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Ebook has 625 lines and 35333 words, and 13 pages

PAGE.

THE INFANCY OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SCIENCE OF PLANTS.

Old fancies and notions about plants--Aristoteles, the first botanist--Theophrastus--Plinius--Dioscorides--Their lives, labours, and troubles 1

THE RISE OF THE SCIENCE OF PLANTS.

John Ray--Joseph de Tournefort--Their lives 27

THE LIFE OF LINNAEUS.

The science of plants begins to mature, to be reformed, and to be made more exact 52

THE LIFE OF LINNAEUS .

The publication and reception of the artificial system of classifying plants 81

THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE SCIENCE OF PLANTS.

The life of De Candolle--The Natural System 98

HEROES OF ZOOLOGY.

The nature of the science of zoology--Great zoologists usually botanists also--Aristoteles as a zoologist--Plinius--The long age of no progress--The life of Conrad Gesner--The zoology of Ray and Willughby--Swammerdam--R?aumur--The zoology of Linnaeus 122

THE LIVES OF BUFFON, PENNANT, AND LAMARCK.

The popular writings of Buffon, and his life--Pennant's life--Lamarck and his life--The rise of popular natural history, and of exact descriptions and philosophical zoology 144

THE LIFE OF CUVIER.

The union of zoology and comparative anatomy, and the examination and study of fossil remains 178

HEROES OF GEOLOGY.

The rise of the science which treats of the ancient history of the earth--Students of the present changes which are the examples by which the past may be comprehended--The Greeks--The life of Pythagoras; a notice of the geology of Aristoteles--Strabo's life--The nature of fossils and the life of Steno 209

THE LIFE OF HUTTON.

The rise of the modern school of geology--The continuity of the operations of nature and their sameness--The necessity of studying the existing state of things in order to comprehend the past--The denial of catastrophes--Hutton's theory of the earth the foundation of scientific geology 221

THE LIFE OF WILLIAM SMITH.

The succession of the strata recognized--Strata known by their fossils, position, and mineral contents--England surveyed by Smith and made the type of the results of the succession of changes studied by geology 236

THE LIFE OF MURCHISON.

The older rocks of the globe studied accurately and surveyed--The general similarity of the succession of strata in many parts of the world decided--The geology of Wales and Scotland described--The commencement of accurate geological surveys 275

THE LIFE OF LYELL.

The study of existing nature and its changes undertaken in order to comprehend the past changes during geological ages--The uniformity of natural operations under law--Catastrophes abolished--The succession of life on the globe, and that of the tertiary ages explained--The antiquity of man and of the great ice age established 307

HEROES OF SCIENCE.

THE INFANCY OF THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE SCIENCE OF PLANTS.

Old fancies and notions about plants--Aristoteles, the first botanist--Theophrastus--Plinius--Dioscorides--Their lives, labours, and troubles.

Everybody likes to gather flowers for the sake of their beauty and scent, and most young people ask the names and the uses of the plants which grow them. These appear to have been the questions that the earliest races of men sought to answer for themselves. They gave plants names, and ascribed some truthful and a great many very curious and false properties to them. Many of the first races of men lived on fruits, vegetables, and roots, and it became important to know good and nourishing plants from those which were poisonous. The ablest men of the tribes, probably, studied the names which had been given by custom to many plants; and the healing power of some plants, and the poisonous nature of others began to be known; the good and ill-disposed amongst men endeavoured to learn all about them. Thus the first steps in the science of plants were to name them, and to ascribe properties to them. It has often been noticed that there is some resemblance between the history of the progress of a science, during all the ages of civilization, and that of the rise and progress of one in the child, youth, and man. The child receives everything that it is told, as a truth, and loves the wonderful; the youth likes to hear of mysteries, and his emotions and poetic feeling lead him to desire general truths; and the man criticizes what he has been told, tries to learn for himself, and longs for exact knowledge and the absolute truth. So in the early days of civilization, men believed in everything that was told them, and ascribed wonderful properties to the nature around them which they saw was so beautiful and yet often so terrible. As the world got older, curious legends were associated with truths and falsities; and with the general diffusion of learning, and the careful exercise of the reasoning powers, knowledge became more exact and useful, and was followed for truth's sake.

