IF, excluding all purely private actions, we include under the name “conduct” all actions which involve direct relations with other persons; and if under the name “government” we include all control of such conduct, however arising; then we must say that the earliest kind of government, the most general kind of government, and the government which is ever spontaneously recommencing, is the government of ceremonial observance.
GEYSER may be defined as a periodically eruptive spring. They are found only in Iceland, in the Yellowstone Park, United States, and in New Zealand. The so-called geysers of California are rather fumaroles. Those of Iceland have been long studied; we will, therefore, describe these first.
THE animal kingdom is, as we know, dependent on the vegetable kingdom, which must have existed on the earth before men and animals could live upon it. We may, therefore, rightly call plants children of the earth. But, in so doing we use the language of metaphor, as when we speak of “Mother Earth.”
ONE cannot with any reason contend that the universal possession of ten fingers argues a natural tendency of the human mind toward the decimal system; it is certainly true, however, that multitudes of men and women find their fingers of great assistance in arithmetical operations.
THE relation between modern civilized life and insanity cannot be regarded as finally determined while a marked difference of opinion exists in regard to it among those who have studied the subject; nor can this difference be wondered at by any one who has examined the data upon which a conclusion must be formed, and has found how difficult it is to decide in which direction some of the evidence points.
72. AMONG the most interesting of the applications of steampower, to the political economist and to the historian, as well as to the engineer, is its use in ship-propulsion. In the modern marine engine we find one of the most important adaptations of steam machinery and the greatest of all the triumphs of the mechanical engineer.
A VISITOR to the grounds of the State University at Madison, Wisconsin, might perhaps wonder wdiat could be the use of three small chimneys to be seen standing out of the south side of the university hill. On being told that under the ground is one of the two magnetic observatories of this country, he may be curious to see more.
TO form the seed seems to be the chief end of the plant. When in the vigor of its own maturity, and when receiving the sun’s strongest rays and the earth’s richest nourishment, the plant gathers all its resources, and devotes them to the building of the seed.
AT THE OPENING OF THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY.
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IN whose honor are the chief personages of the nation, State, and city, here assembled? Whose palace is this? What divinity is worshiped in this place? We are assembled here to own with gratitude the beneficent power of natural science; to praise and thank its votaries, and to dedicate this splendid structure to its service.
WITHIN ten minutes’ walk of a little cottage which I have recently built in the Alps, there is a small lake, fed by the melted snows of the upper mountains. During the early weeks of summer no trace of life is to be discerned in this water; but invariably toward the end of July, or the beginning of August, swarms of tailed organisms are seen enjoying the sun’s warmth along the shallow margins of the lake, and rushing with audible patter into the deeper water at the approach of danger.
WALTER BAGEHOT was born February, 1826, in the west of England, where his father, who survives him, was a leading partner in an old-established bank. A student in the University of London, he took the mathematical scholarship with his Bachelor’s degree in 1846, and the gold medal in intellectual and moral philosophy with his Master’s degree in 1848.
I MAKE the following comments on Prof. Schneider’s second article about “The “Tides.” All the objections to the statements in the first article remain in full force. The chief points of this second installment are two: 1. The disturbing action of the sun on the moon’s motion; 2.
THE Rev. Joseph Cook seems to have attained the position of an accepted champion of orthodoxy in its conflict with the science of the time, and as such must have a degree of attention to wliich he is not otherwise entitled. In the delivery of the lectures which compose his volume on biology, he was listened to, we are told, by large audiences of cultivated and scholarly men, who applauded him enthusiastically; while the book has been highly praised by eminent theologians and numerous newspapers, and has had a brisk and extensive sale.
SIR JOHN HERSCHEL has somewhere remarked that, in the vastness and sublimity of its leading ideas, geology is the rival of astronomy; for, as the latter has to deal with immeasurable space, the former opens the conception of immeasurable time.
Meyer’s Electrical Apparatus for Beginners.—We some time ago noticed the admirable little work on electricity by Prof. Tyndall, which grew out of a course of holiday lectures to a juvenile audience at the Royal Institution. This book, “Lessons in Electricity,” is designed as a guide for beginners to go through a course of electrical experimenting.
THERE will be two solar eclipses this year, one on the 1st of February, the other on the 29th of July. The former will be central and annular as observed from high southern latitudes; the latter will be total in the western part of North America.