Chapter II: 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 Mycenaean 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--Palaeomastodon 89

14. Restored Model of the Skull and Lower Jaw of the
Ancestral Elephant--Palaeomastodon 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

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