life on Mars?--Jupiter and Saturn--The moon--The mountains of the moon--Meteors and comets--Millions of meteorites--A great comet--The stellar universe--The evolution of stars--The age of stars--The nebular theory--Spiral nebul?--The birth and death of stars--The shape of our universe--Astronomical instruments.
II. THE STORY OF EVOLUTION 53
The beginning of the earth--Making a home for life--The first living creatures--The first plants--The first animals--Beginnings of bodies--Evolution of sex--Beginning of natural death--Procession of life through the ages--Evolution of land animals--The flying dragons--The first known bird--Evidences of evolution--Factors in evolution.
III. ADAPTATIONS TO ENVIRONMENT 113
The shore of the sea--The open sea--The deep sea--The fresh waters--The dry land--The air.
IV. THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE 135
Animal and bird mimicry and disguise--Other kinds of elusiveness.
V. THE ASCENT OF MAN 153
Anatomical proof of man's relationship with a Simian stock--Physiological proof--Embryological proof--Man's pedigree--Man's arboreal apprenticeship--Tentative men--Primitive men--Races of mankind--Steps in human evolution--Factors in human progress.
VI. EVOLUTION GOING ON 183
Evolutionary prospect for man--The fountain of change; variability--Evolution of plants--Romance of wheat--Changes in animal life--Story of the salmon--Forming new habits--Experiments in locomotion; new devices.
VII. THE DAWN OF MIND 205
A caution in regard to instinct--A useful law--Senses of fishes--The mind of a minnow--The mind and senses of amphibians--The reptilian mind--Mind in birds--Intelligence co-operating with instinct--The mind of the mammal--Instinctive aptitudes--Power of association--Why is there not more intelligence?--The mind of monkeys--Activity for activity's sake--Imitation--The mind of man--Body and mind.
VIII. FOUNDATIONS OF THE UNIVERSE 243
The world of atoms--The energy of atoms--The discovery of X-rays--The discovery of radium--The discovery of the electron--The electron theory--The structure of the atom--The new view of matter--Other new views--The nature of electricity--Electric current--The dynamo--Magnetism--Ether and waves--Light--What the blue "sky" means--Light without heat--Forms of energy--What heat is--Substitutes for coal--Dissipation of energy--What a uniform temperature would mean--Matter, ether, and Einstein--The tides--Origin of the moon--The earth slowing down--The day becoming longer.
ILLUSTRATIONS
FACING PAGE
THE GREAT SCARLET SOLAR PROMINENCES, WHICH ARE SUCH A NOTABLE FEATURE OF THE SOLAR PHENOMENA, ARE IMMENSE OUTBURSTS OF FLAMING HYDROGEN RISING SOMETIMES TO A HEIGHT OF 500,000 MILES Coloured Frontispiece
LAPLACE 10
PROFESSOR J. C. ADAMS 10 Photo: Royal Astronomical Society.
PROFESSOR EDDINGTON OF CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY 10 Photo: Elliot & Fry, Ltd.
THE PLANETS, SHOWING THEIR RELATIVE DISTANCES AND DIMENSIONS 11
THE MILKY WAY 14 Photo: Harvard College Observatory.
THE MOON ENTERING THE SHADOW CAST BY THE EARTH 14
THE GREAT NEBULA IN ANDROMEDA, MESSIER 31 15 From a photograph taken at the Yerkes Observatory.
DIAGRAM SHOWING THE MAIN LAYERS OF THE SUN 18
SOLAR PROMINENCES SEEN AT TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE, MAY 29, 1919. TAKEN AT SOBRAL, BRAZIL 18 Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
THE VISIBLE SURFACE OF THE SUN 19 Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory.
THE SUN PHOTOGRAPHED IN THE LIGHT OF GLOWING HYDROGEN 19 Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory.
THE AURORA BOREALIS (Coloured Illustration) 20 Reproduced from The Forces of Nature (Messrs. Macmillan)
THE GREAT SUN-SPOT OF JULY 17, 1905 22 Yerkes Observatory.
