And why should it not be possible? I asked myself. The picture, divested of the ideas which accompany it, and considered only in its ultimate nature, is but a succession or variety of stronger lights thrown upon one part of the paper, and of deeper shadows on another. Now Light, where it exists, can exert an action, and, in certain circumstances, does exert one sufficient to cause changes in material bodies. Suppose, then, such an action could be exerted on the paper; and suppose the paper could be visibly changed by it. In that case surely some effect must result having a general resemblance to the cause which produced it: so that the variegated scene of light and shade might leave its image or impression behind, stronger or weaker on different parts of the paper according to the strength or weakness of the light which had acted there. Such was...
With the present day zeal for popularising interest in common things (called nature study) there has arisen the demand for knowledge practically useful and thoroughly up-to-date, yet in a form free from much of the technical terminology and treatment which are essential in the student's more fully developed scientific handbook. The "House-fly" is a fit subject for a simplified study of this kind, and the present booklet is an attempt to afford information very different to that of the "popular" works, which only were accessible to the writer's hands between fifty and sixty years ago; the writers of those old books all followed the lead of the reverend and learned contributors to the famous and monumental "Bridgwater Treatises." "The Wonders of Nature explained," "Humble Creatures" (a study of the earth-worm and the house-fly, in popularised language), "The Treasury of Knowledge," "Simple Lessons for Home Use," were the kind of cheaper...
Charles Robert Darwin was born at Shrewsbury on February 12th, 1809, the year which witnessed the birth of Alfred Tennyson, W. E. Gladstone, and Abraham Lincoln. Oliver Wendell Holmes, born in the same year, delighted to speak of the good company in which he came into the world. On January 27th, 1894, I had the great pleasure of sitting next to him at a dinner of the Saturday Club in Boston, and he then spoke of the subject with the same enthusiasm with which he deals with it in his writings; mentioning the four distinguished names, and giving a brief epigrammatic description of each with characteristic felicity. Dr. Holmes further said that he remembered with much satisfaction an occasion on which he was able to correct Darwin on a matter of scientific fact. He could not remember the details, but we may hope for their ultimate recovery, for he said that...
Cueva de San Josecito in the province of Aramberri, near the town on Aramberri, Nuevo León, México, is at an elevation of approximately 7400 feet above sea level on the east-facing slope of the Sierra Madre Occidental in a limestone scarp. The dominant vegetation about the cave is the decidedly boreal forest association of pine and live oak. Additional information concerning the cave is provided by Miller (1943:143-144). Animal remains recovered from San Josecito Cave are among the most important Pleistocene finds in México, and include the most extensive collection of Pleistocene geomyids. The vertebrate remains are probably late Pleistocene in age; certainly they are post-Blancan, since the genera Equus , Preptoceras , Smilodon , and Aenocyon (all Pleistocene genera) are present. According to Miller's ( loc. cit. :145) extensive report on the avifauna, the bird remains from the cave are a remarkable assemblage and beautifully preserved. Most of the...
Just how far back the art of sub-marine diving dates, is a matter of conjecture, but until the invention of the present armor and helmet in 1839, work and exploration under water was, at best, imperfect, and could only be pursued in a very limited degree. The armor of to-day consists of a rubber and canvas suit, socks, trousers and shirt in one, a copper breastplate or collar, a copper helmet, iron-soled shoes, and a belt of leaden weights to sink the diver. The helmet is made of tinned copper with three circular glasses, one in front and one on either side, with guards in front to protect them. The front eye-piece is made to unscrew and enable the diver to receive or give instructions without removing the helmet. One or more outlet valves are placed at the back or side of the helmet to allow the vitiated air to...
Probably there is nothing more perplexing to a beginner than to decide what apparatus is required. If he consult a price list, it is difficult for him to tell which articles will be necessary, and which will be either luxuries, or required only for special investigation. In the following account of requisites, those only will be described which it is useful to have always at hand. They will be found sufficient for ordinary work, but for special investigations a more elaborate equipment will be required. All staining and other reagents should be made as far as possible by the worker himself, according to the directions given in later chapters. This should at any rate be done at first, as the knowledge thus gained will prove invaluable. It will also effect a great saving if articles that are used in any quantity, such as methylated spirit, distilled water, &c., are bought...
BY GEORGE FRANCIS ATKINSON Professor of Botany in Cornell University, and Botanist of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station Recipes for Cooking Mushrooms, by Mrs. Sarah Tyson Rorer Chemistry and Toxicology of Mushrooms, by J. F. Clark WITH 230 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM PHOTOGRAPHS BY THE AUTHOR, AND COLORED PLATES BY F. R. RATHBUN SECOND EDITION NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1903 Copyright, 1900, 1901, BY GEO. F. ATKINSON. AUTHOR, AND COLORED PLATES BY F. R. RATHBUN SECOND EDITION NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1903 Copyright, 1900, 1901, BY GEO. F. ATKINSON. Since the issue of my "Studies and Illustrations of Mushrooms," as Bulletins 138 and 168 of the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station, there have been so many inquiries for them and for literature dealing with a larger number of species, it seemed desirable to publish in book form a selection from the number of illustrations of these plants...
