the appointment of a principal +librarian and other curators of the collections. The Act declared that +the collections placed in the "repository" (Montagu House) were to +remain there for the benefit and enjoyment of posterity for ever--a +provision which until seven years ago was misinterpreted, so as to +prevent the sending out of unnamed and unstudied collections of small +portable objects like insects, dried plants, and shells, to be named +and compared with other specimens, by foreign naturalists. +Consequently, there was a great accumulation of specimens unstudied +and useless, and a great loss to knowledge. But the late Lord +Chancellor (Halsbury) decided that it was not only legally within the +power of the trustees temporarily to remove specimens from "the +repository" for the purpose of having them named and studied, but +actually their duty to do so. + +We now very generally recognise in Great Britain, as in other parts of +the civilised world, the value and importance of public "museums" in +the sense of "repositories of collections of objects of ancient and +modern art and of natural history." Museums, as at present existing, +may be divided into four kinds, according to the nature of the public +or private bodies by which they have been set up and carried on. There +are, first of all, national museums maintained and continually +increased by the expenditure of a great State, and placed in the +capital city; secondly, provincial or local museums, supported by a +municipality or by local munificence; thirdly, academic museums, which +are those related to the instruction and investigations carried on in +a university or a school, and forming part of its regular provision +for study; and, fourthly, the museums of private individuals (which as +a rule, become eventually transferred by gift or purchase to some +existing public museum). + +The word "museum" would, and often does, fitly include picture +galleries, but very usually in Great Britain a museum is not +considered as comprising a picture gallery, and a picture gallery is +treated and managed as something distinct from "a museum." The +distinction is recognised in London, where we have as separate +institutions the British Museum and the National Gallery. Probably the +distinct method of exhibiting and caring for pictures, and the very +large amount of special knowledge connected with the reasonable +employment of public funds in the purchase of these very high-priced +objects, as well as the example of private collectors of pictures, are +the causes which have led in the past to the complete separation of +"picture galleries" from "museums." It is, however, a curious fact +that the British Museum (which once possessed some oil paintings, now +removed to other public galleries) retains and expends money on its +splendid collections of water-colour pictures, drawings, and +engravings, whilst in the latter half of the last century (in +opposition to the custom of separating pictures from other museum +objects) there grew up in London, under the State Department of +Education, a vast collection of all kinds of works of art (pottery, +furniture, lace, metal-work, etc.) of all countries and ages, +including pictures, which is now sumptuously housed in the Victoria +and Albert Museum. + +Though I propose to write here with special reference to "museums," in +the more limited sense as repositories of objects which are the bases +of our knowledge of the history of man and his arts, and as the +storehouses of specimens which in the same way are the material by the +study of which we arrive at a knowledge of the history of the earth, +and of the living things which have existed, and of others which still +exist on its surface--yet it is obvious that the general purposes of +all collections of interesting objects (including even pictures) and +their arrangement for public use and benefit must be the same, +although there are special purposes in view in regard to some +collections which do not exist in regard to others. Not long since Mr. +Claude Phillips ably set forth some of the principles which should +guide the arrangement and exhibition of objects in an art museum, and +criticised the plan at present adopted in the Victoria and Albert +Museum. As I hold views in regard to the arrangement of natural +history museums which are very similar to his, I think it may be +useful to explain here what they are. + +I may point out that nearly every branch of knowledge should have--in +a civilised well-provided community--its collection of material +objects, either specimens, models, or ancient examples and remains, +which should be "records" to be religiously preserved for future +reference and comparison by expert students, whilst others should be +there to serve as demonstrations of "great" facts of nature or of +human art--direct and straightforward appeals--to the ordinary +intelligent (but not specially learned) man. You might well have (what +does not at present exist!) a museum (in the modern sense) of +astronomy, containing models of the solar system showing the relative +distances and sizes of the heavenly bodies--as well as modern and +ancient astronomical instruments, and the records obtained by their +use. Again, you might have (and to some extent such museums exist), at +the other end of the scale in dignity and age, a museum illustrating +the history and present developments of the smelting of iron and other +metals, their purification, their alloying, and properties--as also a +museum of paper-making and one of the steam engine and its modern +rivals. In such cases the purpose of the museum would be plain enough +and comparatively easy to carry out. + +Most museums which have come into existence within the last 200 years +suffer from the fact that they are mere enlargements of the ancient +collector's "cabinet of rare and curious things," brought together and +arranged without rhyme or reason. No one has ever attempted to say +what is precisely the aim and intention as a public enterprise of any +of our great museums, and accordingly there has been no consideration, +discussion, or agreement as to the methods of collection, selection, +arrangement, exhibition, and storage of the objects assembled within +their walls. Thousands, even millions of pounds, have been expended on +the building of museums, on the purchase of specimens, on cases and +cataloguing, and on the salaries of directors, and keepers, and +assistants, yet the museums remain, so far as any declaration of +purpose and principle is concerned, mere "repositories," as in the +words of the old Act of Parliament constituting the British +Museum--for the use and enjoyment of the public, it is true, but +without any expression of a conception of how that use and enjoyment +is to be limited so as to make them something better than a dime-show, +or how any serious purpose is to be achieved by their costly housing +and up-keep. No doubt various directors and keepers have from time to +time shown intelligence and laboured to make museums not only places +of enjoyment and "edification," but also the means of increasing +knowledge and rendering service to the State. But the scope of our +public museums, and the principles and methods by which it may be +realised, have never been agreed upon, and consequently are not +definitely recognised by the State nor by the curiously ill-chosen +committees of managers, or trustees, to whose tender mercies the +ultimate control of these institutions is confided--apparently by +haphazard or misapprehension. + +The notion of a town corporation, or of the central government at this +or that date, has been that museums are best controlled and public +money expended in connection with them by persons who know nothing +about the real importance of the collections, and receive no guidance +from any scheme or statutable declaration of specific purpose drawn up +by a competent authority. I will endeavour to state what those +purposes should be. + +When one tries to estimate what is really the value to the community +of public "museums," one is led inevitably to the conclusion that +their most important purpose--whether they are museums of natural +history, of antiquities, or of art--is to serve as safe and permanent +"repositories" (the old word used in the British Museum Act of 1753) +for specimens which are costly and difficult to obtain--not to be +either "picked up" or readily "housed" by everybody, and at the same +time of real importance as "records." The first and most commanding +duty of those who set up and maintain a public museum is to preserve +actual things as records--records of the existence in this or that +locality of each kind of plant and animal, records of the former +existence of extinct plants and animals, with irrefragable certainty +as to the locality and the exact strata in which they were +found--records of prehistoric man, his weapons and art, and of the +animals found with them, records of modern times. Everyone is familiar +with this duty of the State and of local public bodies, when it is a +matter of preserving written and printed records. They are preserved +in various public offices and libraries, and are continually being +studied by experts (volunteers or official) and copied in print, so as +to furnish us with accurate knowledge of the past. + +It is the first and leading business of museums to collect and +preserve, with great accuracy as to the locality and circumstances in +which each was found, the actual concrete things which are the records +of nature, and of the various stages of man's art and industries in +every region of the world, just as a library or the Record Office +preserves manuscripts and printed documents and books. Collections of +such specimens are often made by private individuals, and become too +cumbersome for him or his heirs to keep in order. They are then +frequently given to a public museum, and I regret to say in many +provincial museums are neglected and become mere rubbish, even if they +were not so when first given. Often such gifts are rubbish before they +are received, and should never have been accepted. But in a great many +instances the local museum of a country town is nothing but a +rubbish-heap, because the townspeople will not spend the money +necessary to obtain the services of a capable curator and to provide +cases, labels, catalogues, and attendance. The town councillors +usually know nothing about the museum or the value of the objects +gathered there, and do not recognise the duty of making it an orderly +and carefully tended storehouse of the records of Nature and antiquity +of the neighbourhood. Too frequently the town museum is made the means +of gratifying the vanity of some local collector, who hands over all +sorts of ill-chosen, badly preserved specimens to its ignorant +guardians, and is advertised by labels on the cases and by votes of +thanks, whilst valuable records placed there in a previous generation +are swept into a corner or broken and cast into the cellar in order to +make space for the new rubbish! + +Unless funds are found to place a specially educated man at the head +of a local museum, the museum had better be shut, and such of its +contents, as may be desired, offered to one of the big city museums or +to the National Museum in London. It is no child's play, maintaining +and guarding efficiently a museum which contains "records." It would +be a good thing were a committee of naturalists and antiquaries to +visit the local museums of the United Kingdom and report on the +efficiency of their guardianship and the state of the treasures which +they contain. I know two provincial museums very well in which +extremely valuable records of prehistoric man and of wonderful extinct +animals--found in the neighbourhood and preserved by those who +established the museums fifty years ago--are utterly neglected and +destroyed by loss of the labels and mixing up of the specimens, in +consequence of the death of the persons originally interested in the +museum and of the refusal of the town councils to find money to pay +for the care of the collections. There can be little doubt that in the +present state of local interest in such matters all really important +record specimens should find their way to the British Museum in +London, where, if accepted, their preservation, so far as it is +humanly possible, is assured. That is the distinctive and most +creditable feature of our great State-supported museum. At the same +time it seems obvious that the records of a provincial area can be, +and should be, kept in the county town museum, with a detail and +completeness impossible elsewhere, and that it should be the pride of +the county to be able to show to a stranger full records of the +distinctive features of its natural history and antiquities. + +It is clear that whatever failures in this respect may be inevitable +in those hopelessly starved and mismanaged "museums" at present +surviving to bear witness to the decay of public spirit and +intelligent culture in our country towns, the prime duty of the great +London museum is to preserve "records" with the greatest nicety and +readiness for reference, whilst the duty of actively adding to these +records from all parts of the Empire, and, therefore, of the world, +and that of minutely studying and reporting upon the collections so +obtained and guarded, follow as a matter of course. These collections +are the absolutely necessary foundation for the building-up of our +knowledge of Nature and of man. We can never say that this branch of +scientific knowledge is valuable and that another is a mere fanciful +pursuit. Every year it becomes more and more clear that unexpectedly +some apparently insignificant piece of detailed scientific knowledge +may become of value to the State and to humanity at large. Everyone +knows that geology has a great practical value in mining, water +supply, and various kinds of engineering, also that botany, as +represented by the great State institution at Kew, is of immense +value to those who introduce useful plants from one part of the +world for cultivation in another. But of late we have seen that +entomology--"bug-hunting" as it is scornfully termed--is a science +upon which hang not only the revenue of an Empire, but also the lives +of millions of men. Destructive insects must be known with the utmost +accuracy in order to stop their injury to crops in the distant lands +which they inhabit, and also in order to check the diseases carried by +them which sweep off vast herds of costly cattle. The mosquitoes and +the tsetze flies have been, only recently, proved to be the causes, +the carriers, of diseases--malaria, yellow fever, and sleeping +sickness--which annually have killed hundreds of thousands of men, +colonists as well as natives. I was able to bring together at the +Natural History Museum collections of mosquitoes from every part of +the world, amounting to thousands of specimens and to some hundreds of +kinds. The study of these and of the tsetze flies by skilled +entomologists employed in the museum has been a necessary part of the +steps now being taken everywhere to preserve human population from +the attacks of certain deadly kinds among them, distinguished from +the others which are harmless. + +Thus, then, it seems that the first and most important purpose for +which great "museums" exist is that of "the making of new +knowledge"--the increase of science--by furnishing carefully gathered +and preserved "specimens" of all kinds, and by working out the history +and significance of those collections. But there is a second and +distinct purpose which is often ignorantly put in the first place. It +is of less importance and quite unlike the first in the methods +necessary for its attainment, and yet is conveniently and +satisfactorily carried out in conjunction with the first. This second +and distinct purpose is the exhibition of such portions of the +collections in a museum as are suitable for exhibition (only a smaller +portion are so) in public galleries, so chosen, arranged, lighted and +labelled as to afford to the public at large the maximum of enjoyment +and edification. This is, as it were, a readily accessible enjoyment +given to the public in recognition of the large sums of public money +expended on the severer and less easily appreciated enterprise of the +museum. The public galleries of a museum, whether of natural history, +antiquities or art, should not contain the bulk of the collection, but +only special things, carefully selected, and equally carefully placed +in case or on wall, with artistic judgment as to space-bordering and +colour of background, and with scientific perfection of illumination, +so as to produce the "just" impression on the leisurely visitor. The +public "exhibit" should be arranged so as to draw attention to a +series of important facts of structure or quality clearly shown by the +specimens, whether they are natural products or works of art, and +these facts should be described in printed labels fully, and the +reason for attaching importance to them explained at sufficient +length. The man who arranges the public galleries (as distinct from +the closed study-rooms) of a public museum, should have a special gift +of exposition in plain language, and be able to separate (both in +regard to his words and to the specimens he selects) the essential +from the non-essential, the significant from the redundant. + +It is important to make a complete distinction between an exhibition +intended for the general public and that intended for advanced +students in schools, colleges and universities. The confusion of these +two kinds of exhibition is the cause of the failure of many museums +and of the dislike with which most people regard a visit to them. The +public museum--metropolitan or local--should not include in its +purpose the "academic" instruction of schoolboys and university +students. That requires a different kind of museum, which is (or +should be) provided by the school or university, though, of course, +the students should also visit the more popular museums. The funds and +staff and space required for the one are not sufficient for both. If +both are attempted, the unpopular academic, or scholars', exhibition +will get the upper hand and suppress the other, since it is a far +easier thing to carry out successfully (for the class aimed at) than +is the carefully planned exhibition intended for the "edification" of +the greater public. The university museum aims at imparting a much +greater amount of detailed and elaborate information than does the +great public museum, and requires from the student who uses it a +special previous study of the subject, and an exceptional amount of +attention and pains in examining the objects exhibited. + +Too many of the public museums of Europe aim at the "instruction" of +the special student rather than at the "edification" of the general +public, whilst most aim at nothing at all except showing, without +explanation or comment, a vast mass of specimens or pictures, at the +sight of which the patient but bored public gapes with wonder. The +public galleries of the Natural History Museum in London have been +arranged more distinctly with a view to the edification of the public +than those of any other museum which I know. But they still contain +too large a number of specimens, and still require an immense amount +of work in weeding, selection and labelling, and in deliberately +making the specimens exhibited tell a tale which is worth remembering, +and can be remembered. Except in the case of the larger specimens, and +especially those of fossilized skeletons and shells of extinct +animals, it must be remembered that the bulk of the specimens (and, +indeed, all the valuable skins of animals and birds, and the vast +series of insects and such small things) in that, as in every other +large museum, are contained in cabinets protected from the destructive +action of light, and arranged for the most part in rooms to which +access is obtained only by serious workers after special application. +The fishes and other animals preserved in alcohol are kept in a +special fire-proof "spirit-building." + +A provincial public museum, even if it does not aim at the +guardianship of important local "records" of natural history and +antiquity, should aim at the edification of the public--the grown-up +public--and not at the instruction of school children. The notion that +museums are meant for children, which exists, I am sorry to say, even +in regard to so splendid and expensive a display of wonderful things +as that to be seen at the Natural History Museum, is due to the bad +tradition justified by the condition of other museums, where a child +may enjoy being astonished, but a grown-up person can take in nothing +which appeals to the intelligence. A new city museum is, it is +reported, to be established at Birmingham. We may hope that it will +not contain the usual unsatisfactory series of badly stuffed exotic +animals, birds, and reptiles, and trophies of South Sea islanders' +clubs and spears. It should contain first-rate specimens of the living +and extinct fauna of Warwickshire, and specimens of foreign animals +carefully selected to compare with them and throw light on them; also +local prehistoric and antiquarian specimens, illustrated by comparison +with the work of savage and remote races. The excellent suggestion has +been made that it should contain specimens of the insect-pests of +Warwickshire crops. It should also exhibit the minerals from which +manufactories of Birmingham draw their metals, and should show the +stages of their preparation. It should appeal, not to the boys and +girls of Birmingham in the first place, but to the adults, and to do +this it should be placed under the care of a really first-rate and +ingenious man, who might possibly do for the Birmingham Museum what +skilful arrangement and sound knowledge have done for its Art +Gallery--an institution intended to appeal not to school children, but +to the reasonable adult population of the city. + +The principle of exhibiting permanently in public galleries a portion +of our great national collections and of preserving another and larger +portion in smaller rooms, where they can be more closely but not less +carefully disposed and brought out into perfect light and position +when required, should be applied to collections of pottery, +metal-work, carving, embroidery and such objects, and also to pictures +as well as to collections relating to natural history. The chief +reason for this is the enormous space required in order to place +permanently "on exhibition" all the objects contained in our national +art collections, which are continually growing. The vast size of the +galleries required, if the entire collections are to be exhibited so +that the public may walk in and see anything and everything in it, +permanently displayed on walls or in cases--entails gigantic and +ever-increasing expenditure of public funds. + +But this is not the only objection to these great galleries. The +multitude of objects--it may be of pictures--exhibited creates a state +of mind in the visitor which prevents his enjoyment of the works of +art so exhibited. He is overwhelmed by the vastness of the series +offered for his examination and confused and distressed by the close +setting of things which require isolation and appropriate surroundings +each in its own special way, if they are to be duly appreciated. Not +only this, but pictures, as well as other works of art, are, in +consequence of the necessity of placing them all in the great public +galleries used for the purpose, rarely placed in the most favourable +conditions of lighting, and are very often so ill-lighted as to lose +all their beauty even if they are not nearly invisible. More public +money would be available for the proper care and study of works of art +were less spent on the land, building and up-keep necessary for huge +galleries. + +The desirability of separating a large unexhibited portion from the +well-chosen and well-shown exhibited portion of works of art, +exclusive of pictures, is, I believe, generally admitted. In the case +of pictures the opinion has been expressed that there would be great +difficulty in managing a reserved unexhibited portion of our national +collections so that the pictures could be properly cared for and yet +readily brought into view when required. One can well believe that a +similar difficulty was anticipated when it was first proposed to keep +books on shelves instead of on tables. Those who take this objection +have overlooked the resources of modern engineering. Reserved pictures +could be affixed in perfect security in appropriate groups on large +screens, and these disposed, like the scenery above a stage, upright +and in series, each screen 4 ft. distant from its neighbours. There +could be three or four floors of such closely packed screens arranged +in two rows, twenty in a row. On a lower floor there would be provided +a room with the most perfect light possible for seeing, enjoying and +studying a single one of these screens. They would all be numbered and +the pictures on each catalogued. A person duly authorised and approved +desires to see such and such a picture. He is given a seat in the +special exhibition room. The attendant or assistant in charge touches +the appropriate button, and by simple electric-lift machinery the +screen upstairs carrying the desired picture travels automatically +into position and then gently descends into the special exhibition +room. There the other pictures on the screen may be, if it be so +desired, covered by drapery, the light may be varied in intensity or +direction, and, in fact, the most perfect examination of the picture +in question may be made. When another button is touched, the +picture-screen returns automatically to its place upstairs. + +It seems to me that in the case of the growing collection of pictures +known as "The National Portrait Gallery," this treatment would not +only avoid the necessity of constantly providing new galleries for new +acquisitions--but would enable the Trustees to separate those +portraits, which are of more general interest and suitable for +permanent exhibition in a good position, from less important +portraits, which nevertheless must be acquired and preserved as public +records. From time to time special groups of the reserved or +unexhibited portraits might be put for six months in one of the public +rooms--thus providing a change and variety of interest for the general +public. + +The same plan might be adopted with regard to the pictures in the +National Gallery--though no doubt a large number of splendid pictures +would be permanently placed in the exhibition rooms. Three things +should be remembered in regard to the disposal of these pictures: +Firstly, that not one in a hundred among them was intended by the +painter to be hung in a gallery closely side by side with other +pictures; secondly, that no picture should be exhibited in a public +gallery unless it is worthy of the best lighting and surroundings; +thirdly, that it is reasonable that the expert and the student should +be asked to take some special trouble in order to see special pictures +not on public exhibition, and that "the man in the street" who says +that he likes to walk in and see all his pictures at any time and +without any trouble, will value his collection more when he can only +see some of it on special occasions. + +The heavy and sometimes fragile character of the "frames" affixed to +large pictures has been made an objection to the proposal that they +should be fixed to screens moved by electric gear. I cannot venture to +discuss the subject of picture frames here. I am aware that it is a +very serious and important subject, and that a great deal of the +effect of a picture depends on its being bordered by a frame of +sufficient size and dignity and one which is really and artistically +fitted to allow the finer qualities of the picture to become apparent. +How often is such a frame seen? Who is there who has an adequate +understanding of picture-frames as adjuncts to, or necessary +accompaniments of, great pictures? The splendid carved and gilded +wooden frames of some great pictures have a value of their own as +examples of design. But how many of them are really suited to the +picture which they surround? How much attention has been given by art +experts to the question of the best possible "exhibitional" +surroundings--nearer and more distant--for this, that and the other, +among the great pictures of Europe? + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +THE SECRET OF A TERRIBLE DISEASE + + +This generation, which is so thankless to the great discoverers of the +causes of disease, so forgetful of the epoch-making labours of the +English sanitary reformers of last century, has not seen nor even +heard of the awful thing once known as "gaol-fever." A hundred years +ago it was as dangerous to the life of an unhappy prisoner to await +his trial in Newgate as to stand between the opposing forces on a +battlefield. Gaol-fever attacked not only the prisoners, but the judge +and the jury and the strangers in the court. The aromatic herbs with +which the hall of justice was strewn were supposed to arrest the +spread of the terrible infection, and it is still customary to provide +with a bouquet of such plants the judge who presides at a "gaol +delivery." The inexorable ministers of justice, who, seated high above +the common herd, and clad in their ancient robes of office, were about +to deal shameful death to the guilty wretches brought from the prison +cells, were often themselves struck down by the Angel of Death moving +invisibly through the court. The "black assizes" were not isolated, +but repeated occurrences in our great cities. Typhus fever was the +name given by the learned to this awful pestilence. There was a +mystery and horror surrounding it which paralysed those who came into +contact with it, and produced something like consternation. Men fled +in terror from the infected buildings, business was arrested, the +universities deserted, palaces left empty, and the dying abandoned to +their misery when it appeared. There was a feeling that some deadly +unseen power was present, irresistible and malignant. + +It is only to-day--in fact, within the last two years--that we have +learnt what that unseen power was. The Angel of Death which moved +through the Old Bailey Sessions House in bygone days was, indeed, a +living thing. It passed silently and unseen from the prisoner to the +warder, from him to the usher, thence to the bar--the jury and the +exalted judge. It had no wings, yet it moved slowly and surely +carrying black death with it. This terrible and mysterious assassin +has at last been unveiled. The shroud of concealment has been torn +away and there the dire monster stands--naked, remorseless and +hideous. It is of small size, though it makes us all shrink with +horror and disgust. It has six claw-like legs and no wings. It is, in +fact, neither more nor less than the clothes louse, the _Pediculus +vestimenti_. The filthy, crowded condition in which the prisoners were +kept, and (let us well remember and reflect thereon) the personal want +of cleanliness of judge, jury, barristers and ushers, rendered the +existence of the little parasite and its effective transference from +man to man possible. Those pompous emblems of authority, the horsehair +wigs--those musty robes of unctuous dignity--were full of dirt, and +harboured the wandering bearer of typhus infection. Gaol-fever was due +to dirt; its infecting germs were distributed by loathsome insects. + +It is an interesting and really instructive thing to pass in review +the gradual process by which the cleanliness of the population of +Western Europe has advanced, and to observe that, consciously or +unconsciously, the end pursued has been, step by step, the removal +from man's body outside (and inside), from his clothing, from the +water he drinks, from the food he eats, from the air he breathes, and +from the surfaces with which he necessarily comes into contact, +of injurious parasites and hurtful living things which lurk +in dirt and rubbish. At first the larger and more obvious hurtful +creatures--snakes, rats, mice, scorpions, blow-flies--were eliminated +by some elementary attempts at removal of rubbish and kitchen +middens. Then ticks (which African savages still do not trouble to +remove from their bodies) and later fleas and bugs became unpopular; +lice were long regarded as inevitable, and even beneficial, and by +some populations and by part of the most civilised at the present day, +are still, not merely tolerated, but favoured. In a country school in +France a child who was found to be afflicted in this way was the +daughter of the local medical practitioner. She remarked, "Oh! Ce +n'est rien; papa dit que c'est la santé des enfants"! Parasitic worms +of various kinds, though they often cause disease and death, are +accepted and tolerated even by the most refined and luxurious, who +risk infection rather than submit to the precaution of abstention from +raw vegetables and fruits, or to the expenditure of trouble in +cleansing those nests of infective germs. It is only within the last +thirty or forty years that such cleanliness of body and of clothing +and of house-fittings as will banish parasitic insects has become at +all general. The common house-fly is still tolerated, although it is a +notorious carrier of dirt and disease, and is bred by dirt and dirt +only, its eggs being hatched in old stable manure. The diminution of +late years of house-flies in London houses is simply and solely due to +legislation compelling the removal of horse manure from the "mews" so +frequent at the back of London streets. Egyptian natives still allow +flies to gather on their eyelids without protest. + +Of the bacteria and similar microscopic germs of disease--to which all +our infective fevers are due--we have only become aware quite +recently, within the half-century. Before they were known, cleanliness +and the destruction of putrescible matter in man's surroundings had, +it is true, been urged by sanitary reformers. Disinfectants and +antiseptics were deliberately made use of for this purpose in the +mid-Victorian period, when carbolic acid and chlorinated lime were +established in the place of those feebler destroyers of the germs of +putrefaction and disease--namely, the extracts of aromatic herbs or +the essential oils themselves. These, as perfumes and unguents, really +served, not merely to gratify the olfactory sense, but to destroy by +their chemical action the germs of disease. Men tolerated gnats and +their bites (mosquitoes as we prefer to call them in order to delude +ourselves into the belief that they are not British) until it was +discovered that they, and they only, carry the parasitic germs of two +deadly diseases--malaria, or ague, and yellow fever. Now we shall +destroy the pools in which they breed, just as we are destroying the +manure heaps in which the house-fly breeds. When we look over the list +it is really astonishing how much remains to be done, even in England, +in establishing increased cleanliness and freeing ourselves from the +murderous tyranny of parasites. It is a simple but horrible fact that +the poorest class in our big cities still swarms with vermin. And not +only are the poor in great cities thus afflicted. The recent +compulsory medical inspection of school children has shown that in +some of the smiling rural districts of England 80 per cent. of the +children have lice in their heads. Everyone should help to gain +further cleanliness and freedom from this form of oppression. + +In the middle of the nineteenth century, England alone, and with +absolute conviction and determination, demonstrated to the civilised +world the beneficial results in diminishing the death-rate of large +towns, to be obtained by cleanliness, the destruction or removal from +man's body and surroundings of organic "dirt," viz. his excreta, the +exudations and exuviations of his body, the waste and fragments of his +food. The names of Rawlinson, Chadwick and Simon remain as those of +the prime movers in that legislation which has given us improved water +supply, sewerage, removal of dust heaps, clearance of cesspits, +cleansing of houses, and prevention of over-crowding. Yet there are +writers who, in ignorance and infected with the modern madness which +makes half-educated Englishmen presume to teach where they have yet to +learn, and to pose as prophets by belittling and running down, +without regard to truth, their own country and its finest efforts in +the cause of civilisation, actually declare that Germany has led the +way in this matter. This is the very reverse of the truth. Foreign +countries are, in this matter, following long in the wake of England. +There are no cities in the world so healthy as British cities. +Practical measures of cleansing, faithful activity in destroying dirt +and preventing over-crowding, enforced by legislation, have reduced +the death-rate of our great centres of population in fifty years by +more than one third--that is to say, from something like 29 per 1,000 +to something like 18 per 1,000. No other country can show such a +result. + +Gaol-fever, spotted or putrid fever, or typhus fever has practically +ceased to be a regularly occurring disease in the West of Europe. The +last cases in London were, I well remember, in a poor district near +the Marylebone Road about thirty years ago. A very few cases have +appeared since, in the over-crowded and poorest districts of our +largest cities. Beleaguering armies and beleaguered cities suffered +from it as late as in the Crimean War, but we may now fairly say that +it has disappeared from our midst. It, however, still abounds in +Russia and her eastern provinces, and in Algeria, Tunis, and Morocco. +It is a disease of cold and temperate climates rather than of the +tropics. + +In the last century typhus was distinguished definitely and clearly +from "typhoid" or "enteric" fever, and from "relapsing" or "famine" +fever, with which it had previously been confounded. The bacterial +germs causing enteric and relapsing fevers are now known, and have +been isolated and cultivated, and the mode in which they are conveyed +into the body of a previously healthy patient is ascertained. But +until the past year we knew neither the parasitic germ which causes +typhus fever nor the mode by which it passes from one individual to +another. A vague idea that it was spread through the air prevailed. +Typhus is remarkable for the frequency with which the nurses and +doctors attending a case become infected. About 20 per cent. of those +attacked by it die, but in persons above forty-five years of age the +mortality is much greater--about half succumb. + +Dr. Nicole and his colleagues of the Institut Pasteur in Tunis have +recently had the opportunity of studying typhus there. They found that +the ordinary local monkey could not be made to take the disease. But a +drop of blood of a typhus patient injected into a chimpanzee (which is +far nearer akin to man) produced the disease after an incubation +period of three weeks. This fact was definitely established. From what +is now known as to relapsing fever, malaria, yellow fever, plague, and +sleeping-sickness, it seemed probable that some migratory insect must +be the carrier of the typhus infection from man to man. The typhus +patients brought into the hospital at Tunis were carefully washed +before admission, and no infection of other patients or nurses took +place in the wards, although the cases were not isolated, and bugs +were abundant. The only cases of infection which occurred were in +persons who had the duty of collecting and disinfecting the clothing +of the patients when admitted. This seems to exclude the bug as a +carrier. The flea is excluded by the fact that in the phosphate mines +of Tunis the flea is abundant, and bites both natives and Europeans. +Yet when typhus fever broke out among the miners--although all were +equally bitten by the fleas--no European was infected. The indication, +therefore, was that if any insect is the carrier, it is neither the +flea nor the bug, but probably the clothes-louse. Although the smaller +monkeys cannot be directly infected with typhus fever from man, it was +found that (as with some other infections) the bonnet monkey was +susceptible to the infection after it had passed through the +chimpanzee. Experiments were, therefore, made with clothes lice taken +from a healthy man, and kept for eight hours without food. They were +placed on a bonnet monkey which was in full typhus eruption. A day +afterwards they were removed to healthy bonnet monkeys with the +result that the healthy bonnet monkeys developed typhus fever. There +is thus no doubt whatever that typhus fever can be carried in this way +from bonnet monkey to bonnet monkey. The whole history of typhus fever +fits in with the carriage of the infection in the same way from man to +man, and not with the notion of an aërial dispersion of the infection. + +The fact that typhus only exists in very dirty and crowded +populations, and that it has disappeared where even a moderate amount +of cleanliness as to person and clothing has become general, coincides +with the possibility of the body louse as carrier. This little +parasite is known to be a wanderer, and is gifted with a very acute +sense of smell. An individual placed in the centre of a glass table +invariably walked, guided by the scent, towards the observer, at +whatever position he placed himself. Sulphurous acid is a violent +repellant of these creatures. Not only will it kill them if they are +exposed to its fumes, but traces of it drive them away. Hence doctors +and nurses who have to handle typhus patients or their clothes have +only to wear a small muslin bag of sulphur under their garments, or to +rub themselves with a little sulphur ointment in order to be perfectly +guarded against infection; the louse will not approach them, nor +remain upon them should it accidentally effect a lodgment. + +It is not always obvious at once in what way a knowledge of the mode +of carriage of a deadly disease can be of service to humanity. But in +this case it is strikingly and triumphantly clear. In the vast +poverty-stricken population of Russia typhus is still common. Public +medical officials attend these cases, and the Russian Government keeps +a record of the annual deaths of its medical staff, and of the causes +of their deaths. In the first six months of last year 530 Russian +medical officers died, and twenty-four of these deaths were caused by +typhus fever acquired by these devoted public servants in attendance +upon cases of that fever. Henceforth they will make use of sulphur or +sulphurous ointment to keep the little infection-carriers at a +distance, and not one medical man or nurse will catch the disease, +still less be killed by it. + +A remarkable fact in this history is that the actual parasitic germ +which causes typhus, whether a bacterium (Schizophyte) or a protozoon, +has not been detected, although the louse has been shown to be its +"carrier." The same is true of yellow-fever: we have not seen with the +microscope the microbe which produces it. But we know with certainty +that the gnat, _Stegomya fasciata_, and no other, is the carrier of +the unseen germ, and that we can obliterate that fever by obliterating +the gnat. So, too, although we know how the infection of rabies acts, +and how it is carried, yet no one has yet isolated and recognised the +terrible infective particle itself. There is a very high probability +that in these cases, and also in cancer (where as yet no specific +infective germ or parasitic microbe has been detected), such an +infective microbe is nevertheless present, and has hitherto escaped +observation with the microscope on account of its excessive minuteness +and transparency. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +CARRIERS OF DISEASE + + +It has now been discovered that a great number of human diseases are +caused by microscopic parasites, which are spoken of in a general way +by the name invented by the great Pasteur, viz. "microbes." +Wool-sorter's disease, Eastern relapsing fever, lock-jaw, glanders, +leprosy, phthisis, diphtheria, cholera, Oriental plague, typhoid +fever, Malta fever, septic poisoning and gangrene have been shown to +be caused each by a peculiar species of the excessively minute +parasitic vegetables known as bacteria (or Schizophyta). Others, for +example, malaria and sleeping sickness, have been shown to be caused +by almost equally minute microbes, which are of an animal nature, and +similar to the free-living animalcules which we call Protozoa, or +"simplest animals," whilst a third lot of diseases--rabies, smallpox, +yellow fever, scarlet fever, and typhus--are held to be caused by +similar minute parasites, although these have not yet actually been +seen and cultivated, but are surely inferred (from the nature and +spread of these diseases) to exist. + +The difference of the microbes called bacteria from the +disease-causing microbes classed as "Protozoa" consists in their +simpler structure and mode of growth. They are essentially filaments +which continually multiply by fission--a process often carried so far +that the little organisms present themselves as short rods, or as +curved (comma-shaped), or even spherical particles (micrococci)--and +only in favourable conditions arrest their self-division so as to grow +for a time into the thread-like or filament shape. Often these +filaments are not straight, but spirally twisted, and are called +"spirilla." Some of them are blood parasites, but the larger number +attack the tissues, and others occur in the digestive canal. + +The parasitic disease-producing protozoa, on the other hand, are of +softer substance, often have the habit of twisting themselves in a +corkscrew-like manner, and usually are provided with an undulating +membrane or frill, as well as with one or with two whip-like swimming +processes (the latter are present also and are often numerous in the +actively swimming phases of bacteria), and have a more complicated +life-history. They divide, as a rule, longitudinally and not +transversely, and pass from one "host" to a second, where they assume +distinct forms--males and females, which conjugate and break up (each +conjugated or fused pair) into a mass of very numerous, excessively +minute, young. The disease-producing protozoa of this kind are +frequently parasitic in the blood of man and animals, and were only +recently recognised, after the disease-producing bacteria of many +kinds had been thoroughly studied. These animal microbes are often +spoken of as "blood-flagellates" or hæmo-flagellata, and the larger +kinds are called "Trypanosomes," or "screw-form parasites," or whilst +a series of more minute ones are called "Piroplasma," or "pear-shaped +parasites." Many, but not all, are found during a certain period of +their life, actually inside the corpuscles of the blood. The fact that +many of these blood-flagellates (if not all) have, besides their life +in the blood of one species of animal, a second period of existence in +the juices or the gut of another animal, has made it very difficult to +trace their migrations, since in the second phase of their history +their appearance differs considerably from that which they presented +in the first. And often they exist in one kind of animal without doing +any harm, and are only poisonous when introduced by insects into the +blood of other kinds of animals! + +There is, further, another set of disease-causing protozoan parasites +which are similar to the amoeba or proteus-animalcule, and a third, +which belong to the group of "ciliated infusoria." They are not so +minute as the preceding set, and are not usually referred to as +"microbes." They inhabit the intestine of man and animals, and cause, +in some instances, dysentery. These two later kinds of protozoan +parasites I will at the moment leave out of consideration, as well as +the "coccidia," which multiply in the tissue-cells of animals--for +instance, rabbits and mice--and cause an unhealthy growth and +excessive multiplication of the cells of the tissues, which in some +respects resembles that seen in the terrible disease known as cancer. +Indeed, it is held by many investigators that some such +parasite--though not yet discovered--is the cause of cancer. + +A very important question is: How do these poison-producing parasites +(for it is by the poison which they manufacture that they upset the +healthy life of their hosts) make their way into the human body? The +surface of the body of animals, like man, is protected by a delicate, +horny covering--the epidermis--through which none of these parasites +can make their way. They can only get through it, and so into the +soft, juicy tissues and the fine blood-vessels which it covers, when +it is cracked, broken, pierced, or cut. But they also have a way to +open them through the softer moist surfaces of the inner passages, +such as the digestive canal and the lungs. They enter (some kinds only +and not a few) with food and drink into the digestive canal, and with +the air into the air-passages and the lungs; and once in these +chambers, which have only soft lining-surfaces, they are able to +penetrate into the substance of the body. Many of those which enter +the digestive canal do not require to penetrate further, but multiply +excessively in the contents of the bowel, and there produce poisons, +which are absorbed and produce deadly results--such are the bacteria +which produce Indian cholera and ordinary diarrhoea--whilst the kind +causing typhoid fever not only multiplies in the gut, but penetrates +its surface. + +The protective surface of man's body is broken, and the way laid open +for the entrance of microbes in various ways. A slight scratch, +abrasion, or even "chapping" is enough. Thus, a mere breaking of the +skin of the knuckles by a fall on to dirty ground lets in the deadly +bacterium of lock-jaw (tetanus), which is lurking in the soil. Leprosy +is communicated from a leper in the same way. The almost ubiquitous +bacteria of blood-poisoning (septicæmia) may enter by the smallest +fissure of the skin, still more readily by large cuts or wounds. The +bites and stabs of small and large animals--wolves, dogs, flies, +gnats, fleas and bugs, also open the way, and often the deadly microbe +has associated itself with the biting animal and is carried by it, +ready to effect an entrance. Thus rabies (hydrophobia) is introduced +by the bites of wolves and dogs, and a whole series of diseases, such +as plague, malaria, sleeping-sickness, gaol-fever (typhus), yellow +fever, relapsing fever, and others, are introduced into the human body +by blood-sucking insects. Hence the immense importance of treating +every slightest wound and scratch with chemicals (called +"antiseptics"), which at once destroy the invading microbe--and of +keeping a wounded surface covered and protected from their approach. +In ways at one time unsuspected, such openings may be made by which +poisonous microbes enter the body. Thus the little hard-skinned +parasitic thread-worms which are often brought in by uncooked food +into man's intestine, though by themselves comparatively harmless, +scratch the soft lining of the bowel and enable poison-making microbes +to enter the deeper tissues, and cause dangerous abscesses and +appendicitis. + +The carriers of disease germs thus become a very important subject of +study. There are carriers which make no selection, but are, so to +speak, "casual" in their proceedings, and there are others which have +the most special and elaborate relations to some one kind of +disease-causing microbe for which alone they are responsible, and to +the life of which they are necessary. Let us look first at the more +casual group. Man himself is a great carrier and distributor of his +own diseases. Unless and until he has learned to be careful and guard +against thoughtless proceedings, he is always spreading the microbes +of his diseases and passing them on to his fellow men. He pollutes the +waters, rivers, lakes, and pools from which others drink. He manures +his crops, and then eats some of them uncooked. His hands are polluted +by disease-causing microbes, and he handles (to an alarming and +unnecessary extent) the food, such as bread and fruit, which is +swallowed by his fellows, without cleansing it by heat. It has lately +been shown that apparently healthy men and women often harbour within +them the microbes of typhoid fever or of cholera (and probably other +diseases), without themselves suffering in health, and that +unsuspected they thus become distributing centres of these diseases. +The names "typhoid carrier" and "cholera carrier" have actually been +introduced to describe the condition of such persons. Then, again, by +his breath, and by coughing and spitting, a man acts as a carrier to +others of disease-microbes already lodged in him, as well as by actual +contact in the case of those infections which are called "contagious." +The numerous animals which surround and are associated with man act +very largely as casual carriers and distributors of disease microbes. +Thus dogs and even the cleanly cat are frequently carriers of disease. +But more especially those creatures which visit man's food stores and +food ready for consumption (such as bread, fruits, cold meat, etc.) +are active carriers. Rats and mice run over such stores and pollute +them. But the most widely active in this way is the common house-fly. + +Whilst white men have developed an almost automatic resistance and +objection to the visits of flies to their lips, eyelids, and any wound +or scratch of the skin--a resistance which is not shown by many savage +races--they yet allow house-flies to swarm in their dwellings, to run +about and sample their food, with an indifference which is, when the +truth is known, truly horrible in its fatuity and foolhardiness. For +the fact is that the feet and proboscis of the common house-fly are +covered with microbes of all sorts, picked up by his explorations upon +every kind of filth. At every step which he takes he plants a few +dozen microbes, which include those of infantile diarrhoea, typhoid, +and other prevalent diseases. This is easily shown by allowing him to +walk over a smooth plate of sterilised nutritive gelatine and +preserving it afterwards free from the access of microbes from the +air. In twenty-four hours every footstep of the fly on the gelatine is +marked by an abundant and varied crop of microbes, which have +multiplied from the individuals let drop by the little pedestrian. +There is no doubt whatever that the house-fly is a main source of the +dissemination of the microbe of infantile diarrhoea, and the cause +annually of hundreds of thousands of deaths of children in the great +cities of Europe and America. Also in camps and infected districts he +is largely responsible for the introduction of the microbe of typhoid +fever into the human food to which he has free access after his +previous visits to open latrines. The house-fly is himself a product +of dirt and neglect. The eggs are laid in old manure heaps and kitchen +middens, and the maggots, which eventually are transformed into flies, +nourish themselves in those accumulations. When this refuse is rapidly +and regularly removed by the care of the sanitary officials of a town, +the flies diminish in number, as they have diminished in London within +the last thirty years. We no longer are overrun by flies in London in +the summer months. The man selling sheets of sticky paper is no longer +heard in our streets calling "Catch 'em alive, oh!" But in country +places, where a neglected stable-yard is near the dining room of the +inn, house-flies are as great a nuisance and danger as ever. There is +no difficulty, if the simplest rules of cleanliness are observed, in +abolishing them altogether from human association, but combined and +simultaneous action against them is an essential condition of success. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +IMMUNITY AND CURATIVE INOCULATIONS + + +During the last twenty years the whole attitude of the study and +investigation of disease-causing microbes has advanced from the +preliminary step of merely identifying certain microbes as the causes +of certain diseases to a further step, viz. that of attempting to +defend the animal and the human body against their attacks in the +manner already so finely started by Pasteur. For many years disease +after disease was examined and found to be caused by special bacteria +or other microbes. Even non-infectious diseases or diseases only +communicable under very special conditions were found to be due to +microbes, so that it is probable that all disease that is not due to +congenital malformation or to mechanical injury, or to poison +fabricated in the weapons of larger animals and plants, or by man +himself, is due to microbes. "Life," says Lord Justice Moulton, "is +one ceaseless war against these enemies, and the periods of our +too-transient successes are known as health." One of the last diseases +traced to microbes is that sad condition known as "infantile +paralysis," by which so many of the brightest and best members of the +community have been crippled, from childhood onwards, through life. + +Of late we have been making rapid strides in arriving at a knowledge +as to how Nature herself protects higher creatures from the excesses +and exuberance of destructive microbes, and we are now able to see +that it is in adopting her methods that our best hope of increasing +that protection lies. Nature is satisfied if the efficacy of her +defence is sufficient to save enough individuals to carry on the race. +Man desires in the case of his own fellows to out-do Nature and to +save all. + +A century and a half ago, before the true character of infective +disease was understood, it was observed that an individual who was +attacked by the smallpox and recovered became incapable of receiving +the infection again. He was "protected" or "immune." The practice of +"inoculation" was introduced from the East by Lady Montague. The +infectious matter was introduced from a smallpox patient into the +person to be protected by rubbing it into a scarified part of the +skin. A much less severe attack of smallpox was thus produced than +that which usually followed the natural infection, which (though we do +not know precisely its mode of entrance) is more widely spread through +the blood. At the same time the condition of "immunity" after the +attack was brought about with equal efficacy. When Jenner introduced +inoculation with "cowpox" for the purpose of establishing "immunity" +in the vaccinated person, inoculation with smallpox itself was a very +usual practice. It was open to the objection that sometimes an +unexpectedly violent attack of the disease was produced, resulting in +death, and that the active infection was kept alive and ever present +in the community. The notion with regard to the mode in which +"immunity" was produced by either the Montacutian or Jennerian +inoculation was, even after the general knowledge of microbes as the +living contagion of disease had been arrived at, that the mild attack +due to inoculation "used up" something in the blood--in fact, +exhausted the soil, so that the infective matter or microbe could no +longer flourish in the blood. And this view was accepted as the +explanation of the "immunity" to the anthrax disease conferred on +cattle and sheep by Pasteur's inoculations of weakened, but still +actively growing, cultures of the anthrax bacillus. Another theory was +that they produced something in the blood by their own life-processes +which checked their further growth, just as yeast will not grow in +wort in which it has produced 8 per cent. of alcohol, and as a fire +may be choked by its own smoke or ashes. + +We now know that both these explanations of "immunity" are incorrect. +Nature provides at least three varieties of defence within the blood +of higher animals against disease-producing microbes which have broken +through the outer line of fortification, the skin. These three methods +are effective in different cases (one in this disease, the other in +that), and, on the whole, are sufficient to preserve the races of +animals (including man) from complete destruction. These are (1) the +production in the blood of an antidote to the toxin or poison +elaborated by the invading microbe--an antitoxin, which chemically +neutralises the toxin; (2) the production in the blood of the attacked +animal of a "germicidal" poison which repels and kills the attacking +microbes themselves (not merely neutralising their poisonous +products); (3) the extermination of the intrusive, disease-producing +microbes by a kind of police, which scour the blood channels and +tissues and "eat up"--actually engulf and digest--the hostile +intruders. These latter agents, actual particles of the living animal +in which they exist, are the "eater-cells," or "phagocytes"--minute, +viscid, actively moving cells, resembling the animalcules called +"amoeba." They are only the one two-thousandth of an inch in +diameter, and are known as the white or colourless corpuscles of the +blood. They are far less numerous than the red blood-corpuscles, which +are the agents for carrying oxygen, but there are eight thousand +million of them in a large spoonful of blood. They are the really +important agents in protecting us from microbes, since they not only +engulf and digest and so destroy those intruders, but it is probable +(not certain) that they also are the manufacturers of the antitoxins +and of the germicidal poisons. + + * * * * * + +If these three defensive processes given us by Nature are in working +order, that is to say, if we are "healthy," they should secure to us a +sufficient "immunity"--at at any rate, "recovery"--from any attack of +disease-producing microbes. But they are not in "unselected," widely +ranging mankind always equal (in their unaided natural state) to their +task. + +The attempts to produce immunity by vaccination with weakened or +localised disease germs is really an attempt to train and develop to a +high point the activities of the phagocytes or eater-cells of the +blood. + +The introduction of antitoxins by injection of them into the blood (as +in the treatment of diphtheria, lock-jaw, and snake-bite) is an +attempt to bring to the rescue of a patient who would sooner or later +produce his own antitoxins (but perhaps too late or in insufficient +quantity) the similar antitoxin obtained from the blood of another +animal which has been artificially made to produce in its blood an +excessive quantity of that substance. + +Mithridates, King of Pontus, was, according to ancient legend, in +consequence of his studies and experiments, soaked with all kinds of +poisons to which he had become habituated by gradually increasing +doses, and he had at last reached a condition in which no poison could +harm him, so that when he was captured by the Romans and wished to +kill himself (which was the correct thing in those days for a fallen +king to do), he wept because he was unable to get any poisons which +would act upon him. He was "immune" to all poisons. This real or +supposed immunity resulting from the introduction into the living body +at intervals of a series of doses of a poison gradually increasing +strength has been called "Mithridatism," and animals and men so +treated have been said to be "mithradatized." The toleration of +poisonous drugs--such as tobacco and alcohol, and even of mineral +poisons, such as arsenic--was, until lately, regarded as merely a +special exhibition of that habituation of "adaptation by use" which +living things often show in regard to some of the conditions of their +life. Unusual cold, unusual heat, unusual moisture, salinity or the +reverse, unusual deprivation of food, unusual muscular effort may be +tolerated by animals without injury provided that they have been +"gradually accustomed" to the unusual thing, or, in other words, that +the unusual has been gradually made the usual; so that there is a +saying that eels after a time even get used to being skinned. There +was no attempt to explain the details of this process of habituation; +it was assumed to be a part of the general "educability" of living +matter. + +The study of the education of living matter, in regard to various +conditions which can act upon it, has yet to be further carried out, +but the way in which the poisons made by disease germs and the like, +and the disease germs themselves, are dealt with in the blood and +tissues has, on account of its urgent importance, from a medical point +of view, been already profoundly studied by experimental and +microscopic methods of late years. The old notion as to "mithridatism" +was that an animal or a man would have to be separately prepared and +"immunised" by habituation for every distinct kind of poison. We now +know that this is not the usual way in which Nature confers immunity +to poisons. Most astonishing, and at first sight magical or +mysterious, powers exist in the living protoplasmic cells in and +around the blood of man and higher animals, which enable their +possessors to resist and combat the poison-producing microbes, and +also the poison itself, of all kinds, by which the race is liable to +be attacked. + +Few of us realise what a wonderful and exceptional fluid the blood of +a higher animal is. The Australian natives attach so little importance +to it that they actually cut themselves and use their blood as a sort +of paste for sticking decorative feathers on to a pole! The Papuans +are more advanced, since they regard the flow of blood from a cut or +graze as an evil portent. And some respect to the greatness and wonder +of blood is shown by those persons among civilised peoples (more +frequently men than women) who faint when they see blood, or even at +the mention of its name! This stream of red fluid within us (of which +an average man has about fifteen pints in his vessels) courses at a +tremendous rate from the heart through all the endless branches and +networks of arteries, capillaries and veins, and back to the heart. It +feeds, cleanses, warms and takes "vital air" (the old name for oxygen +gas) dissolved in it to every particle of our bodies, fresh and fresh +at every pulse-beat as it rushes on. It not only absorbs crude +digested food through the walls of the gut, but conveys it to where it +is worked up and distributes the worked-up product. It removes the +quickly used-up substances from every part, and the choke-damp or +carbonic acid which would stop the whole machine, and kill us, were it +not got rid of through the lungs as the blood hurries through the +walls of these air-sacs, whilst other used-up materials are carried by +it to the kidneys and passed out of the body through them. Every part +of the body is brought into common life with every other part by this +impetuous blood-stream--which is here, there, and everywhere, right +round, and back again, in twenty-five seconds! It is obviously a very +serious thing if a poison-producing microbe gets into this +blood-stream and multiplies within it, or if poison-producing microbes +lodge somewhere beneath the skin in a wound, and keep on discharging +virulent poison into the blood! The mischief is spread all over the +body at once. + +It is not surprising, then, that the long course of natural selection +and survival of the fittest has resulted in the fixing in the blood +and the living cells immediately connected with it of extraordinary +protective powers. The floating scavenger cells (eater-cells or +phagocytes, first recognised as such and so named by Metchnikoff) are +already found in the blood of quite simple animals in worms, +shell-fish and insects. I have watched them with the microscope at +work in transparent minute living water-fleas eating up, and digesting +microbes which had got into the water-flea's blood. In higher animals +what we call "inflammation" is a condition--the result of a new and +advantageous mechanism--which consists in a local retarding of the +blood-current, effected by the action of the nerves on the muscular +walls of the blood-vessels, and the consequent escape of the +eater-cells into the injured or infected tissue, there to eat up and +destroy the injurious microbes or other particles. Special and +remarkable properties--chemical activities of an extraordinary +character--have been gradually developed in the floating phagocytes +and in similar non-floating fixed cells over which the blood flows. + +These special chemical activities are of several distinct kinds. The +first is the power to convert the poison of a microbe into a destroyer +of that poison--toxin into antitoxin. The atoms of these poisons are +elaborately composed combinations of the organic elements. By a +"shake" or a "twist" (so to speak) administered by the living cells of +the blood the combination is altered, and the toxin becomes an +antitoxin, destroying by chemically combining with it the very toxin +from which it was formed. This is a far more efficacious method than +the supposed mithridatic "habituation" or "toleration" of a poison, +with small doses of which you have to be gradually prepared. The +healthy blood converts any one of a large series of microbe poisons +into antitoxins. It is true that apparent "opposites" are often +closely allied in Nature. Evil smells and tastes are closely allied to +sweet perfumes and flavours, and what is healthy and agreeable to some +men acts as virulent poison to others (_e.g._ shell-fish, egg, +quinine, opium). The smallest change in the substance administered or +the smallest difference in the living substance of an individual (what +is called "idiosyncrasy") makes all the difference between "poison" +and "meati." + +If the phagocytes and similar cells in the blood of a man or animal +exposed to the poison produced by localised microbes (such as those of +tetanus, diphtheria and septic growths) cannot produce enough +antitoxin so as to quickly destroy the poison, we can, and do, +nowadays, save his life, by injecting into his blood the required +antitoxin, obtained from another animal which we have caused (by +injection of the toxin) to produce the antitoxin in excess. That is +one sort of "immunity" or "resistance" which we can confer, and is +largely in use at the present day--the "antitoxin" treatment. + +The second poison-repelling chemical activity of the blood, produced +by the living cells in and about it, consists in the blood becoming +directly poisonous to injurious microbes. It becomes "bactericidal," +produces a bactericidal poison (called an alexin) which is usually +present in normal blood, but is greatly increased when large numbers +of certain poisonous microbes (_e.g._ those of typhoid fever) get into +the blood. Again, by other chemical substances produced in it, the +blood may, without actually killing the invading bacteria, only +paralyse them, and cause them to "agglutinate" (that is, to adhere to +one another as an inactive "clot" or "lump"). As the "agglutinating" +poison is peculiar (or nearly so) for each kind of microbe, we can +tell whether a patient has typhoid by drawing a drop of his +blood into a tube, and adding some fresh living typhoid bacilli +to it. If the patient had typhoid he will have begun to form the +"typhoid-agglutinating" or "typhoid-paralysing" poison in his blood, +and the experiment will result in the "agglutination" (sticking +together in a lump) of the typhoid bacilli. And so we prove, in a +doubtful case, that the patient has typhoid. + +The third chemical activity of the blood in dealing with poisonous +microbes is also one which is conferred upon it by its living cells +when excited by the presence of those microbes. It is the production +of a "relish" (for so it must be called) which attaches itself to the +microbes and renders them attractive to the eater-cells (the +phagocytes), so that those swarming amoeba-like floating particles +at once proceed to engulf the microbes with avidity. In the absence of +the relish (the Greek word for it used by Sir Almroth Wright, its +discoverer, is "opsonin"), the eater-cells are sluggish--too +sluggish--in their work. They resemble a child who will not eat dry +toast, or, at best, only slowly, but will devour rapidly many pieces +when the toast is buttered. It is of the utmost importance to us that +our white corpuscles, or eater-cells, should not be sluggish but +greedy. + +There are some microbes which will produce deadly poison if grown in +the clear fluid (serum) of the blood of an animal (as, for instance, +the cholera-microbe when grown in the serum of the frog's blood), yet +when inoculated living into the blood of that animal never cause the +slightest illness! Why? Because they are at once eaten by the vigilant +phagocytes of the blood before they can produce any appreciable amount +of poison. That is easily demonstrated by experiment. Our main means +of defence against microbial disease, says Metchnikoff--though +cleanliness and precaution against access of microbes are all very +well in their way--is the activity of our phagocytes. Now it appears +that just as in the other cases I have been considering, so in the +production of "relish," the power to produce it resides in the blood +(and perhaps the cells of its vessels), but is not set at work until +the enemy is in the blood. Suppose there is an infection, an invasion +of the blood and tissues by one or other disease-causing microbe. +Gradually if the body is healthy the "relish" is produced and becomes +attached to the invading microbes. The phagocytes swallow them +greedily and make an end of the invasion. + +It is proved that this aroused avidity of the phagocytes is due to no +change in the phagocytes themselves; since if they are transferred to +the serum of a normal man they show no such predilection for the +special invading microbe. The "opsonin," or "relish," is something +exuded into or produced in the blood fluid when the attacking microbe +arrives. It attaches itself to them: that is the essential fact. In +many of us the phagocytes are not at a given moment so "avid" of this +or that disease-microbe as they should be in order to protect us from +its multiplication and poison production. But it is found that by +injecting boiled and cooled (therefore dead) microbes of a particular +kind into the blood of a man, you can start the production of the +"relish" appropriate to that kind. The dead microbes answer this +purpose; they excite the production of the opsonin appropriate to them +and yet are not themselves dangerous, since they are dead. When +subsequently (or possibly concurrently in small quantity) living +microbes of the same disease enter the blood, the opsonin is ready for +them. They are, to put it picturesquely, like oysters at the +oyster-bar, peppered and vinegared "in no time," and then swallowed by +the phagocytes by the dozen. This seems almost too comic a view of the +deadly struggle of man and higher animals for health and freedom from +the swarming pests which everywhere invade him. Yet it is correct, and +involves a simple and fundamental truth. Our properties and appetites +are but the sum of those of the protoplasmic organisms--the cells--of +which we are built up. Our need for a relish with oysters is the same +thing as the need of the phagocyte for a relish with its microbes, not +something "poetically" compared to it. The story of "the oysters and +the carpenter" might be replaced by that of "the microbes and the +phagocyte." The saying, "Fine words butter no parsnips," finds a +parallel in the remark that "The drinking of drugs does not opsonise +microbes." + +Half-way between us and the amoeba-like unicellular organisms we +find the earth-worm preparing his piece of lettuce (as Darwin showed) +with a juice exuded from his mouth, a "relish" reminding one of the +Kava drink of the South Sea Islanders. To "opsonise" or render +attractive by the application of chemical "relish" is a proceeding +which we find in operation in the feeding of the minute colourless +corpuscles which engorge the still more minute bacteria--and also in +the preparation of their food by various lower animals, and finally in +the elaborate flavouring and cooking of his food by civilised man! + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +THE STRANGE STORY OF ANIMAL LIFE IN NEW ZEALAND + + +New Zealand consists of two islands, together more than 1,000 miles +long and of about 200,000 square miles area. It is 1,000 miles distant +from New Caledonia, the nearest island of any considerable size, and +is 1,500 miles from the great Continental island of Australia. There +is no other island in the world so large and at the same time so +remote from other considerable tracts of land. Australia is closely +connected by island groups at a distance of only 100 miles to Asia. +The isolation of New Zealand is unique. The seas around it are of vast +depth and of proportionately great age. During the chalk +period--before the great deposits and changes of the earth's face +which we assign to the Tertiary period--New Zealand consisted of a +number of small scattered islands, which gradually, as the floor of +the sea rose in that part of the world, became a continent stretching +northward and joining New Guinea. In that very ancient time the land +was covered with ferns and large trees. Birds (as we now know them) +had only lately come into existence in the northern hemisphere, and +when New Zealand for a time joined that area the birds, as well as a +few lizards and one kind of frog, migrated south and colonised the new +land. It is probable that the very peculiar lizard-like reptile of New +Zealand--the "tuatara" or Sphenodon--entered its area at a still +earlier stage of surface change. That creature (only 20 in. long) is +the only living representative of very remarkable extinct reptiles +which lived in the area which now is England, and, in fact, in all +parts of the world, during the Triassic period, further behind the +chalk in date than the chalk is behind our own day. For ages, this +"type" with its peculiar beak-like jaws, has survived only in New +Zealand. Living specimens have been brought to this country, and are +to be seen at the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park. Having +received, as it were, a small cargo of birds and reptiles, but no +hairy, warm-blooded quadruped, no mammal, New Zealand became at the +end of the chalk-period detached from the northern continent, and +isolated, and has remained so ever since. Migratory birds from the +north visited it, and at a late date two kinds of bat reached it and +established themselves. + +Thus we are prepared for the very curious state of things in this +large tract of land. Looking at New Zealand as it was a thousand years +ago, we find there were no mammals living on it excepting a couple of +bats and the seals (so-called sea lions, sea elephants, and others) +which frequent its coasts. There were 180 species of birds, and many +of these quite peculiar to the island. Many of the birds showed in the +absence of any predatory enemies--there being no carnivorous +quadrupeds to hunt them or their young--a tendency to lose the power +of flight, and some had done so altogether. The gigantic, wingless +Moas--allied to the ostrich and the cassawary--had grown up there, and +were the masters of the situation. There were many species of +these--one of great height--one fourth taller than the biggest known +ostrich; others with short legs of monstrous thickness and strength. +Allied to these are the four species of Kiwi or apteryx, still +existing there. They are very strange wingless birds, about the size +of a large Dorking fowl. The Kiwis are still in existence, but the +Moas and some of the other flightless birds have died out since the +arrival of the Maori man, who killed and ate them. + +A bird which was believed sixty years ago both by the natives and +white men to have become extinct, the Takahe, or Notornis, was known +by its bones and from the traditions of the natives. Much to the +delight of naturalists, four live specimens of it were obtained at +intervals in the last century, the last as late as 1898. The beautiful +dark plumage and thick and short beak, which is bright red, as are the +legs, are well known from the two specimens preserved in the Natural +History Museum. The Notornis is a heavy, flightless "rail." Rails are +remarkable for their size and variety in New Zealand, where there are +twenty species, some of them very sluggish in flight, or like +Notornis, flightless (the wood hens). Amongst the flightless birds of +New Zealand is a duck, as helpless as the heaviest farmyard product, +and yet a wild bird, and then there are the penguins, which swim with +their wings, but never fly, and belong entirely to the southern +hemisphere. Many species are found on the shores of New Zealand. Other +noteworthy birds of New Zealand are the twelve kinds of cormorants, +the wry-bill plover, the only bird in the world with its beak turned +to one side, the practically flightless Kakapo, or ground parrot +(Stringops), the Huia, a bird like a crow in appearance, whose male +has a short straight beak, whilst the female has a long one, greatly +curved; the detested Kea, the parrot which kills the sheep, introduced +by the colonists, by digging out with its beak from their backs the +fat round the kidneys; also very peculiar owls and wrens, and the fine +singing bell-birds. + +The peculiarity of the indigenous animals of New Zealand is seen not +only in the absence of mammals and the abundance of remarkable birds, +many of them flightless, but also in the fact that there are no snakes +in this vast area--no crocodiles, no tortoises--only fourteen small +kinds of lizard (seven Geckoes and seven Skinks), and only one species +of frog (and that only ever seen by a very few persons)! There were +fish in the rivers when settlers arrived there, but none very +remarkable. Insects and flies of every kind, scorpions, spiders, +centipedes, land-snails and earth-worms were all flourishing in the +forests of New Zealand a thousand years ago, serving in large measure +as the food of birds, fish and lizards. The great island continent of +Australia, 1,500 miles away, is peculiar enough in its living +products, quite unlike the rest of the world in its egg-laying +duck-mole and spiny ant-eater, and in its abundant and varied +population of pounched mammals or marsupials, emphasized by the +absence (except for two or three peculiar little mice and the +late-arrived black-fellow and bush-dog) of the regular type called +"placental" mammals which inhabit the rest of the world. The rest of +the world except New Zealand! Strange as Australia is, New Zealand is +yet stranger. Long as the isolation of Australia has endured, and +archaic and primitive in essential characters as is its living freight +of animals and plants navigated (as it were) in safety and isolation +to our present days, yet New Zealand has a still more primitive, a +more ancient cargo. When we divide the land surfaces of the earth +according to their history as indicated by the nature of their living +fauna and flora and their geological structure, and the fossilised +remains of their past inhabitants, it becomes necessary to separate +the whole land surface into two primary sections: (_a_) New Zealand, +and (_b_) the rest of the world, "Theriogoea," or the land of beasts +(mammals). Then we divide Theriogoea into (1) the land of Marsupials +(Australia) and (2) the land of Placentals (the rest of the world). +This last great area is divisible according to the same principles +into the great northern belt of land, the Holarctic region and the +(three not equally distinct) great southward-reaching land +surfaces--the Neo-tropical (South America), the Ethiopian (Africa, +south of the Sahara), and the Oriental (India and Malay). + +The bird-ruled quietude of New Zealand was disturbed 500 years ago by +the arrival of the Polynesian Islanders, the Maoris, in their canoes. +They brought with them three kinds of vegetables which they +cultivated, a dog and a kind of rat. The dogs soon died out, but the +rat has remained, and is considered to have done little or no harm. It +was not one of the destructive proliferous rats of the northern +hemisphere. The Maoris hunted the big birds--the Moas and others--for +their flesh, and ate their eggs, and it is probable that they caused +or accelerated the extinction of the Moa and two or three other birds. +In the north island they nearly exterminated the white heron, the +plumes being valued by them. On the whole, very little damage was done +to the natural products of the islands by the Maoris. "It was with the +advent of the Europeans," says Mr. John Drummond, F.L.S., in his +interesting and well-illustrated book on 'The Animals of New Zealand,' +"that destruction began in earnest. It seemed as if they had been +commanded to destroy the ancient inhabitants." They killed right and +left, and, in addition, burnt up the primæval forests and bushes till +a great part of the flora was consumed. It was never a very varied or +strong one, consisting only of some 1,400 species, which are now in +large proportion vanishing, whilst 600 species of plants, most of them +introduced accidentally rather than intentionally by the European +settlers, have taken their place. + +Here I may state the great principle which, in regard to plants as +well as animals, determines the survival of intruders from one region +to another. It appears that setting aside any very special and +peculiar adaptations to quite exceptional conditions in a given area, +the living things, whether plants or animals, which are brought to or +naturally arrive at such an area, survive and supplant the indigenous +plants and animals of that area, if they themselves are kinds +(species) produced or formed in a larger or more variegated area; that +is to say, formed under severer conditions of competition and of +struggle with a larger variety of competitors, enemies and adverse +circumstances in general. Thus, the plants of remote oceanic islands +are destroyed, and their place and their food are taken by the more +hardy "capable" plants of Continental origin. And, in accordance with +the same principle, as Darwin especially maintained, the plants of the +northern hemisphere, produced as they are in a wide stretching belt +of land--Europe, temperate Asia, and North America--always push their +way down the great southern stretches of land (by cool mountain +roadways), and when they have arrived in the temperate regions of the +southern hemisphere, they have at various geological epochs starved +out, taken the place of, or literally "supplanted" the native southern +flora, which in every case has been formed on a narrow, restricted and +peninsula-like area. The same greater "potency" of the animals of the +Holartic region has in the past established them as intruders into +South America, Ethiopia and India, and has led to the inevitable +survival of the animal of the large area when brought into contact +with the animal of the small and restricted area. Applying these +principles to New Zealand, we see that no country, no area of land, +could have a worse chance for the survival of its animal and vegetable +children than that mysterious land, isolated for many millions of +years in the ocean, the home of the Tuatara, solitary survivor of an +immensely remote geologic age, the undisturbed kingdom of huge birds, +so easy-going that they have ceased to fly, and have even lost their +wings! + +The first European animals to settle there were the pigs benevolently +introduced into New Zealand by Captain Cook. They multiplied apace, +served for food and sport both to the natives and the early settlers, +and destroyed the ancient Triassic reptile, the Tuatara, which only +survives now on rocky islands near the coast. In less than a hundred +years the settlers had introduced sheep and cattle, and looked upon +the abounding pigs as a scourge. In 1862, pig-hunters were employed to +destroy them--three hunters would kill 20,000 pigs in a year. Dogs, +cats and the European rats came in early with the settlers, and +destroyed the flightless birds, driving them for shelter to the +mountains. As the settlers increased they shot down millions of birds +of all kinds, and burnt up grass, shrub, and bush. At last, a few +years ago, the Government established three islands as "sanctuaries," +where many of the more interesting birds survive, and are increasing. + +Besides cattle and sheep (which have flourished exceedingly) the +colonists introduced rabbits, pheasants and the honey-bee, and later +on quails, hares, deer, and trout. Clover depends on bees for its +fertilisation and seeding. White clover, taken over there for pasture, +did not seed in New Zealand until the honey-bee was imported in 1842, +and later, as they could not seed red-clover without it, the colonists +had to introduce the humble-bee, and the red-clover now also seeds +freely and the imported farm-beasts have their accustomed food. +Besides the animals already named, the colonists have introduced +ferrets and weasels, to reduce the destructive excess of the imported +rabbits; and they, whilst failing to subdue the rabbits, have +themselves become a serious nuisance. Of small birds there were +introduced the house-sparrow, which is too prolific, and is hated by +the farmers; the greenfinch, a pest; the bullfinch, a failure. The +introduced skylark and the blackbird (alas! poor colonists) are not +the joy of New Zealanders--the farmers hate them. The European +settlers had the audacity to introduce also the most beautiful and +beloved of all birds, our own perfect "Robin Redbreast," and they add +want of manners to their violent and uncalled-for hospitality by +speaking ill of this sweetest and brightest of living things. After +this, I am rather glad to report that the esteemed table-delicacies, +pheasants and partridges, don't get on well in New Zealand; nor do +turtle-doves. The thrush is spreading and meets with the approval of +the hypercritical New Zealander. The hedge-sparrow, the chaffinch and +the goldfinch have flourished abundantly, but the linnet has failed. A +very interesting and important problem for New Zealand naturalists to +solve is that as to why one bird succeeds in their remote land and +another does not. The British trout have grown to an enormous size and +are destroying all other fresh-water life. Imported red-deer flourish, +and are shot with great satisfaction by the colonists. The American +elk has been introduced in the South Island, and the mountain +goats--the ibex and the thar--are to be acclimatized in the mountains, +so that unnatural sport may flourish in this ancient land of quiet and +of wondrous birds, turned topsy-turvy by enlightened man. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +THE EFFACEMENT OF NATURE BY MAN + + +Very few people have any idea of the extent to which man since his +upgrowth in the late Tertiary period of the geologists--perhaps a +million years ago--has actively modified the face of Nature, the vast +herds of animals he has destroyed, the forests he has burnt up, the +deserts he has produced, and the rivers he has polluted. It is, no +doubt, true that changes proceeded, and are proceeding, in the form of +the earth's face and in its climate without man having anything to say +in the matter. Changes in climate and in the connections of islands +and continents across great seas and oceans have gone on, and are +going on, and in consequence endless kinds of animals and plants have +been, some extinguished, some forced to migrate to new areas, many +slowly modified in shape, size, and character, and abundantly +produced. But over and above these slow irresistible changes there has +been a vast destruction and defacement of the living world by the +uncalculating reckless procedure of both savage and civilised man +which is little short of appalling, and is all the more ghastly in +that the results have been very rapidly brought about, that no +compensatory production of new life, except that of man himself and +his distorted "breeds" of domesticated animals, has accompanied the +destruction of formerly flourishing creatures, and that, so far as we +can see, if man continues to act in the reckless way which has +characterised his behaviour hitherto, he will multiply to such an +enormous extent that only a few kinds of animals and plants which +serve him for food and fuel will be left on the face of the globe. It +is not improbable that even these will eventually disappear, and man +will be indeed monarch of all he surveys. He will have converted the +gracious earth, once teeming with innumerable, incomparably beautiful +varieties of life, into a desert--or, at best, a vast agricultural +domain abandoned to the production of food-stuffs for the hungry +millions which, like maggots consuming a carcase, or the irrepressible +swarms of the locust, incessantly devour and multiply. + +Another glacial period or an overwhelming catastrophe of cosmic origin +may fortunately, at some distant epoch, check the blind process of +destruction of natural things and the insane pullulation of humanity. +But there are, it seems probable, many centuries of what would seem to +the men of to-day deplorable ugliness and cramping pressure in store +for posterity unless an unforeseen awakening of the human race to the +inevitable results of its present recklessness should occur. Whatever +may be the ultimate fate of the earth under man's operations, we +should endeavour at this moment to delay, as far as possible, the +hateful consummation looming ahead of us. + +It is interesting to note a few instances of man's destructive action. +Even in prehistoric times it is probable that man, by hunting the +mammoth--the great hairy elephant--assisted in its extinction, if he +did not actually bring it about. At a remote prehistoric period the +horses of various kinds which abounded in North and South America +rapidly and suddenly became extinct. It has been suggested, with some +show of probability, that a previously unknown epidemic disease due to +a parasitic organism--such as those which we now see ravaging the +herds of South Africa--found its way to the American continent. And it +is quite possible that this was brought from the other hemisphere by +the first men who crossed the Pacific and populated North America. + +To come to matters of certainty and not of speculation, we know that +man by clearing the land, as well as by actively hunting and killing +it, made an end of the great wild ox of Europe, the aurochs or urus of +Cæsar, the last of which was killed near Warsaw in 1627. He similarly +destroyed the bison, first in Europe and then (in our own days) in +North America. A few hundred, carefully guarded, are all that remain +in the two continents. He has very nearly made an end of the elk in +Europe, and will soon do so completely in America. The wolf and the +beaver were destroyed in these British Islands about 400 years ago. +They are rapidly disappearing from France, and will soon be +exterminated in Scandinavia and Russia and in Canada. At a remote +prehistoric period the bear was exterminated by man in Britain and the +lion driven from the whole of Europe, except Macedonia, where it still +flourished in the days of the ancient Greeks. It was common in Asia +Minor a few centuries ago. The giraffe and the elephant have departed +from South Africa before the encroachments of civilised man. The day +is not distant when they will cease to exist in the wild state in any +part of Africa, and with them are vanishing many splendid antelopes. +Even our "nearest and dearest" relatives in the animal world, the +gorilla, the chimpanzee and the ourang, are doomed. Now that man has +learnt to defy malaria and other fevers the tropical forest will be +occupied by the greedy civilised horde of humanity, and there will be +no room for the most interesting and wonderful of all animals, the +man-like apes, unless (as we may hope in their case, at any rate) such +living monuments of human history are made sacred and treated with +greater care than are our ancient monuments in stone. Smaller +creatures, birds like the dodo and the great auk and a whole troop of +others less familiar, have disappeared and are disappearing under the +human blight. Even some beautiful insects--the great copper butterfly +and the swallow-tail butterfly--have been exterminated in England by +human "progress" in the shape of the drainage of the Fen country. + +But the most repulsive of the destructive results of human expansion +is the poisoning of rivers, and the consequent extinction in them of +fish and of well-nigh every living thing, save mould and putrefactive +bacteria. In the Thames it will soon be a hundred years since man, by +his filthy proceedings, banished the glorious salmon, and murdered the +innocents of the eel-fare. Even at its foulest time, however, the +Thames mud was blood-red (really "blood-red," since the colour was due +to the same blood-crystals which colour our own blood) with the swarms +of a delicate little worm like the earth-worm, which has an +exceptional power of living in foul water, and nourishing itself upon +putrid mud. In old days I have stood on Hungerford Suspension Bridge +and seen the mud-banks as a great red band of colour, stretching for a +mile along the picture when the tide was low. In smaller streams, +especially in the mining and manufacturing districts of England, +progressive money-making man has converted the most beautiful things +of nature--trout streams--into absolutely dead corrosive chemical +sewers. The sight of one of these death-stricken black filth-gutters +makes one shudder as the picture rises, in one's mind, of a world in +which all the rivers and the waters of the sea-shore will be thus +dedicated to acrid sterility, and the meadows and hill-sides will be +drenched with nauseating chemical manures. Such a state of things is +possibly in store for future generations of men! It is not "science" +that will be to blame for these horrors, but should they come about +they will be due to the reckless greed and the mere insect-like +increase of humanity. + + * * * * * + +In the destruction of trees and all kinds of plants man has +deliberately done more mischief than in the extermination of animals. +By inadvertence he has completely abolished the strange and remarkable +trees and shrubs of islands--such as St. Helena--where the herbivorous +animals introduced by him have made short work of the wonderful native +plants isolated for ages, and have completely exterminated them, so +that they are "extinct." We have just had the opportunity of studying +one of the few oceanic islands--"Christmas Island" (forty square miles +in area)--untouched by man until thirty years ago. It lies 200 miles +south of Java. Its native inhabitants, plants and animals were +carefully examined, and specimens secured twenty years ago. There were +then no human inhabitants, and the island was rarely visited. It was, +however, about twelve years ago handed over by its proprietors to some +thousand Chinamen to dig and ship the 15,000,000 tons of valuable +"phosphate" (at a profit of a guinea a ton), which forms a large part +of its surface. And now from time to time we shall have reports of +this result of contact with man, and through him with all the plagues +and curses of the great world. Already a remarkable shrew-mouse and +two native species of rat, peculiar to the island, have disappeared. +Dr. Andrews ("Proceedings of the Zoological Society," February 2nd, +1909), who has twice explored the island, gives evidence that this is +caused by a parasitic disease (due to a trypanosome like those which +cause sleeping-sickness and various horse and cattle diseases) +introduced by the common black rats from the ships which now frequent +the island. The further progress of destruction will be carefully and +minutely observed and recorded--but not arrested! + +It is, however, in cutting down and burning forests of large trees +that man has done the most harm to himself and the other living +occupants of many regions of the earth's surface. We can trace these +evil results from more recent examples back into the remote past. The +water supply of the town of Plymouth was assured by Drake, who brought +water in a channel from Dartmoor. But the cutting down of the trees +has now rendered the great wet sponge of the Dartmoor region, from +which the water was drawn all the year, no longer a sponge. It no +longer "holds" the water of the rainfall, but in consequence of the +removal of the forest and the digging of ditches the water quickly +runs off the moor, and subsequently the whole countryside suffers from +drought. This sort of thing has occurred wherever man has been +sufficiently civilised and enterprising to commit the folly of +destroying forests. Forests have an immense effect on climate, causing +humidity of both the air and the soil, and give rise to moderate and +persistent instead of torrential streams. Spain has been irretrievably +injured by the cutting down of her forests in the course of a few +hundred years. The same thing is going on, to a disastrous extent, in +parts of the United States. Whole provinces of the Thibetan borders of +China have been converted into uninhabitable, sandy desert, where +centuries ago were fertile and well-watered pastures supporting rich +cities, in consequence of the reckless destruction of forest. In fact, +whether it is due to man's improvident action or to natural climatic +change, it appears that the formation of "desert" is due in the first +place to the destruction of forest, the consequent formation of a +barren, sandy area, and the subsequent spreading of what we may call +the "disease" or "desert ulcer," by the blowing of the fatally exposed +sand and the gradual extension, owing to the action of the sand +itself, of the area of destroyed vegetation. Sand-deserts are not, as +used to be supposed, sea-bottoms from which the water has retreated, +but areas of destruction of vegetation--often (though not always) both +in Central Asia and in North Africa (Egypt, etc.), started by the +deliberate destruction of forest by man, who has either by artificial +drainage starved the forest, or by the simple use of the axe and fire +cleared it away. + +The great art of irrigation was studied and used with splendid success +by the ancient nations of the near East. They converted deserts into +gardens, and their work was an act of compensation and restitution to +be set off against the destructive operations of more barbarous men. +But they, too, long ago were themselves destroyed by conquering hordes +of more ignorant but more war-like men, and their irrigation works and +the whole art of irrigation perished with them. One of the absolutely +necessary works to be carried out by civilised man, when he has ceased +to build engines of war and destruction, is the irrigation of the +great waterless territories of the globe. A little home-work of the +kind has been carried on in Italy regularly year by year since the +days of Leonardo da Vinci, and our Indian Government is slowly +copying the Italian example. In Egypt we have built the great dam of +Assouan, whilst in Mesopotamia it is proposed to re-establish the +irrigation system by which it once was made rich and fertile. But, as +has lately been maintained by Mr. Rose Smith in his book, "The Growth +of Nations," the vast possibilities of irrigation have not yet been +realised by the business men of the modern world. Millions of acres in +the warmer regions of the earth now unproductive can be made to yield +food to mankind and rich pecuniary profits to the capitalists who +shall introduce modern engineering methods and a scientific system of +irrigation into those areas. + +The whole problem of the increase of the more civilised races and the +necessary accompanying increase of food-production depends for its +solution on the speedy introduction of irrigation methods into what +are now the great unproductive deserts of the world. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +THE EXTINCTION OF THE BISON AND OF WHALES + + +The almost complete and very sudden disappearance of the bison in +North America thirty years ago does not seem to have been due simply +to the slaughter of tens of thousands of these creatures by men who +made a commerce of so-called "buffalo-rugs." These "hunters" miscalled +the unhappy bison, which is not a buffalo, nor at all like that +creature, just as they gave the name "elk" to the great red deer (the +wapiti), although there was a real elk, the so-called "moose," staring +them in the face. The sudden extinction of the bison resulted partly +from the slaughter and partly from the breaking up of the herds and +the interference with their free migration by the trans-continental +railway. An interesting discovery made only this year, in regard to +the closely allied European bison, suggests that disease may also have +played a part in the destruction of the North American bison. A few +hundred individuals of the European bison are all that remain at this +day. Some are carefully preserved by the Emperor of Russia in a tract +of suitable country in Lithuania and another herd exists in the +Caucasus. Some of the Lithuanian bison have lately been dying in an +unaccountable way, and on investigating a dead individual a Russian +observer has discovered a "trypanosome" parasite in the blood. The +trypanosomes are microscopic corkscrew-like creatures, of which many +kinds have become known within the last ten or fifteen years. They are +"single cells"--that is to say, "protoplasmic" animalcules of the +simplest structure--provided with a vibrating crest and tail by means +of which they swim with incessant screw-like movement through the +blood. They rarely exceed one thousandth of an inch in length +exclusive of the tail. The poisons which they produce by their life in +the blood are the cause of the sleeping-sickness of man (in tropical +Africa), of the horse and cattle disease carried by the tsetze fly, +and of many similar deadly diseases--a separate "species" being +discovered in each disease. A peculiar species is found in the blood +of the common frog, and another in that of the sewer-rat. The last +discovery of a "trypanosome" is that of one in the blood of the +African elephant, announced to the Royal Society by Sir David Bruce. + +It is a matter of great interest that a trypanosome has been found in +a death-stricken herd of European bison. It suggests that one of the +causes of the disappearance of the bison, both in Europe and America, +may be the infection of their blood by trypanosomes, and that +possibly, whilst a freely migrating and vigorous herd would not be +extensively infected, a dwindled and confined herd may be more liable +to infection, and that thus the final destruction of an already +decadent animal may be brought about. It would now be a matter of +extreme interest to ascertain whether the few dwindled herds of bison +in North America are infected by trypanosomes, and no doubt we shall +soon receive reports on the subject. + +A most interesting branch of this subject of the unthinking +extermination of great animals by man is that of the extermination of +whales. Man is worrying them out of existence. Some are already beyond +saving. It would be interesting to know whether there are trypanosomes +or other blood-parasites in whales. I suppose that no one has an +ill-feeling towards whales. Most of us have never seen a whale, either +alive or in the flesh--only a skeleton. I have seen a live whale or +two off the coast of Norway; and I once, in conjunction with my friend +Moseley, when we were students at Oxford, cut up one, 18 ft. long, +which had been exhibited for three weeks during the summer in a tent +on the shores of the Bristol Channel, where we purchased it. The +skeleton of that whale is now in the museum at Oxford, but happily the +smell of it exists only in my memory. The late Mr. Gould, who produced +such beautifully illustrated books on birds, told me that he once fell +into the heart of a full-sized whale, which he was cutting up. He +narrowly escaped drowning in the blood. The whale was not very fresh, +and Mr. Gould was unapproachable for a week. + +An immense number of whales are killed every year for their oil, and +their highly nutritious flesh is wasted. There was an attempt some +years ago to make meat extract from it. Some which was brought to me +reminded me of the whale on the shores of the Bristol Channel. I do +not know if the extract has proved palatable to other people. The +Norwegians are specially expert in killing whales. They have been +allowed to set up "factories" on the west coast of Ireland and in the +Shetlands, where they kill whales with harpoons fired from guns, cut +them up, and boil down the fat. + +Whales are warm-blooded creatures which suckle their young, and have +been developed in past geological times from land animals--the +primitive carnivora--which were also the ancestors of dogs, bears, +seals and cats. Whales have lost the hind limbs altogether and +developed the forelegs into fingerless flippers, whilst the tail is +provided with "flukes" like the fins of a fish's tail in shape, but +horizontal instead of vertical. The whole form is fish-like, the skin +smooth and hairless. It is a remarkable conclusion arrived at by the +investigators of the remains of extinct animals that a little +four-legged creature the size of a spaniel, and intermediate in +character between a hedgehog and a dog, was the common ancestor from +which have been derived such widely different creatures as the whale +and the bat, the elephant and the man. We can at the present day trace +with some certainty the gradual modifications of form by which in the +course of many millions of years the change from the primitive, +dog-like hedgehog to each of those four living "types" has proceeded. + +The whales of to-day are divided into the toothed whales and the +whalebone whales. The great cachalot or sperm whale is captured, +chiefly in the Southern Ocean, and killed in large numbers for the +sake of the "spermaceti," or "sperm oil," which forms the great mass +of its head, but he is so fierce and active that he is not easily +captured, and is not in immediate danger of extinction. The smaller +toothed whales, the killers, dolphins, and porpoises (though one of +them--the bottle-nosed whale--is being killed out), are not as yet +seriously threatened by commercial man. But the whalebone whales are +in a parlous state. The Right whales, as they are called, are the +chief of these. They are huge creatures, 60 ft. in length, with an +enormous head: it is as much as one third of the total length in the +Greenland whale. Besides the Greenland species there are four other +"right whales," which may be considered as four varieties of one +species. The head is not quite so large in them. The Biscay whale is +one of them, and was hunted until it was exterminated in the Bay of +Biscay, when the whalers, extending their operations further and +further north, came upon the Greenland whale, which proved to be even +more valuable than the Biscay species. The huge mouth in these two +whales has hanging from its sides within the lips a series of long +bars or planks of wonderfully strong, elastic, horny substance--the +"baleen" or "whalebone"--each plank being as much as eight or in rare +cases twelve feet long. Following close on one another and having +hairy edges, they act as strainers so as to separate the floating food +of the whale from the water which rushes through its mouth as it +swims. The whalebone is of great value commercially, as is also the +fat or oil. A hundred years ago whalebone fetched only £25 a ton, now +the same quantity fetches more than £1,500. The Rorquals, or +"Finners," have smaller heads and mouths; their whalebone is so short +as to be valueless, but they grow to even greater size than the Right +whales and are found on our own coasts and all over the world. The +Humpback whale is one of these "Finners," distinguished by its +excessively long flippers and huge bulk. + +The Biscay whale was the first of these great creatures to be hunted. +The Basques began its capture as early as the ninth century. It was +exterminated by them in the Bay of Biscay, and only saved from +complete extinction elsewhere by the discovery of the more valuable +Arctic or Greenland whale. The capture of the Greenland whale began in +1612; and in 200 years the unceasing pursuit of this species had +driven it to the remote places of the Arctic Ocean. It is now so rare +that it is not worth while to send a ship out for the purpose of +hunting it, and it will probably never recover its numbers. An idea of +its value and former abundance may be formed from the fact that +between 1669 and 1778 it yielded to 1,400 Dutch vessels about 57,000 +individuals, of which the baleen and oil produced a money value of +four million pounds sterling. Of late years a single large Greenland +whale would bring £900 for its whalebone and £300 for its oil. These +two great Right whales having been practically exterminated, the +merciless hunt has now been turned on to the wilder and less valuable +Finback whales or Finners. In these days of steam and electric light +the Arctic night is robbed of its terrors, and the whale chase goes on +very fast. The shot harpoon was invented in 1870 by Sven Foyn, a +Norwegian, and is the most deadly and extraordinary weapon ever +devised by man for the pursuit of helpless animals. It is this +invention (a commercial, not a scientific, discovery!) which has, in +conjunction with swift steamships, rendered the destruction of whales +a matter of ease and deadly certainty. It is this which is being used +on the Irish as on the Scandinavian coast, resulting in the pollution +of the air and water by the carcases of the slaughtered beasts from +which the oil has been extracted. This revolting butchery, without +foresight or intelligence, is carried on solely for the satisfaction +of human greed, and apparently will be stopped only by the extinction +of the yet remaining whales. In forty years in the middle of last +century the whale fishery of the United States yielded 300,000 whales +to 20,000 voyages, and a value of sixty-million pounds sterling in +baleen and oil. It is calculated that in the thousand years during +which man has hunted the great whales not less than a million +individuals have been captured. Man's skill and capacity have now +become such that he will soon have cleared the ocean of these +wonderful creatures, since, like the bison, the whales cannot persist +when harried and interfered with beyond a certain limited degree. + +It appears that the curious musk ox, which now lives on the fringe of +the Arctic circle, and in the glacial period existed in the Thames +Valley, is doomed. There (as in similar instances in other lands), the +comparatively harmless savage race of men (in this case the Eskimo), +whose weapons did not enable them seriously to threaten the existence +of the animals around them, have now obtained efficient firearms. The +musk ox is consequently now between two lines of fire--that of the +white hunter on the south, and of the Eskimo on the north. + +From regions far remote from the Arctic complaints come of an even +more reckless destruction of helpless animals. Perhaps our legislators +may feel some personal concern in this case, since it is neither more +nor less than the approaching extinction of the turtle, the true green +turtle of City fame, to eat which at the invitation of City +dignitaries is one of the few duties of a legislator. Both the green +turtles and the tortoise-shell turtles are being destroyed +indiscriminately on the coast of Florida and in many West Indian +Islands by brutal, careless, "white" beach-combers and idlers. By +proper care of the eggs and young the turtles could easily be +increased enormously in number, and a regulated capture of them be +made to yield a legitimate profit. But neither the United States +Government nor our own take any steps to restrain promiscuous +slaughter of the turtles which come to the shore in order to lay their +eggs. Soon the City Fathers will have to do without the "green fat" +and their wives without tortoise-shell combs. It will serve them +right. Such destitution in these--and, be it noted, in many other +matters--will deservedly fall upon those who ignorantly, wilfully, and +contentedly neglect to take steps to understand and to control the +withering blight created by modern man wherever he sets his foot. