own.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION 3
I. THE ROMANCE OF THE HEAVENS 7
The scale of the universe--The solar system--Regions of the sun--The
surface of the sun--Measuring the speed of light--Is the sun
dying?--The planets--Venus--Is there 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 nebulæ--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
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