SOLAR PROMINENCES 22 From photographs taken at the Yerkes Observatory.
MARS, OCTOBER 5, 1909 23 Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory.
JUPITER 23
SATURN, NOVEMBER 19, 1911 23 Photo: Professor E. E. Barnard, Yerkes Observatory.
THE SPECTROSCOPE, AN INSTRUMENT FOR ANALYSING LIGHT; IT PROVIDES MEANS FOR IDENTIFYING SUBSTANCES (Coloured Illustration) 24
THE MOON 28
MARS 29 Drawings by Professor Percival Lowell.
THE MOON, AT NINE AND THREE QUARTER DAYS 29
A MAP OF THE CHIEF PLAINS AND CRATERS OF THE MOON 32
A DIAGRAM OF A STREAM OF METEORS SHOWING THE EARTH PASSING THROUGH THEM 32
COMET, SEPTEMBER 29, 1908 33 Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
COMET, OCTOBER 3, 1908 33 Photo: Royal Observatory, Greenwich.
TYPICAL SPECTRA 36 Photo: Harvard College Observatory.
A NEBULAR REGION SOUTH OF ZETA ORIONIS 37 Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory.
STAR CLUSTER IN HERCULES 37 Photo: Astrophysical Observatory, Victoria, British Columbia.
THE GREAT NEBULA IN ORION 40 Photo: Yerkes Observatory.
GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA, MARCH 23, 1914 41 Photo: Lick Observatory.
A SPIRAL NEBULA SEEN EDGE-ON 44 Photo: Mount Wilson Observatory.
100-INCH TELESCOPE, MOUNT WILSON 45 Photo: H. J. Shepstone.
THE YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTOR 48
THE DOUBLE-SLIDE PLATE-HOLDER ON YERKES 40-INCH REFRACTING TELESCOPE 49 Photo: H. J. Shepstone.
MODERN DIRECT-READING SPECTROSCOPE 49 By A. Hilger, Ltd.
CHARLES DARWIN 56 Photo: Rischgitz Collection.
LORD KELVIN 56 Photo: Rischgitz Collection.
A GIANT SPIRAL NEBULA 57 Photo: Lick Observatory.
METEORITE WHICH FELL NEAR SCARBOROUGH AND IS NOW TO BE SEEN IN THE NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM 57 Photo: Natural History Museum.
A LIMESTONE CANYON 60 Reproduced from the Smithsonian Report, 1915.
GEOLOGICAL TREE OF ANIMALS 61
DIAGRAM OF AMOEBA 61
A PIECE OF A REEF-BUILDING CORAL, BUILT UP BY A LARGE COLONY OF SMALL SEA-ANEMONE-LIKE POLYPS, EACH OF WHICH FORMS FROM THE SALTS OF THE SEA A SKELETON OR SHELL OF LIME 64 From the Smithsonian Report, 1917.
A GROUP OF CHALK-FORMING ANIMALS, OR FORAMINIFERA, EACH ABOUT THE SIZE OF A VERY SMALL PIN'S HEAD 65 Photo: J. J. Ward, F.E.S.
A COMMON FORAMINIFER (POLYSTOMELLA) SHOWING THE SHELL IN THE CENTRE AND THE OUTFLOWING NETWORK OF LIVING MATTER, ALONG WHICH GRANULES ARE CONTINUALLY TRAVELLING, AND BY WHICH FOOD PARTICLES ARE ENTANGLED AND DRAWN IN 65 Reproduced by permission of the Natural History Museum (after Max Schultze).
A PLANT-LIKE ANIMAL, OR ZOOPHYTE, CALLED OBELIA 68 Photo: J.
Continue reading on your phone by scaning this QR Code
Tip: The current page has been bookmarked automatically. If you wish to continue reading later, just open the
Dertz Homepage, and click on the 'continue reading' link at the bottom of the page.