INTRODUCTORY. It is a fact within the experience of most persons, that the various species of animals are not uniformly dispersed over the surface of the country. If we have a tolerable acquaintance with any district, be it a parish, a county, or a larger extent of territory, we soon become aware that each well-marked portion of it has some peculiarities in its animal productions. If we want to find certain birds or certain insects, we have not only to choose the right season but to go to the right place. If we travel beyond our district in various directions we shall almost certainly meet with something new to us; some species which we were accustomed to see almost daily will disappear, others which we have never seen before will make their appearance. If we go very far, so as to be able to measure our journey by degrees of...
Sorex cinereus ohionensis Bole and Moulthrop.—In their description of this subspecies from Ohio, Bole and Moulthrop (1942:89-95) made no mention of specimens in the United States Biological Surveys Collection from Ellsworth and Milford Center, Ohio, which stand in the literature (see Jackson, 1928:49) as Sorex cinereus cinereus . These two localities lie south of the geographic range ascribed to S. c. ohionensis by Bole and Moulthrop. Examination of the two specimens, United States Biological Surveys Collection, Catalogue No. 70566, and United States National Museum, No. 19434, respectively, both of which are alcoholics, reveals that they are referable to the subspecies ohionensis rather than to S. c. cinereus . This reference is made on the basis of small size, short tail (33 and 31 millimeters, respectively), and fourth upper unicuspid as large as third (the specimen from Milford Center lacks the skull). The occurrence at Milford Center provides a southward extension...
Experiment with magnet—Principle of polarity—Applies universally—Analogies in spiritual world—Zoroastrian religion—Changes in modern environment—Require corresponding changes in religions and philosophies. Scatter a heap of iron filings on a plate of glass; bring near it a magnet, and tap the glass gently, and you will see the filings arrange themselves in regular forms. If one pole only of the magnet is brought near the glass the filings arrange themselves in lines radiating from that pole. Next lay the bar-magnet on the glass so that the filings are influenced by both poles; they will arrange themselves into a series of regular curves. In other words, the Chaos of a confused heap of inert matter has become a Cosmos of harmonious arrangement assuming definite form in obedience to law. As the old saying has it, that ‘every road leads to Rome,’ so this simple experiment leads up to a principle which underlies all existence...
Literary critics seem to be agreed that we who write about Indian birds form a definite school. “Phil Robinson,” they say, “furnished, thirty years ago, a charming model which all who have followed him in writing seem compelled to copy more or less closely.” Mr. W. H. Hudson remarks: “We grow used to look for funny books about animals from India, just as we look for sentimental natural history books from America.” In a sense this criticism is well founded. Popular books on Indian ornithology resemble one another in that a ripple of humour runs through each. But the critics err when they attempt to explain this similarity by asserting that Anglo-Indian writers model themselves, consciously or unconsciously, on Phil Robinson, or that they imitate one another. The mistake made by the critics is excusable. When each successive writer discourses in the same peculiar style the obvious inference is that...
Sudden and severe cold, however trying to human constitutions, seems almost harmless to animal health, provided the weather be dry, frosty, and undimmed by fog. On the last Friday of November 1893, the thermometer fell so rapidly that in a few hours it registered sixteen degrees below freezing-point. On the following morning, though the sun was shining brightly, every pool and pond was sheeted with ice, and the gravel walks were as hard as granite. Yet at the Zoological Gardens, birds and beasts from tropical or semi-tropical regions, such as Burmah, Assam, Malacca, and Brazil, were abroad and enjoying the keen air; and others, which are usually invisible and curled up in their sleeping apartments till late in the day, were already abroad, sniffing at the frost and icicles, and as indifferent to the cold as Mr. Samuel Weller’s polar bear “ven he was a-practising his skating.” A visit to...
Some people have an extreme repugnance to the idea that man should be treated of in connection with other animals. The development theory is shocking to them, and they would deny that man has anything in common with the brute creation. This is of course mere sentiment; no history of nature would be complete without the noblest work of the Creator. The great gulf that separates the human species from the rest of the animals is the impassable one of intellect. Physically, he should be compared with the other mammals, otherwise we should lose our first standpoint of comparison. There is no degradation in this, nor is it an acceptance of the development theory. To argue that man evolved from the monkey is an ingenious joke which will not bear the test of examination, and the Scriptural account may still be accepted. I firmly believe in man as an original...
1. Agriculture embraces, in its broad application, whatever relates to the cultivation of the fields, with the view of producing food for man and those animals which he may have brought into a state of domestication. 2. If we carry our observations so far back as to reach the antediluvian history of the earth, we shall find, from the authority of Scripture, that the cultivation of the soil was the first employment of man, after his expulsion from the garden of Eden, when he was commanded to till the ground from which he had been taken. We shall also learn from the same source of information, that "Cain was a husbandman," and that "Abel was a keeper of sheep." Hence it may be inferred, that Adam instructed his sons in the art of husbandry; and that they, in turn, communicated the knowledge to their posterity, together with the superadded information...
