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
| 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 Mycenæan 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. |