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +MORE ABOUT WHALES + + +The possibility of protecting whales from wanton slaughter by man is, +no doubt, a matter open to discussion. Protection has, however, been +accorded to one particular whale in an exceptional instance. Passenger +steamers along the coast of New Zealand used to call at a station in a +narrow inlet of the coast, called Pelorus Sound. A black whale, said +to be of the kind known as Risso's Grampus, of about 14 ft. in length, +was apparently a settled inhabitant of this channel, and used to +follow the steamers and accompany them through the sound. He became +famous and popular, and was known as "Pelorus Jack." He was always +looked for and recognised by the sailors and passengers. Certain +savagely destructive persons on one of these steamers--to the horror +and disgust of the New Zealand world--made an attempt to shoot +"Pelorus Jack." It is stated, and believed by sailors, that ill-luck +consequently fell on that steamer. On its next voyage it was avoided +by the whale, who had never failed to welcome friendly and +non-aggressive steamships, and on a third voyage the steamer was +wrecked. The feeling about "Pelorus Jack" was so strong that his +Excellency the Governor of New Zealand, Lord Plunket, signed, on +September 26th, 1904, an Order in Council, protecting "Pelorus Jack" +by name for five years, and any person interfering with him was made +liable to a fine of £100. + +It appears that under the New Zealand Sea Fisheries Act of 1894 the +Governor in Council is empowered to make regulations protecting any +fish. Although zoologically not belonging to the class of fishes, +whales are, technically and for all legal and commercial purposes +"fishes," since they are "fished" and are the booty of "fisheries." I +believe that no Governor, Council, or Secretary of State has power in +the British Islands similar to that conferred on the Governor of New +Zealand by a modern State which desires good and effective government. +Such power is needed in all parts of the British Empire. + +The whales, as compared with their dog-like ancestors, are modified to +a more extreme degree and in more special ways than is the case in any +other group of which we can trace the history over a similar period of +development. This is connected with the complete change of conditions +of life to which these mammals ("warm-blooded, air-breathing +quadrupeds which suckle their young") have become adapted in passing +from a terrestrial to a marine existence. Other mammalian ancestors +have independently taken to a marine life and given rise to +strange-looking adaptations, namely, the seals and also the Manatee +and Dugong known as the Sirenians (so-called because they give rise to +sailors' stories of mermaids and sirens), but these are far less +changed, less modified than the whales. The whales have acquired a +completely fish-like form. They frequently have a large back fin, and +have lost the hind legs altogether. The horizontally spread flukes of +the whale's tail have nothing to do with the hind legs, whereas the +common seal's hind legs are tied together so as to form a sort of +tail. In the bigger whales, sunk deep in the muscle and blubber, we +find on each side well forward in the body (not near the tail) a pair +of isolated, unattached bony pieces, which are the hip-bone and +thigh-bone--all that remains of the hind limbs. The neck is so short +that in many whales the seven neck-bones, or "vertebræ," are all fused +into one solid piece not longer than a single ordinary vertebra, and +showing six grooves marking off the seven vertebræ which have united +into one. + +The head is more strangely altered than any other part of the whale. +The jaws are greatly elongated--so as to give a beak-like form in +all--but this region is specially long and narrow in the "beaked +whales" known to zoologists by the name Ziphius, in which it consists +of a solid piece of ivory-like bone, which we find in a fossil state +in the bone-bed of the Suffolk Crag. Farther back the bones of the +face are suddenly widened in all whales and porpoises, and in many +these bones grow up into enormous crests and ridges. The nostrils, +instead of being placed, as in other animals, at the free end of the +snout or beak, lie far back, so as to form the "blow-hole," which is +near the middle of the head. + +The circulation of the blood and the breathing of whales (including in +that term the smaller kinds known as dolphins and porpoises) is still +a matter which is not properly understood. When a Greenland whale is +struck by the harpoon it dives vertically downward to a depth of 400 +fathoms and more (nearly half a mile), and occasionally wounds the +skin and bones of its snout by violently striking it on the +sea-bottom. It remains below as long as forty minutes. Physiologists +wish to know how the sudden compression of the air in the lungs in +plunging to this depth and the equally sudden expansion of it in +rising from such a depth is dealt with in the whale's economy, so as +to prevent the absolutely deadly results which would ensue were any +ordinary air-breathing animal subjected to such changes of pressure. +Man can endure without suffering an increase of pressure of the gases +in his body amounting to three or four times that to which he is +accustomed, as, for instance, when working in the compressed air of +"caissons." But the whale goes suddenly to a depth at which the +pressure is eighty times that at the surface! Then, too, man (and +other terrestrial animals), after being subjected (for instance, in a +caisson) to a pressure of four times that which exists on the free +surface of the earth, is liable to be killed by suddenly passing from +that high pressure into the ordinary air. The gases dissolved in his +blood expand like the gas in a bottle of soda-water when the cork is +drawn, and the bubbles interfere with the circulation of the blood in +the finer blood-vessels (of especial importance being those of the +brain and spinal cord), and the serious illness and the death of +workmen has frequently resulted from this cause. Accordingly, the men +who work in such "compressed atmospheres" are now made to pass slowly +through a series of three chambers, in each of which the pressure is +diminished and brought nearer to that of the normal atmosphere. By +spending twenty minutes in each chamber successively, the workman is +gradually brought to the pressure of the outer world, and his blood +prevented from "effervescing." But what must be the condition of the +gases in the blood of a whale which suddenly rises from 400 fathoms to +the surface? The whale suddenly goes, not from a pressure of four +times the normal ("four atmospheres," as it is called), but from +eighty times the normal, to the normal pressure. + +Whales, and also seals, are provided with remarkable special networks +of blood-vessels in various parts of the body (called "retia +mirabilia" by the old anatomists,) and also with a thick layer of fat +under the skin, the "blubber" (some feet deep in a large whale), full +of blood-vessels. It has been suggested that these networks of +blood-vessels are related in some way both to the power of keeping +long (forty minutes!) under water without breathing, and also to the +freedom of these marine monsters from the deadly effects of rapid +passage from great to little gas-pressure. But it is only a +suggestion; no one has shown how the networks can act so as to effect +these results, and I am quite unable to say how they do so. Another +suggestion worth considering is that the whale completely empties the +gas out of its lungs by muscular compression of the body-wall before +diving, so that there is no gas left in the body to be acted on by the +increased pressure resulting from its sinking into deep water. I am +unable to deal with this puzzle myself, and I have not been able to +find any naturalist or physiologist who can throw light on the matter. + +The toothed whales are nearer to the ancestral primitive whales than +are the whalebone whales. The latter are the more peculiar, and +specially adapted with their huge heads and mouths (a third the length +of the whole animal in the Greenland whale), and their palisades of +350 whalebone planks, some 12 ft. long, on each side of the mouth. I +may mention in parenthesis that, whilst whalebone has been largely +superseded by light steel in the making of umbrellas and corsets, its +value remains, or rather increases, on account of its being the only +material for making certain kinds of large brushes which are used in +cleaning machinery. The whalebone whales have, when first born, very +minute teeth hidden in their jaws; they disappear. Some of the toothed +whales have teeth only in the lower jaw (the cachalot), others (the +beaked whales, Ziphius, etc.) have only one pair or two pairs of +teeth. These are tusk-like, and placed in the lower jaw. Others (the +dolphins and porpoises) have very numerous peg-like teeth in each jaw. +Some of them feed on fish, pursuing the shoals of fish in parties or +"schools." + +A truly terrible toothed whale is the large porpoise called the killer +(known to zoologists as _Orca gladiator_). He is the wolf of the sea, +far more active and formidable than any shark, about 10 ft. long, and +strangely marked in black, white, and yellow. He has jaws bigger than +those of the largest Mugger crocodile, and a tremendous array of +fang-like teeth. These killers hunt the Right (or whalebone) whales in +all parts of the world, in parties of three to twelve. They hang on to +the lips of their enormous "quarry," and once they get a hold, in +twenty minutes tear it into pieces. Often they satisfy themselves with +tearing out and devouring the gigantic tongue of their victim, leaving +the carcase untouched. + +The narwhal and the white whale, or Beluga, which furnishes +"porpoise-hide" for boots and laces, are both caught in northern seas, +and form a closely allied pair, similar to one another in shape and +colour (the one white, the other grey), and of moderate size, about 12 +ft. long. They both feed on cuttle-fish and minute shrimps, but the +Beluga has many teeth and the narwhal (with the exception of some +rudimentary ones) only a single pair, and these in the front of the +upper jaw. In the female narwhal their pair of teeth remain +permanently concealed in the jaw bone, and so does the right side one +of the male. But the left side tooth of the male grows to an enormous +size, projecting horizontally in front of the narwhal to a length of +seven or eight feet. It is a powerful weapon, and is formed of ivory +spirally grooved on the surface. The narwhal was called "the unicorn +fish" or "Monoceras" in ancient times, and its spirally marked tooth +was confused with the horn of the terrestrial unicorn--the rhinoceros. +Very rarely the right tooth of the male narwhal grows to full size +side by side with the left tooth. A specimen showing this +double-toothed condition is in the Natural History Museum. A most +curious fact, quite unexplained as yet, is that the spiral grooving on +both the teeth turns in the same direction; in both it is like a +spiral staircase in mounting which (starting from the base implanted +in the jaw) you continually turn to the right. Now, in all other +animal structures which have a spiral growth and are paired--one +belonging to the right side of the animal, the other to the left, as, +for instance, the spirally marked horns of antelopes and the more +loosely coiled horns of sheep and cattle--one of the pair forms a +right-handed and the other a left-handed spiral. They are +"complementary"; one is the reflection, as in a mirror, of the other. +Why the narwhal's tooth does not conform to this rule is a mystery. + +It is a remarkable fact that only a few whales and porpoises eat fish +or the flesh of other whales. The large toothed-whales, including the +cachalot or sperm whale, and also the Ziphius-like beaked whales, live +upon cuttle-fish. And it seems that they know where to hunt for this +special article of diet and how to find it in quantity (probably at +great depths in the ocean), which naturalists do not. Many new kinds +of cuttle-fish have been discovered by examining the contents of the +stomach of captured whales. The sperm whale feeds on monster squid +and poulp such as we rarely, if ever, see alive or washed up on the +shore. The hide of these cuttle-fish-eating whales and porpoises is +scratched and scarred by the hooks attached to the suckers on the arms +of the great cuttle-fish, and a test of the genuine character of +ambergris which forms as a concretion in the intestine of the +sperm-whale is that it contains fragments of the horny beaks and hooks +of the cuttle-fish digested by the whale. The food of the whalebone +whales consists of minute crustacea and of the little floating +molluscs known as _Clio borealis_, as big as the last joint of one's +little finger, which float by millions in the Arctic Ocean. The +whalebone whales, after letting their huge mouths fill with the +sea-water in which these creatures are floating, squeeze it out +through the strainer formed by the whalebone palisade on each side--by +raising the tongue and floor of the mouth. The water passes out +through the strainer, and the nourishing morsels remain. + +Some fossil jaws and skulls of whales from miocene and older tertiary +strata are known which tend to connect the toothed whales with those +mammals not modified for marine life. But the approach in that +direction does not go very far. The extinct whales called Squalodon +have tusk-like front teeth and molars which have the outline of a leaf +with a coarsely "serrated" edge. The bones of the face are also, in +them, more like those of an ordinary mammal than is the case with +modern toothed whales. The snout is not so long, and the bones which +form it are a little more like those of a fox's snout than are those +of the dolphin's "beak." But on the whole it is astonishing how little +we know of fossil whales. We have yet to discover ancestral forms +possessing small hind legs, but whale-like in other features. Some day +a lucky "fossil-hunter" will come upon the remains of a series of +whale-ancestors probably of Eocene age, and we shall know the steps by +which a quadruped was changed into a cetacean--just as we have +recently learned the history of the development of elephants. We know +even less about the ancestry of bats and the steps by which they +acquired their wings than we do about the history of whales. These +discoveries await future generations of men when "cuttings" and "pits" +and quarries shall have been made in the rest of the earth's surface +to the same extent as they have been in Europe and in parts of the +American continent. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT SCIENCE + + +I submit, as the final chapter of this little volume of miscellaneous +diversions, a few words intended to meet what has become a recurrent +misrepresentation and absurdity for which the annual congress of the +British Association for the Advancement of Science furnishes the +opportunity. Glib writers in various journals regularly seize this +occasion to pour forth their lamentations concerning the incapacity of +"science" and the disappointment which they experience in finding that +it does not do what it never professed to do. They deplore that those +engaged in the making of that new knowledge of nature which we call +"science" do not discover things which they never set out to discover +or thought it possible to discover, although the glib gentlemen who +write, with a false assumption of knowledge, pretend that these things +are what the investigations of scientific inquirers are intended to +ascertain. We read, at that season of the year, articles upon "What +Scientists do not know" and "The Bankruptcy of Science," in which it +is pretended that the purpose of science is to solve the mystery, or, +as it has been called, the "riddle," of the universe, and it is +pointed out, with something like malicious satisfaction, that, to +judge by the proceedings of the congress of scientific investigators +just concluded, we are no nearer a solution of that mystery than men +were in the days of Aristotle: and it is added that false hopes have +been raised, and that matters which were once considered settled have +again passed into the melting-pot! + +This kind of lamentation is not only (if I may use an expressive term) +"twaddle," but is injurious misrepresentation, dangerous to the +public welfare. The actual attitude of the investigators and makers of +new knowledge of nature is stated in a few words which I wrote ten +years ago: "The whole order of nature, including living and lifeless +matter--from man to gas--is a network of mechanism, the main features +and many details of which have been made more or less obvious to the +wondering intelligence of mankind by the labour and ingenuity of +scientific investigators. But no sane man has ever pretended, since +science became a definite body of doctrine, that we know or ever can +hope to know or conceive of the possibility of knowing, whence this +mechanism has come, why it is there, whither it is going, and what +there may or may not be beyond and beside it which our senses are +incapable of appreciating. These things are not 'explained' by science +and never can be." + +So much for those who reproach science with the non-fulfilment of +their own unwarranted and perfectly gratuitous expectations. + +When, however, having created in their readers' minds an unreasonable +sense of failure and a mistrust of science, such writers go on to make +use of the want of confidence thus produced, in order to throw doubt +upon the real conquests of science--the new knowledge actually made +and established by the investigators of the last century--it becomes +necessary to say a little more. The public is told by these false +witnesses that science has "dogmas," and that men of science are less +satisfied than they were with the "dogmas" of the last century. +Science has no dogmas; all its conclusions are open to revision by +experiment and demonstration, and are continually so revised. But +science takes no heed of empty assertion unaccompanied by evidence +which can be weighed and measured. "_Nullius in verba_" is the motto +of one of the most famous Societies for the promotion of the knowledge +of nature--the Royal Society of London. + +It is especially in the area of biology--the knowledge of living +things--that the enemies of science make their most audacious +attempts to discredit well-ascertained facts and conclusions. They +tell their readers that those greater problems of the science (as they +erroneously term them), such as the nature of variation among +individuals, the laws of heredity, the nature of growth and +reproduction, the peculiarities of sex, the characteristics of habits, +instinct, and intelligence, and the meaning of life itself, have +advanced very little beyond the standpoint of the first and greatest +biologist, Aristotle. This statement is vague and indefinite; the +conclusion which it suggests is absolutely untrue. Aristotle knew next +to nothing about the mechanism of the processes in living things above +cited. At the present day we know an enormous amount about it in +detail. But when men of science are told that they do not know the +"nature" of this and the "meaning" of that, they frankly admit that +they do not know the real "nature" (for the expression is capable of +endless variety of significance) of anything nor the real "meaning" +not only of life, but of the existence of the universe, and they say, +moreover, that they have no intention or expectation of knowing the +ultimate "nature" or the ultimate "meaning" (in a philosophical sense) +of any such things. These are not problems of science--and it is +misleading and injurious to pretend that they are. + +I recently read an essay in which the writer is good enough to say +that, owing to the work of Darwin, the fact that the differences which +we see between organisms have been reached by a gradual evolution, is +not now disputed. That, at any rate, seems to be a solid achievement. +But he went on to declare that when we inquire by what method this +evolution was brought about biologists can return no answer. That +appears to me to be a most extraordinary perversion of the truth. The +reason why the gradual evolution of the various kinds of organisms is +not now disputed is that Darwin showed the method by which that +evolution can and must be brought about. So far from "returning no +answer," Darwin and succeeding generations of biologists do return a +very full answer to the question, "By what method has organic +evolution been brought about?" Our misleading writer proceeds as +follows: "The Darwinian theory of natural selection acting on minute +differences is generally considered nowadays to be inadequate, but no +alternative theory has taken its place." This is an entirely erroneous +statement. Though Darwin held that natural selection acted most widely +and largely on minute differences, he did not suppose that its +operation was confined to them, and he considered and gave importance +to a number of other characteristics of organisms which have an +important part in the process of organic evolution. The assertion that +the theory of natural selection as left by Darwin "is now generally +held to be inadequate" is fallacious. Darwin's conclusions on this +matter are generally held to be essentially true. It is obvious that +his argument is capable of further elaboration and development by +additional knowledge, and always was regarded as being so by its +author and by every other competent person. But that is a very +different thing from holding Darwin's theory of natural selection to +be "inadequate." It is adequate, because it furnishes the foundation +on which we build, and it is so solid, complete and far-reaching that +what has been added since Darwin's death is very small by comparison +with his original structure. + +Lastly, we are told by the anonymous writer already quoted that at the +present time discussion is chiefly concentrated on the question as to +whether life is dependent only on the physical and chemical properties +of the living substance, protoplasm, or whether there is at work an +independent vital principle which sharply separates living from +non-living matter! And the obvious and common-place conclusion is +announced that "the ultimate problems of biology are as inscrutable as +of old." All ultimate problems are, I admit, inscrutable. It is, on +the other hand, the business, and has been the glory and triumph, of +science, to examine and solve problems which are scrutable! It is +certainly not the case that, at the present time, discussion is +concentrated on the question of the existence of a vital principle. +There is absolutely no discussion in progress on the subject. No one +even knows or attempts to state what is meant by "a vital principle." +It is a phrase which belongs to "the dead past," when men of science +had not discovered that you get no