All branches of knowledge relating to nature passed through many stages, and were influenced by the prevailing habits and methods of thought of the age. The wonderful, the mysterious, the marvellous, the union of poetry with true and false religion, the struggle between the desire for truth and fear of the persecution of the ignorant, and the victory of cultivated observation and reason, all followed, in order, during the history of the progress of every science. A great writer states that it cannot then surprise us that the earliest lore concerning plants, which we discover in the records of the past, consists of mythological legends, marvellous relations, and extraordinary medicinal qualities. To the lively fancy of the Greeks, the narcissus, which bends its head over the stream, was originally a youth who, in such an attitude, became enamoured of his own beauty. The hyacinth, on whose flower certain markings are to be traced resembling the Greek expression of grief elongs to one named Tim, a barkeep, if I recall rightly, in a hotel I have frequently graced with my presence. I hope their past friendship was not due to professional reasons. It would be nice to talk over old times with them in camp, for I have frequently met the one in the morning after coming home from the other.

A gang of recruits shouted "twenty-one days" at me as I was being led to Mess Hall No. 1. The poor simps had just come in the day before and had not even washed their leggings yet. I shall shout at other recruits to-morrow, though, the same thing that they shouted at me to-day.

Our P.O. is a very terrifying character. He is a stern but just man, I take it.

He can tie knots and box the compass and say "pipe down" and everything. Gee, it must be nice to be a real sailor!

The mother thinks of her sailor son As clutched in the arms of war, But mother should listen, as I have done, To this same little, innocent sailor son Sprawl in his hammock and snore.

Oh, the sailor man is a rugged man, The master of wind and wave, And poets sing till the tea-rooms ring Of his picturesque, deep sea grave, And they likewise write of the "Storm at Night" When the numerous north winds roar, But more profound is the dismal sound Of a sea-going sailor's snore.

Oh, life at sea is wild and free And greatly to be admired, But I would sleep both sound and deep At night when I'm feeling tired.

So here we go with a yo! ho! ho! While the waves and the tempests soar, An artist can paint a shrew as a saint, But not camouflage on a snore.

Oh, mothers, write to your sons at sea; Write to them, I implore, A letter as earnest as it can be, Containing a delicate, motherly plea, A plea for them not to snore.

Oh, I take much pride in my trousers wide, The ladies all think them sweet, And I must admit that I love to sit In a chair and relieve my feet. Avast! Belay! and we're bound away With our hearts lashed fast to the fore, But when mermaids sleep In their bowers deep, Do you think that the sweet things snore?

Our company commander spoke to us this morning in no uncertain terms. He seems to be such a serious man. There is a peculiar quality in his voice, not unlike the tone of a French 75 mm. gun. You can easily hear everything he says--miles away. We rested this afternoon.

Polly drove up for a moment with Joe Henderson. I hope the draft gets hold of that bird. They were going to have tea at the Biltmore when they got back to the city. I almost bit the end off of a sentry's bayonet when I heard this woeful piece of news. Liberty looks a long way off.

I made an attempt to write some letters in the Y.M.C.A. this evening but gave up before the combined assault of a phonograph, a piano, and a flanking detachment of checker players. Several benches fell on me and I went to the mat feeling very sorry for myself.

Last night I was nearly frightened out of my hammock by awakening and gazing into the malevolent eye of my high-powered, twin-six wrist watch. I thought for a moment that the Woolworth tower had crawled into bed with me. It gave me such a start. I must get used to my wrist watch--also wearing a handkerchief up my sleeve. I feel like the sweet kid himself now.

Drill all day. My belt fell off and tripped me up. Why do such things always happen to me? Somebody told us to do squads left and it looked as if we were playing Ring Around Rosie. Then we performed a fiendish and complicated little quadrille called a "company square." I found myself, much to my horror, on the inside of the contraption walking directly behind the company commander. It was a very delicate situation for a while. I walked on my tip-toes so that he wouldn't hear me. Had he looked around I know I'd have dropped my gun and lit out for home and mother.

Forgot to take my hat off in the mess room. I was reminded, though, by several hundred thoughtful people.

Fire drill! My hammock came unlashed right in front of a C.P.O. and he asked me if I was going to sleep in it on the spot. It was a very inspiring scene. Particularly thrilling was the picture I caught of a very heavy sailor picking on a poor innocent looking little fire extinguisher. He ran the thing right over my foot. I apologized, as usual. I discovered that I have been putting half instead of marlin hitches in my hammock, but not before the inspecting officer did. He seemed very upset about it. When he asked me why I only put six hitches in my hammock instead of seven, I replied that my rope was short. His reply still burns in my memory. What eloquence! What earnestness! What a day!

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