The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 | Page 7

the weird ways of
many important parasites have been unravelled; and here again
knowledge means mastery. To a degree which has almost surpassed
expectations there has been a revelation of the intricacy of the stones
and mortar of the house of life, and the microscopic study of germ-cells
has wonderfully supplemented the epoch-making experimental study of
heredity which began with Mendel. It goes without saying that no one
can call himself educated who does not understand the central and
simple ideas of Mendelism and other new departures in biology.
The procession of life through the ages and the factors in the sublime
movement; the peopling of the earth by plants and animals and the
linking of life to life in subtle inter-relations, such as those between
flowers and their insect-visitors; the life-histories of individual types
and the extraordinary results of the new inquiry called "experimental
embryology"--these also are among the subjects with which this
OUTLINE will deal.
The behaviour of animals is another fascinating study, leading to a
provisional picture of the dawn of mind. Indeed, no branch of science
surpasses in interest that which deals with the ways and habits--the
truly wonderful devices, adaptations, and instincts--of insects, birds,
and mammals. We no longer deny a degree of intelligence to some
members of the animal world--even the line between intelligence and
reason is sometimes difficult to find.
Fresh contacts between physiology and the study of man's mental life;
precise studies of the ways of children and wild peoples; and new
methods like those of the psycho-analyst must also receive the attention
they deserve, for they are giving us a "New Psychology" and the claims
of psychical research must also be recognised by the open-minded.
The general aim of the OUTLINE is to give the reader a clear and
concise view of the essentials of present-day science, so that he may
follow with intelligence the modern advance and share appreciatively
in man's continued conquest of his kingdom.
J. ARTHUR THOMSON.

I
THE ROMANCE OF THE HEAVENS

THE SCALE OF THE UNIVERSE--THE SOLAR SYSTEM
§ 1
The story of the triumphs of modern science naturally opens with
Astronomy. The picture of the Universe which the astronomer offers to
us is imperfect; the lines he traces are often faint and uncertain. There
are many problems which have been solved, there are just as many
about which there is doubt, and notwithstanding our great increase in
knowledge, there remain just as many which are entirely unsolved.
The problem of the structure and duration of the universe [said the
great astronomer Simon Newcomb] is the most far-reaching with which
the mind has to deal. Its solution may be regarded as the ultimate object
of stellar astronomy, the possibility of reaching which has occupied the
minds of thinkers since the beginning of civilisation. Before our time
the problem could be considered only from the imaginative or the
speculative point of view. Although we can to-day attack it to a limited
extent by scientific methods, it must be admitted that we have scarcely
taken more than the first step toward the actual solution.... What is the
duration of the universe in time? Is it fitted to last for ever in its present
form, or does it contain within itself the seeds of dissolution? Must it,
in the course of time, in we know not how many millions of ages, be
transformed into something very different from what it now is? This
question is intimately associated with the question whether the stars
form a system. If they do, we may suppose that system to be permanent
in its general features; if not, we must look further for our conclusions.
The Heavenly Bodies
The heavenly bodies fall into two very distinct classes so far as their

relation to our Earth is concerned; the one class, a very small one,
comprises a sort of colony of which the Earth is a member. These
bodies are called planets, or wanderers. There are eight of them,
including the Earth, and they all circle round the sun. Their names, in
the order of their distance from the sun, are Mercury, Venus, Earth,
Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and of these Mercury, the
nearest to the sun, is rarely seen by the naked eye. Uranus is practically
invisible, and Neptune quite so. These eight planets, together with the
sun, constitute, as we have said, a sort of little colony; this colony is
called the Solar System.
The second class of heavenly bodies are those which lie outside the
solar system. Every one of those glittering points we see on a starlit
night is at an immensely greater distance from us than is any member
of the Solar System. Yet the members of this little colony of ours,
judged by terrestrial standards, are at enormous distances