nearer to understanding a difficult +subject by inventing a name to cover your ignorance. Thirty-five years +ago the word "vitality" was used as some few philosophising writers +are now using the term "vital principle." Huxley at that time attacked +the views of Dr. Lionel Beale, who called in the aid of a mystical +"principle," which he named "vitality," in order to "account for" some +of the remarkable properties of protoplasm. As Huxley pointed out, +this supposed principle "accounted for" nothing, since it was merely a +name for the phenomena for which it was supposed to account. Huxley +pointed out that many chemical compounds have remarkable +properties--as assuredly have the chemical compounds which are present +in protoplasm--but men of science have not found it to help them in +investigating the mechanism of those properties to ascribe them to +mystical intangible "principles" differing from the agencies at work +in other less exceptional substances. + +Thus, for instance, water, though a very common and abundant chemical +compound formed by the union of two chemical elements, hydrogen and +oxygen, which, at the temperature and pressure of the earth's surface, +are gaseous, offers many strange properties to our consideration not +shared by other compounds of gaseous elements. For instance, hydrogen, +when it combines with gaseous elements other than oxygen, does not +form a compound which is liquid at the temperature and pressure of the +earth's surface. Its combinations with nitrogen, with chlorine, with +fluorine, and even some with the solid element carbon, are under those +conditions gaseous. What a special character, therefore, has water! +Moreover, water, though a liquid, yet behaves in a most peculiar way +when either cooled below ordinary temperatures or heated above them. +It becomes solid when cooled, but expands at the same time, so that it +is less dense when solid than when liquid--a most unusual proceeding! +And when heated it is converted into vapour, but with a loss or +"making latent" of heat, which, like its behaviour when solidifying, +indicates that water is endowed with a very peculiar structure or +mechanism in the putting together of its molecules. We might call +these combined peculiarities of water "aquosity," and as we certainly +cannot say why water should possess the lot of them, whilst other +compounds of either hydrogen or of oxygen, or, in fact, of any other +elements, do not possess this combination, we might say that their +presence is due to "the aqueous principle," or "aquosity," which +enters into water when it is formed, but does not exist in other +natural bodies, and, indeed, "sharply separates aqueous from +non-aqueous matter." + +Happily, though such a view would have been considered high philosophy +200 years ago, no one is deluded at the present day into the belief +that by calling the remarkable properties of water "aquosity" you have +added anything to our knowledge of them. Yet those who invoke "a vital +principle" or "vitality" in connection with protoplasm should, if they +were consistent, apply their method to the mystery of water. Let us +see how it would run. Though we may (the "vitalists" or "aquosists" +would say) experiment with water, determine exactly the temperature +and pressure at which these remarkable phenomena are exhibited, though +we may determine its surface tension and its crystalline form, and +even though we may weigh exactly the proportion of hydrogen to oxygen +in its composition, yet when we look at a drop of water, there it is, +a wonder of wonders, endowed with "aquosity," the ultimate nature of +which is as inscrutable now as it was to Aristotle! It is perfectly +true (we concede to the "aquosists") that the properties of water are +not accounted for by science; that is to say that, though we can +imagine the molecular and atomic mechanism necessary for their +exhibition, we cannot offer any suggestion as to how it is that that +particular mechanism is present in the chemical compound which the +chemist denotes as H_{2}O, and is not present in other compounds, +still less can we say "why" these remarkable properties are +present--that is to say, for what purpose, although we know that if +they were not present the whole history and economy of our globe would +be utterly different from what it is. Nevertheless, in spite of their +ignorance about the real nature of water, men of science do not invent +an "aqueous principle" or "aquosity" with the notion of "explaining" +water. And I have yet to hear of any duly trained and qualified +biologist who is prepared at the present moment to maintain the +existence of a "vital principle," or of a force to be called +"vitality," supposed to be something different in character and +quality from the recognised physical forces, and having its existence +alongside, yet apart from, the manifestations of those forces. + +Lord Justice Fletcher Moulton recently said: "The advance in science +takes the workers in science more and more beyond the ken of the +ordinary public, and their work grows to be a little understood and +much misunderstood; and I have felt that, as in many other cases, the +need would come for interpreters between those who are carrying on +scientific research and the public, in order to explain and justify +their work." Probably everyone will agree with the Lord Justice: but +what are we to say of those responsible owners of great journals who +not only abstain from providing such interpretation but allow +anonymous and incompetent writers to mislead the public? Is the +literary critic of a prosperous journal employed to write the City +article? + +There has been a repetition this year (1912) of the usual +misrepresentation on the occasion of the meeting of the British +Association. The President, Professor Schäfer, had let it be known +that his address would be concerned with the chemistry of living +processes, the gradual passage of chemical combinations into the +condition which we call "living," and the possibility of bringing +about this passage in the chemical laboratory without the use of +materials already elaborated by previously existing "living" material. +The announcement was immediately made in some "newspapers" that +"startling revelations" were to be made by the President, that he was +"to throw a bomb-shell" into the camp, etc. He did nothing of the +kind. He gave an admirable and clear statement of the progress during +recent years towards the realisation of the construction in the +laboratory by chemical methods of the complex chemical combination +which exhibits those "activities"--essentially movements, unions, +disruptions and re-unions of extremely minute particles--which we call +"living." The conclusion that such a gradual building up has taken +place in past ages of the history of our earth was formulated more +than forty years ago by Spencer, Tyndall, Huxley, Haeckel, and others, +and has not been seriously attacked in the interval, but, on the +contrary, generally accepted as a legitimate inference from the facts +ascertained and the theory of the evolution or gradual development of +what we call the material universe. + +Professor Schäfer expressed the opinion, anticipated and shared by +many other investigators, that the progress of chemical experiment +renders it probable that further steps, culminating in the successful +construction of "living" matter in the laboratory, are not beset by +any insurmountable obstacles and will sooner or later be accomplished. +There was no "bomb-shell" in this statement, and no excitement as its +result among scientific workers nor amongst those who do not neglect +to study the writings of the "interpreters" desired by Lord Justice +Moulton. There are still some such interpreters carrying on the work +of Huxley and of Tyndall, those great interpreters whose writings +should be studied and treasured as classics. + +The most interesting result of the attempt to treat the discussions +at Dundee as a newspaper "sensation," comparable to the reports +relating to motor-car bandits or the pronouncements of political +factions, has been its complete failure. Serious thinkers of all +schools seem to have adjusted themselves to the more modern way of +regarding natural processes even when these relate to matters of such +age-long interest to mankind as the inception of "living" organisms +and of conscious humanity itself. There are fewer now than there were +forty years ago who insist on the older barbaric "explanations" of +these marvels. Few indeed venture to assert the existence of +"spirits"--ghostly essences of various grades and capacities which +enter the bodies of living things and escape from them like so much +gas when they die.[10] The vegetable soul, the animal soul and the +human soul are no longer imagined and described to us as definite +"things" supposed to "explain" the complex processes which go on +respectively in plants, animals and men. + +Seventy years ago the facts which were known as to that changing state +of material substances which we describe by the words "hot" and +"cold," were held to be "explained" by the existence of a ghostly +thing called "caloric," which was believed to enter various bodies and +make them hot and then to escape from them and so make them cold. +Primitive man multiplied such ways of explaining each and every +process going on in the world around him and in himself. Mere words or +names lost their first simple signification and acquired permanent +association with imaginary spirits, demons, and haunting intangible +ghosts, by reference to which our ancestors in their earliest +"reasoning" explained to their own satisfaction the strange and sudden +events fraught to them with the daily experience of pain or pleasure. +The whole world was held by them to be "bewitched," and it was only by +slow and painful steps that some knowledge of the persistent order of +Nature was obtained, whilst the phantastic imagery which had served in +its place, bit by bit disappeared. "Caloric" was a late lingerer, and +was only got rid of when what had been so called was shown to be a +vibration of particles--a mode or kind of motion--a "state," and not a +mysterious fluid existing as a thing in itself. + +Just as "caloric" no longer serves and is no longer possible as the +supposed "explanation" of the behaviour of bodies in the hot or the +cold state, so we no longer require the supposition of "spirits" of +one kind or another as "explanations" of the living state of those +products of our mother earth which are called plants, animals and men. +In neither case do such "spirits" really "explain" the state in +question; they are only names for the activity which it was imagined +that they served to explain. These states or affections of matter +remain as wonderful and important to us as they were before. But by +giving up the prehistoric notions about them which have been handed on +until the present day we can think of them in a more satisfactory +way--a way which avoids the multiplication of unnecessary imaginary +agencies and the conception of an intermittent and hesitating Creative +Power, and substitutes for it the operation of continuous orderly and +preordained forces. + +It is true that we can neither ascertain nor imagine either the +beginning or the end of the orderly process which we discover in +operation to-day. We can trace it back by well-established inference +into a remote past, but a beginning of it is not within the +possibilities of human thought. We can, with reasonable probability of +being correct, foretell the changes and developments which time will +bring in many combinations and dispositions which are the +manifestations of that process at this moment of time, but we cannot +even think of a cessation of that process. + +Should we ask, "Why does this process exist?" there is no answer. +Nature does not reply; an awful silence meets our inquiry. The +reproach is often urged against science--the knowledge of the order of +nature--that it does not tell us "why we are here." Man inevitably +desires to know why he is here; but "science," as that word is now +understood, does not profess or even seek to answer that question, +although the false hope has been raised in ignorant minds, sometimes +by knavery, sometimes by honest delusion, that it could do so. By +knowledge of nature mankind can escape much suffering and gain the +highest happiness, but that is all that we can hope for from it. We +shall never satisfy our curiosity; we shall never know in the same way +as we know the order of nature, why--to what end, for what +purpose--that order and not another order exists. + +It is very generally supposed that it is the business and profession +of science "to explain" things--that is to say, to show how this or +that must and does come about in consequence of the operation of the +great general properties of matter, known as the "laws" of chemistry +and physics. This is true enough, but it is equally the work of +science to assert that of many things for which mankind demands "an +explanation," there is no explanation. It is further the work and the +service of science to destroy and to remove from men's minds the +baseless and pretended "explanations" which are no explanations but +causes of error, blindness, and suffering. + +Science, the destroyer of "explanations," is the purifier of the human +mind, its cleanser from the crippling infection of prehistoric error +and from domination by the terrifying nightmares of our half-animal +ancestry. + +Finally, in reference to the very ancient attempt to "explain" life +and consciousness by the assertion that they are due to "spirits" +which enter the bodies of animals and men, I must caution the reader +against supposing that--for those who do not accept the belief that +such spirits exist--the gravity and mystery of the manifestations of +life and consciousness are in any way lessened. Those who reject the +belief in "spirits" do not in consequence reject the ethical and moral +doctrines which have too long been rendered "suspect" by the shadow +cast over them by ancient superstition. The disappearance of that +shadow will reveal friends where enemies were supposed to be +entrenched. + +At the meeting of the British Association in 1879 I delivered an +address on "Degeneration: a Chapter in Darwinism." In the printed +version of that address, published in the same year, there are some +statements bearing on the matter above discussed which I reproduce +here, since I can still make them with conviction. + +"Assuredly it cannot lower our conception of man's dignity if we have +to regard him as 'the flower of all the ages' bursting from the great +stream of life which has flowed on through countless epochs with one +increasing purpose, rather than as an isolated miraculous being, put +together abnormally from elemental clay, and cut off by such +portentous origin from his fellow animals and from that gracious +nature to whom he yearns with filial instinct, knowing her, in spite +of fables, to be his dear mother." + +"A certain number of thoughtful persons admit the development of man's +body by natural processes from ape-like ancestry, but believe in the +non-natural intervention of a Creator at a certain definite stage in +that development, in order to introduce into the animal which was at +that moment a man-like ape, something called 'a conscious soul' in +virtue of which he became an ape-like man." + +"No one ventures to deny, at the present day, that every human being +grows from the egg _in utero_, just as a dog or a monkey does; the +facts are before us and can be scrutinised in detail. We may ask of +those who refuse to admit the gradual and natural development of man's +consciousness in the ancestral series, passing from ape-like forms +into indubitable man, 'How do you propose to divide the series +presented by every individual man in his growth from the egg? At what +particular phase in the embryonic series is the soul with its +consciousness implanted? Is it in the egg? in the foetus of this +month or that? in the new-born infant? or at five years of age?' This, +it is notorious, is a point upon which churches have never been able +to agree; and it is equally notorious that the unbroken series +exists--that the egg becomes the foetus, the foetus the child, and +the child the man. On the other hand we have the historical +series--the series, the existence of which is inferred by Darwin and +his adherents. This is a series leading from simple egg-like organisms +to ape-like creatures, and from these to man. Will those who cannot +answer our previous inquiries undertake to assert dogmatically in the +present case at what point in the historical series there is a break +or division? At what step are we to be asked to suppose that the order +of nature was stopped, and a non-natural soul introduced?... The +theologian is content in the case of individual development of the egg +to admit the fact of individual evolution, and to make assumptions +which lie altogether outside the region of scientific inquiry. So, +too, it would seem only reasonable that he should deal with the +historical series, and frankly accept the natural evolution of man +from lower animals, declaring dogmatically, if he so please, but not +as an inference of the same order as are the inferences of science, +that something called the soul arrived at any point in the series +which he may think suitable. At the same time, it would appear to be +sufficient even for the purposes of the theologian, to hold that +whatever the two above-mentioned series of living thing contain or +imply, they do so as the result of a natural and uniform process of +development, that there has been one 'miracle' once and for all +time.... + +"The difficulties which the theologian has to meet when he is called +upon to give some account of the origin and nature of the soul +certainly cannot be said to have been increased by the establishment +of the Darwinian theory. For from the earliest days of the Church, +ingenious speculation has been lavished on the subject. + +"St. Augustine says (I give a translation of the Latin original): +'With regard to the four following opinions concerning the soul--viz. +(1) whether souls are handed on from parent to child by propagation; +or (2) are suddenly created in individuals at birth; or (3) existing +already elsewhere are divinely sent into the bodies of the new-born; +or (4) slip into them of their own motion--it is undesirable for +anyone to make a rash pronouncement, since up to the present time the +question has never been discussed and decided by catholic writers of +holy books on account of its obscurity and perplexity--or, if it has +been dealt with, no such treatises have hitherto come into my hands.'" + +There must be many who will be glad to shake off the illusion of +explanation which is no explanation, and to escape from the futile +discussion of the possible behaviour of spirits and ghosts born in the +dreams of primæval savages. They will gladly accept the conclusion +that the marvellous qualities and activities of living things and that +inscrutable wonder, the mind of man, are outcomes of the orderly +process of Nature no less than are the miracles which we call a +buttercup, a rock crystal, a glacier, the noon-day sun! We can trace, +by observation and inference, the orderly growth and development of +these things from simpler things; we can discover continuity and +common properties determining their diverse existence. But we find no +explanation of them; we cannot account for the properties of matter +which determine them, nor for the existence of anything--whether it be +a drop of water, or human thought and consciousness. There are no +special and exceptional "incomprehensibles" requiring us to assume +that special "principles" or "spirits" are concerned with them whilst +the rest are to be accounted for and explained in a more general way. +Wherever we push our inquiries we come equally and inevitably, as did +primæval man, to that of which there is no explanation--the perpetual +miracle, the miracle of the nature of things, of existence itself. The +man of science bows his head in the presence of this all-pervading +mystery. He is called arrogant by those who arrogate to themselves the +right to "explain" things and to deal in vital spirits and +metaphysical nostrums for that purpose. From time to time they fill +with their proclamations the great silence which he has learnt to +accept with reverence and humility. As the years roll on their hollow +phrases are less frequent, and acquire the pathetic interest which +belongs to all such decaying remnants of the thought and effort of the +childhood of man. + +It seems still to be necessary to insist that it is not reasonable to +assume as an indisputable fact that man can arrive at an "explanation" +of existence and the nature of things. This assumption has been made +in the past, and, by a well-known trick of advocacy, it has been +argued that since science fails to "explain" these things, the old +prehistoric fancies as to spirits--even though they "explain" nothing +and have themselves to be "explained"--hold the field and must be +accepted as true. There is an alternative, and that is to admit our +ignorance. No man has ever seen or knows what is on the other side of +the moon, that which does not face our earth. There are few amongst us +who, in this admitted and complete state of ignorance, would persist +in declaring that we must accept as true the suppositions of ancient +races of men as to the existence there of men-like creatures, or would +be deluded by the argument that since we do not know what is there the +suppositions in question must be accepted as true. We cannot, as a +matter of observation, assert that these supposed beings are not +there, but we can find no reason to make it appear even probable, nor +any means of proving by experiment, that they are. We refuse to +entertain such suppositions. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[Footnote 10: This subject is discussed and some account of the +chemical nature of protoplasm given in my book, "Science from an Easy +Chair" (Methuen, 1910), which consists of a first series of papers +similar to those which are collected in the present volume as a +"Second Series." The chapters in the earlier volume to which I wish to +direct the reader's attention are those entitled "The Universal +Structure of Living Things," "Protoplasm, Life and Death," "Chemistry +and Protoplasm," "The Simplest Living Things."] + + +_Printed in Great Britain by_ + +UNWIN BROTHERS, LIMITED + +WOKING AND LONDON + + + + + +A FEW OF Messrs. Methuen's PUBLICATIONS + + +Abraham (George D.). ON ALPINE HEIGHTS AND BRITISH CRAGS. Illustrated. +Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. net. + +Atkinson (T. D.). ENGLISH ARCHITECTURE. Illustrated. _Fifth Edition._ +Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +Baggally (W. Wortley). TELEPATHY, GENUINE AND FRAUDULENT. Crown 8vo, +3s. 6d. net. + +Bain (F. W.).