In his "Revision of the pocket mice of the genus Perognathus," Osgood (1900:18-20) reviewed the distribution, as then known, of Perognathus fasciatus and recognized two geographic races— Perognathus fasciatus [ fasciatus ] Wied-Neuwied in eastern Montana and Wyoming and adjacent parts of North and South Dakota, and Perognathus fasciatus infraluteus Thomas, known only from the type locality at Loveland, Larimer County, Colorado. Later, Cary (1911:61) described Perognathus fasciatus litus as a pale subspecies occurring in the lower Sweetwater Valley and adjacent parts of the Red Desert of south-central Wyoming. After 1911 no important taxonomic contributions dealing with Perognathus fasciatus appeared. In studying the kinds of pocket mice known from Nebraska, I examined thirteen specimens of P. fasciatus from the northwestern part of the state which did not agree satisfactorily with the descriptions of any known subspecies of fasciatus . This impelled me to examine material from the entire range of...
From the middle of the 17th century meteorological observations were recorded in manuscript books known as "registers," many of which were published in the early scientific journals. The most effective utilization of these observations was in the compilation of the history of particular storms, but where a larger synthesis was concerned they tended, as Forbes has shown, to show themselves unsystematic and non-comparable. The principal problems of meteorological observation have been from the outset the construction of precisely comparable instruments and their use to produce comparable records. The former problem has been frequently discussed, and perhaps, as Forbes suggests, overemphasized. It is the latter problem with which we are here concerned. The idea of mechanizing the process of observation, not yet accomplished in Forbes' time, had been put forward within a little over a decade of the first use of the thermometer and barometer in meteorology. On December 9, 1663,...
By the word μύκης, ητος or ου, ὁ, whereof the usually received root, μῦκος ( mucus ), is probably factitious, the Greeks used familiarly to designate certain, but indefinite species of funguses, which they were in the habit of employing at table. This term, in its origin at once trivial and restricted to at most a few varieties, has become in our days classical and generic; Mycology, its direct derivative, including, in the language of modern botany, several great sections of plants (many amongst the number of microscopic minuteness), which have apparently as little to do with the original import of μύκης as smut, bunt, mould, or dry-rot, have to do with our table mushrooms. A like indefiniteness formerly characterized the Latin word fungus , though it be now used in as catholic a sense as that of μύκης; this, in the classic times of Rome, seems to have been...
Five skins with skulls of Rhogeëssa , collected by J. R. Alcorn in the states of Sonora and Nayarit of western Mexico, were recently received at the Museum of Natural History of the University of Kansas. Two other specimens of the same genus, collected by Walter W. Dalquest in the state of Veracruz of eastern Mexico, also are in the Museum of Natural History. With the aim of applying names to these bats they were compared with materials in the United States National Museum (including the Biological Surveys collection) where there are approximately the same number of Mexican specimens of Rhogeëssa as are in the Museum of Natural History. The three kinds of Rhogeëssa named from Mexico are as follows: R. parvula from the Tres Marias Islands off the west coast of Nayarit; R. tumida from Mirador, Veracruz, on the eastern slope of the Republic; and R. gracilis from Piaxtla,...
BY DAVID WILSON METHUEN & CO. LTD. 36 ESSEX STREET W.C. LONDON First Published in 1910 This book may be translated into any language without payment. The ideal hunter, like the ideal soldier or mountaineer, seaman or worker of any kind, “leaves nothing to chance”; yet in anticipating events he realises the limits of human foresight and remains continually wide-awake. Wellington has quoted Marshal Wrede’s report of Napoleon’s way of doing—to do from day to day what the circumstances require, but never have any general plan of campaign. That was how to rule circumstances by obeying them, as a seaman steering through the storm may be said to rule the waves. There are some occupations that allow more room for somnolence than others. Like the seaman afloat and the soldier in war, the man who is hunting big cats can ill afford to be caught napping. The consequences are apt...
The needlework called Tatting in England, Frivolité in French, and Frivolitäten in German, is a work which seems, from all accounts, to have been in favour several generations ago. Modern ingenuity has discovered some ways of improving on the original plan of tatting, which was, indeed, rather a primitive sort of business as first practised. To Mrs. Mee, one of our most accomplished artistes in all matters connected with the work-table, belongs, we believe, the introduction of the plan of working from the reel instead of the shuttle. By this alteration the advantage of the shuttle being constantly kept filled with cotton was gained, and the necessity also obviated for frequently [ii] joining the thread; and to Mdlle. Riego, equally distinguished in all details appertaining to the employment of the needle, ladies are indebted for an arrangement by which the same thread used in the making of the pattern is...