-- + + In the Great God's Hair (_Seventh Edition_); A Draught of the Blue + (_Seventh Edition_); An Incarnation of the Snow (_Fourth Edition_); + A Mine of Faults (_Fifth Edition_); A Digit of the Moon (_Thirteenth + Edition_); The Livery of Eve (_Second Edition_); A Heifer of the + Dawn (_Tenth Edition_); An Essence of the Dusk (_Fourth Edition_); + The Descent of the Sun (_Eighth Edition_); The Ashes of a God + (_Third Edition_); Bubbles of the Foam (_Third Edition_); A Syrup of + the Bees (_Second Edition_); The Substance of a Dream (_Second + Edition_). Fcap. 8vo, 5s. net each. + +Baring-Gould (S.). THE TRAGEDY OF THE CÆSARS: A Study of the +Characters of the Cæsars of the Julian and Claudian Houses. +Illustrated. _Seventh Ed._ Royal 8vo, 15s. net. + +Beckford (Peter). THOUGHTS ON HUNTING. In a series of Familiar Letters +to a Friend. With an Introduction and Notes by J. Otho Paget. +Illustrated. _Fourth Edition._ Demy 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. + +Belloc (H.). PARIS. Illustrated. _Fourth Edition._ Crown 8vo, 8s. 6d. +net. + +HILLS AND THE SEA. _Tenth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. Also Fcap. +8vo, 2s. net. + +ON NOTHING. _Fourth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. Also Fcap. 8vo, 2s. +net. + +ON EVERYTHING. _Fourth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. Also Fcap. 8vo, +2s. net. + +ON SOMETHING. _Third Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. Also Fcap. 8vo, 2s. +net. + +FIRST AND LAST. _Second Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +THIS AND THAT AND THE OTHER. _Second Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +Bloemfontein (Bishop of). ARA COELI: An Essay in Mystical Theology. +_Seventh Edition._ Crown 8vo, 5s. net. + +FAITH AND EXPERIENCE. _Third Edition._ Crown 8vo, 5s. net. + +THE CULT OF THE PASSING MOMENT. _Fourth Edition._ Crown 8vo, 5s. net. + +THE ENGLISH CHURCH AND RE-UNION. Crown 8vo, 5s. net. + +SCALA MUNDI. Crown 8vo, 4s. 6d. net. + +Boswell (A. Bruce). POLAND AND THE POLES. Illustrated. Demy 8vo, 12s. +6d. net. + +Braid (James), Open Champion, 1901, 1905, 1906, 1908, and 1910. +ADVANCED GOLF. Illustrated. _Tenth Edition._ Demy 8vo, 14s. net. + +Brown (George E.). A BOOK OF R.L.S. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. +net. + +Bulley (M. H.). ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL ART. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 7s. +6d. net. + +Burns (C. Delisle). AN INTRODUCTION TO INTERNATIONAL POLITICS. Crown +8vo, 5s. net. + +Chesterton (G. K.). THE BALLAD OF THE WHITE HORSE. _Fifth Edition._ +Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. _Tenth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. Also Fcap. +8vo, 2s. net. + +TREMENDOUS TRIFLES. _Sixth Ed._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +ALARMS AND DISCURSIONS. _Second Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +A MISCELLANY OF MEN. _Third Ed._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +WINE, WATER, AND SONG. _Tenth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 1s. 6d. net. + +Clouston (Sir T. S.). THE HYGIENE OF MIND. Illustrated. _Seventh +Edition._ Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. net. + +Clutton-Brock (A.). THOUGHTS ON THE WAR. _Ninth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, +1s. 6d. net. + +WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN? _Fourth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 5s. net. + +ESSAYS ON ART. _Second Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 5s. net. + +Cole (G. D. H.). SOCIAL THEORY. Crown 8vo, 5s. net. + +CHAOS AND ORDER IN INDUSTRY. Crown 8vo. 7s. net. + +Conrad (Joseph). THE MIRROR OF THE SEA: Memories and Impressions. +_Fourth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 5s. net. Also Fcap. 8vo, 2s. net. + +Day (Harry A.). SPADE-CRAFT. _Second Edition._ Crown 8vo, 2s. net. + +VEGECULTURE. _Second Edition._ Crown 8vo, 2s. net. + +THE FOOD PRODUCING GARDEN. _Second Edition._ Crown 8vo, 2s. net. + +Dickinson (G. Lowes). THE GREEK VIEW OF LIFE. _Twelfth Edition._ Crown +8vo, 5s. net. + +Ditchfield (P. H.). THE VILLAGE CHURCH. Illustrated. _Second Edition._ +Crown 8vo, 6s. net. + +THE ENGLAND OF SHAKESPEARE. Illustrated. Crown 8vo, 6s. net. + +Dobson (J. F.). THE GREEK ORATORS. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. + +Einstein (A.). RELATIVITY, THE SPECIAL AND THE GENERAL THEORY OF. +Crown 8vo, 5s. net. + +Fyleman (Rose). FAIRIES AND CHIMNEYS. _Fifth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 3s. +6d. net. + +THE FAIRY GREEN. _Third Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 3s. 6d. net. + +Gibbins (H. de B.). THE INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND. With 5 Maps and +a Plan. _Twenty-sixth Edition._ Crown 8vo, 5s. + +Gibbon (Edward). THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. Edited, +with Notes, Appendices, and Maps, by J. B. Bury. Illustrated. Seven +Volumes. Demy 8vo, each 12s. 6d. net. Also Seven Volumes. Crown 8vo, +each 7s. 6d. net. + +Glover (T. R.). THE CONFLICT OF RELIGIONS IN THE EARLY ROMAN EMPIRE. +_Eighth Edition._ Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. net. + +THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION AND ITS VERIFICATION. _Second Edition._ Crown +8vo, 6s. net. + +POETS AND PURITANS. _Second Edition._ Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. net. + +VIRGIL. _Fourth Edition._ Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. net. + +FROM PERICLES TO PHILIP. _Third Edition._ Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. net. + +Grahame (Kenneth), Author of "The Golden Age." THE WIND IN THE +WILLOWS. With a Frontispiece by Graham Robertson. _Tenth Edition._ +Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. + +Hall (H. R.). THE ANCIENT HISTORY OF THE NEAR EAST FROM THE EARLIEST +PERIOD TO THE PERSIAN INVASION OF GREECE. Illustrated. _Fourth +Edition._ Demy 8vo, 16s. net. + +Hare (Burnham). THE GOLFING SWING. _Fourth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 2s. +net. + +Harper (Charles G.). THE AUTOCAR ROAD-BOOK. Four Volumes, with Maps. +Crown 8vo, each 8s. 6d. net. + + I. South of the Thames (_Second Edition_). II. North and South Wales + and West Midlands. III. East Anglia and East Midlands. IV. North of + England and South of Scotland. + +Herbert (Sydney). NATIONALITY. Crown 8vo, 5s. net. + +Higgs (Henry). A PRIMER OF NATIONAL FINANCE. Crown 8vo, 5s. net. + +Hilton (O.). THE HEALTH OF THE CHILD. A Manual for Mothers and Nurses. +_Second Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 2s. net. + +Hobson (J. A.), M.A. TAXATION IN THE NEW STATE. Crown 8vo, 6s. net. + +Hutton (Edward)-- + + The Cities of Umbria (_Fifth Edition_); The Cities of Lombardy; The + Cities of Romagna and the Marches; Florence and Northern Tuscany, + with Genoa (_Third Edition_); Siena and Southern Tuscany (_Second + Edition_); Venice and Venetia; Rome (_Third Edition_); The Cities of + Spain (_Seventh Edition_); Naples and Southern Italy. Illustrated. + Crown 8vo. Each 8s. 6d. net. + +COUNTRY WALKS ABOUT FLORENCE. Illustrated. _Second Edition._ Fcap. +8vo, 6s. net. + +Inge (W. R.). CHRISTIAN MYSTICISM. (The Bampton Lectures for 1899.) +_Fourth Edition._ Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. + +Innes (Mary). SCHOOLS OF PAINTING. Illustrated. _Second Edition._ +Crown 8vo, 8s. net. + +Jenks (E.). A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLISH LAW. Crown 8vo, 10s. 6d. net. + +Jones (J. Harry). SOCIAL ECONOMICS. Cr. 8vo, 6s. net. + +Julian (Lady), Anchoress at Norwich, A.D. 1373. REVELATIONS OF DIVINE +LOVE. A Version from the MS. in the British Museum. Edited by Grace +Warrack. _Seventh Edition._ Crown 8vo, 5s. net. + +Kidd (Benjamin). THE SCIENCE OF POWER. _Sixth Edition._ Crown 8vo, 7s. +6d. net. + +SOCIAL EVOLUTION. A New Ed. Demy 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. + +Kipling (Rudyard). BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS. _205th Thousand. Fifty-first +Edition._ Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. Also Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net; leather, +7s. 6d. net. Also a Service Edition. Two Volumes. Square Fcap. 8vo. +Each 3s. net. + +THE SEVEN SEAS. _152nd Thousand. Thirty-third Edition._ Crown 8vo, 7s. +6d. net. Also Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net; leather, 7s. 6d. net. Also a Service +Edition. Two Volumes. Square Fcap. 8vo. Each 3s. net. + +THE FIVE NATIONS. _126th Thousand. Twenty-third Edition._ Crown 8vo, +7s. 6d. net. Also Fcap. 8vo, 6s, net; leather, 7s. 6d. net. Also a +Service Edition. Two Volumes. Square Fcap. 8vo. Each 3s. net. + +DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES. _94th Thousand. Thirty-fourth Edition._ Crown +8vo, 7s. 6d. net. Also Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net; leather, 7s. 6d. net. Also +a Service Edition. Two Volumes. Square Fcap. 8vo. Each 3s. net. + +THE YEARS BETWEEN. _Thousand._ Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. Also Fcap. 8vo, +6s. net; leather, 7s. 6d. net. Also a Service Edition. Two Volumes. +Square Fcap. 8vo. Each 3s. net. + +HYMN BEFORE ACTION. Illuminated. Fcap. 4to, 1s. 6d. net. + +RECESSIONAL. Illuminated. Fcap. 4to, 1s. 6d. net. + +TWENTY POEMS FROM RUDYARD KIPLING. Fcap. 8vo, 1s. net. + +Lankester (Sir Ray). SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR. First Series. +Illustrated. _Thirteenth Edition._ Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. Also Fcap. +8vo, 2s. net. + +SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR. Second Series. _Third Edition._ Crown 8vo, +7s. 6d. net. + +DIVERSIONS OF A NATURALIST. Illustrated. _Third Edition._ Crown 8vo, +7s. 6d. net. + +Leblanc-Maeterlinck (Georgette). MAETERLINCK'S DOGS. Translated by +Alexander Teixeira de Mattos. Illustrated. _Second Edition._ Crown +8vo, 6s. 6d. net. + +Lewis (Edward). EDWARD CARPENTER: An Exposition and an Appreciation. +_Second Edition._ Crown 8vo, 6s. net. + +Lodge (Sir Oliver). MAN AND THE UNIVERSE. _Ninth Edition._ Crown 8vo, +7s. 6d. net. Also Fcap. 8vo, 2s. net. + +THE SURVIVAL OF MAN: A Study in Unrecognised Human Faculty. _Seventh +Edition._ Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. Also Fcap. 8vo, 2s. net. + +REASON AND BELIEF. Fcap. 8vo, 2s. net. + +THE SUBSTANCE OF FAITH. Fcap. 8vo, 2s. net. + +MODERN PROBLEMS. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. Also Fcap. 8vo, 2s. net. + +RAYMOND: Or Life and Death. Illustrated. _Twelfth Edition._ Demy 8vo, +15s. net. + +THE WAR AND AFTER. _Eighth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 2s. net. + +Lucas (E. V.). THE LIFE OF CHARLES LAMB. Illustrated. _Sixth Edition._ +Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. net. + +A WANDERER IN FLORENCE. Illustrated. _Seventh Edition._ Crown 8vo, +10s. 6d. net. + +A WANDERER IN HOLLAND. Illustrated. _Sixteenth Edition._ Crown 8vo, +10s. 6d. net. + +A WANDERER IN LONDON. Illustrated. _Nineteenth Edition, Revised._ +Crown 8vo, 10s. 6d. net. + +LONDON REVISITED. Illustrated. _Third Edition._ Crown 8vo, 10s. 6d. +net. + +A WANDERER IN PARIS. Illustrated. _Fourteenth Edition._ Crown 8vo, +10s. 6d. net. Also Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +A WANDERER IN VENICE. Illustrated. _Third Edition._ Crown 8vo, 8s. 6d. +net. + +THE OPEN ROAD: A Little Book for Wayfarers. _Twenty-ninth Edition._ +Fcap. 8vo, 6s. 6d. net. India paper, 7s. 6d. net. + +THE FRIENDLY TOWN: A Little Book for the Urbane. _Tenth Edition._ +Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +FIRESIDE AND SUNSHINE. _Tenth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +CHARACTER AND COMEDY. _Eighth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +THE GENTLEST ART: A Choice of Letters by Entertaining Hands. _Tenth +Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +THE SECOND POST. _Fourth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +HER INFINITE VARIETY: A Feminine Portrait Gallery. _Eighth Edition._ +Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +GOOD COMPANY: A Rally of Men. _Fourth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +ONE DAY AND ANOTHER. _Seventh Ed._ Fcap. 8vo. 6s. net. + +OLD LAMPS FOR NEW. _Sixth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +LANDMARKS. _Fifth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +CLOUD AND SILVER. _Second Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +LOITERER'S HARVEST. _Third Ed._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +LISTENER'S LURE: An Oblique Narration. _Thirteenth Edition._ Fcap. +8vo, 6s. net. + +LONDON LAVENDER. _Thirteenth Ed._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +MR. INGLESIDE. _Thirteenth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +OVER BEMERTON'S: An Easy-going Chronicle. _Seventeenth Edition._ Fcap. +8vo, 6s. net. + +A BOSWELL OF BAGHDAD. _Fourth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +'TWIXT EAGLE AND DOVE. _Third Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +THE VERMILION BOX. _Fifth Edition._ Crown 8vo, 6s. net. + +THE BRITISH SCHOOL: AN ANECDOTAL GUIDE TO THE BRITISH PICTURES IN THE +NATIONAL GALLERY. Illustrated. Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +THE PHANTOM JOURNAL, AND OTHER ESSAYS AND DIVERSIONS. _Second +Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +Macdonald (J. R. M.). A HISTORY OF FRANCE. Three Volumes. Crown 8vo, +each 10s. 6d. net. + +Macpherson (William). THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSUASION. Crown 8vo, 6s. +net. + +McDougall (William). AN INTRODUCTION TO SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY. _Fourteenth +Edition, Enlarged._ Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. + +BODY AND MIND: A History and A Defence of Animism. With Diagrams. +_Fourth Edition._ Demy 8vo, 12s. 6d. net. + +Maeterlinck (Maurice). THE BLUE BIRD: A Fairy Play in Six Acts. Fcap. +8vo, deckle edges, 6s. net. An Edition Illustrated in Colour by F. +Cayley Robinson is also published. Crown 4to, gilt top, 21s. net. Also +Fcap. 8vo, 2s. net. + +Of the above book Forty-three Editions in all have been issued. + +MARY MAGDALENE. _Third Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 5s. net. Also Fcap. 8vo, +2s. net. + +DEATH. _Fourth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 3s. 6d. net. + +OUR ETERNITY. _Second Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +THE UNKNOWN GUEST. _Third Ed._ Crown 8vo, 6s. net. + +THE WRACK OF THE STORM. _Third Edition._ Crown 8vo, 6s. net. + +THE MIRACLE OF SAINT ANTHONY: A Play in One Act. Fcap. 8vo, 3s. 6d. +net. + +THE BURGOMASTER OF STILEMONDE: A Play in Three Acts. _Second Edition._ +Fcap. 8vo, 5s. net. + +MOUNTAIN PATHS. _Second Edition._ Crown 8vo, 6s. net. + + The above books are Translated by A. Teixeira de Mattos. + +POEMS. Crown 8vo, 5s. net. Done into English by Bernard Miall. + +Marett (R. R.). PSYCHOLOGY AND FOLKLORE. Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. + +Maude (Aylmer). LEO TOLSTOY. With 7 Illustrations. Crown 8vo, 8s. 6d. +net. + +Milne (A. A.). NOT THAT IT MATTERS. Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net. + +Norwood (Gilbert). GREEK TRAGEDY. Demy 8vo, 12s. 6d. net. + +Noyes (Alfred). A SALUTE FROM THE FLEET, AND OTHER POEMS. _Third +Edition._ Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. + +Oxenham (John). Seven Volumes of Poems. Small pott 8vo, 1s. 3d. net +each volume. + + Bees in Amber; All's Well; The King's Highway; The Vision Splendid; + The Fiery Cross; High Altars; All Clear! + +Oxford (M. N.). A HANDBOOK OF NURSING. _Seventh Edition._ Crown 8vo, +5s. net. + +Petrie (W. M. Flinders). A HISTORY OF EGYPT. Illustrated. Six Volumes. +Crown 8vo, each 9s. net. + + I. From the Ist to XVIth Dynasty. _Ninth Edition_ (10s. net). II. + The XVIIth and XVIIIth Dynasties. _Fifth Edition._ III. XIXth to + XXXth Dynasties. IV. Egypt under the Ptolemaic Dynasty. J. P. + Mahaffy. _Second Edition._ V. Egypt under Roman Rule. J. G. Milne. + _Second Edition._ VI. Egypt in the Middle Ages. Stanley Lane-Poole. + _Second Edition._ + +Pollard (A. F.). A SHORT HISTORY OF THE GREAT WAR. With 19 Maps. Crown +8vo, 10s. 6d. net. + +Price (L. L.). A SHORT HISTORY OF POLITICAL ECONOMY IN ENGLAND, FROM +ADAM SMITH TO ARNOLD TOYNBEE. _Ninth Edition._ Crown 8vo, 5s. net. + +Rees (J. F.). A SOCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND, 1815-1918. +Crown 8vo, 5s. net. + +'Saki' (H. H. Munro). REGINALD (_Fourth Edition_) and REGINALD IN +RUSSIA. Each Fcap. 8vo, 3s. 6d. net. + +Stancliffe. GOLF DO'S AND DONT'S. Being a very little about a good +deal; together with some new saws for old wood--and knots in the +golfer's line which may help a good memory for forgetting. _Seventh +Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 2s. net. + +Stevenson (R. L.). THE LETTERS OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON TO HIS FAMILY +AND FRIENDS. Selected and Edited by Sir Sidney Colvin. Four Volumes. +_Fourth Edition._ Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net each. + +Tileston (Mary W.). DAILY STRENGTH FOR DAILY NEEDS. _Twenty-sixth +Edition._ Medium 16mo, 3s. 6d. net. + +Underhill (Evelyn). MYSTICISM. A Study in the Nature and Development +of Man's Spiritual Consciousness. _Eighth Edition._ Demy 8vo, 15s. +net. + +Urwick (E. J.). A PHILOSOPHY OF SOCIAL PROGRESS. _Second Edition, +Revised._ Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. + +Vardon (Harry). HOW TO PLAY GOLF. Illustrated. _Thirteenth Edition._ +Crown 8vo, 5s. net. + +Waterhouse (Elizabeth). A LITTLE BOOK OF LIFE AND DEATH. Selected and +Arranged. _Twentieth Edition._ Small Pott 8vo, cloth, 2s. 6d. net. + +COMPANIONS OF THE WAY. Being Selections for Morning and Evening +Reading. Large Crown 8vo, 7s. 6d. net. + +Wilde (Oscar). THE WORKS OF OSCAR WILDE. Thirteen Volumes. Fcap. 8vo, +each 6s. 6d. net. Some also Fcap. 8vo, 2s. net. + + I. Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and the Portrait of Mr. W. H. II. The + Duchess of Padua. III. Poems. IV. Lady Windermere's Fan. V. A Woman + of No Importance. VI. An Ideal Husband. VII. The Importance of + being Earnest. VIII. A House of Pomegranates. IX. Intentions. X. De + Profundis and Prison Letters. XI. Essays. XII. Salomé, A Florentine + Tragedy, and La Sainte Courtisane. XIII. A Critic in Pall Mall. + XIV. Selected Prose of Oscar Wilde. + +A HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES. Illustrated. Crown 4to, 21s. net. + +Wilding (Anthony F.), Lawn-Tennis Champion 1910-1911. ON THE COURT AND +OFF. Illustrated. _Seventh Edition._ Crown 8vo, 6s. net. + +Young (G. Winthrop). MOUNTAIN CRAFT. Crown 8vo, 15s. net. + + +The Antiquary's Books + + General Editor, J. Charles Cox + Illustrated. Demy 8vo, 10s. 6d. net + +Ancient Painted Glass in England; Archæology and False Antiquities; +The Bells of England; The Brasses of England; Celtic Art in Pagan and +Christian Times; Churchwardens' Accounts; The Domesday Inquest; The +Castles and Walled Towns of England; English Church Furniture; English +Costume, from Prehistoric Times to the End of the Eighteenth Century; +English Monastic Life; English Seals; Folk-Lore as an Historical +Science; The Gilds and Companies of London; The Hermits and Anchorites +of England; The Manor and Manorial Records; The Mediæval Hospitals of +England; Old English Instruments of Music; Old English Libraries; Old +Service Books of the English Church; Parish Life in Mediæval England; +The Parish Registers of England; Remains of the Prehistoric Age in +England; The Roman Era in Britain; Romano-British Buildings and +Earthworks; The Royal Forests of England; The Schools of Mediæval +England; Shrines of British Saints. + + +The Arden Shakespeare + + Demy 8vo, 6s. net + +An edition of Shakespeare in Single Plays. Edited with a full +Introduction, Textual Notes, and a Commentary at the foot of the page. +_Thirty-six Volumes are now ready._ + + +Classics of Art + + Edited by Dr. J. H. W. Laing + Illustrated. Wide Royal 8vo, from 15s. net to 30s. net + +The Art of the Greeks; The Art of the Romans; Chardin; Donatello; +Florentine Sculptors of the Renaissance; George Romney; Ghirlandaio; +Lawrence; Michelangelo; Raphael; Rembrandt's Etchings; Rubens; +Tintoretto; Titian; Turner's Sketches and Drawings; Velazquez. + + +The "Complete" Series + + Illustrated. Demy 8vo, from 5s. net to 16s. net + +The Complete Airman; The Complete Amateur Boxer; The Complete +Association Footballer; The Complete Athletic Trainer; The Complete +Billiard Player; The Complete Cook; The Complete Cricketer; The +Complete Foxhunter; The Complete Golfer; The Complete Hockey-Player; +The Complete Horseman; The Complete Jujitsuan (Crown 8vo); The +Complete Lawn Tennis Player; The Complete Motorist; The Complete +Mountaineer; The Complete Oarsman; The Complete Photographer; The +Complete Rugby Footballer, on The New Zealand System; The Complete +Shot; The Complete Swimmer; The Complete Yachtsman. + + +The Connoisseur's Library + + Illustrated. Wide Royal 8vo, 25s. net + +English Furniture; English Coloured Books; Etchings; European Enamels; +Fine Books; Glass; Goldsmiths' and Silversmiths' Work; Illuminated +Manuscripts; Ivories; Jewellery; Mezzotints; Miniatures; Porcelain; +Seals; Wood Sculpture. + + +Eight Books by R. S. Surtees + + With the original Illustrations in Colour by J. Leech and others. + Fcap. 8vo, 6s. net and 7s. 6d. net + +Ask Mamma; Handley Cross; Hawbuck Grange; Hillingdon Hall; Jorrocks's +Jaunts and Jollities; Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour; Mr. Facey Romford's +Hounds; Plain or Ringlets? + + +Nine Plays + + Fcap. 8vo, 3s. 6d. net + +The Great Adventure; The Honeymoon; Kismet; Milestones; Typhoon; An +Ideal Husband; The Ware Case, General Post; Across The Border. + + +Fiction + +Novels by Richard Bagot, H. C. Bailey, Arnold Bennett, G. A. +Birmingham, Marjorie Bowen, Edgar Rice Burroughs, G. K. Chesterton, +Joseph Conrad, Dorothy Conyers, Marie Corelli, Beatrice Harraden, R. +S. Hichens, Anthony Hope, W. W. Jacobs, E. V. Lucas, Stephen M'Kenna, +Lucas Malet, A. E. W. Mason, W. B. Maxwell, Arthur Morrison, John +Oxenham, Sir Gilbert Parker, Alice Perrin, Eden Phillpotts, Richard +Pryce, "Q," W. Pett Ridge, H. G. Wells, and C. N. and A. M. +Williamson. + +A Complete List can be had on application. + + +Methuen's Two Shilling Series + +This is a series of copyright works--fiction and general +literature--which has been an instantaneous success. If you will +obtain a list of the series you will see that it contains more books +by distinguished writers than any other series of the same kind. You +will find the volumes at all booksellers and on all railway +bookstalls. + + +Methuen's One-and-Sixpenny Series + +The novels in this Series have taken front rank among the hosts of +cheap books. They are beautifully produced, well printed in large +type, and tastefully bound. The pictorial wrappers are especially +noticeable and distinguish this series from its rivals. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MORE SCIENCE FROM AN EASY CHAIR*** + + +******* This file should be named 27015-8.txt or 27015-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/7/0/1/27015 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://www.gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +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 + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, is critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/pglaf. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://www.gutenberg.org/about/contact + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: +https://www.gutenberg.org/fundraising/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + |