LIMITATION OF THE SENSES
Reasoning from the analogy of stretched strings and membranes, and of air vibrating in tubes, etc., we are justified in concluding that the smaller the drum or the tube the higher will be the note it produces when agitated, and the smaller and the more rapid the aerial wave to which it will respond. The drums of insect ears, and the tubes, etc., connected with them, are so minute that their world of sounds probably begins where ours ceases; that the sound which appears to us as continuous is to them a series of separated blows, just as vibrations of ten or twelve per second appear to us. We begin to hear such vibrations as continuous sounds when they amount to about thirty per second. The insect’s continuous sound probably begins beyond three thousand. The bluebottle fly may thus enjoy a whole world of exquisite music of which we know nothing. (Text.)—W. Mattieu Williams, “Science in Short Chapters.”
(1855)
LIMITATIONS GLORIFIED
We are apt to chafe at restrictions of all kinds, but these may be disguised blessings. Oftener the narrower the outward sphere, the more valuable the outcome. The lenses of a telescope are narrow, but through them we read the story of the stars. Darwin in the earthworm saw wonders which he spent several years in investigating. The wise botanist does not gather all the flowers in the garden at once; he confines himself to single specimens. One of Murillo’s finest pictures is in the Louvre at Paris. It shows us the interior of a convent kitchen; but doing the work there are not mortals in old dresses, but angels, white-winged and beautiful. One serenely puts the kettle on the fire to boil, and one is lifting up a pail of water with heavenly grace, and one is at the kitchen dresser reaching up for plates. As the painter puts it, all on the canvas are so busy, and working with such a will, and so refining the work as they do it, that somehow you forget that pans are pans and pots are pots, and only think of the angels, and how very natural and beautiful kitchen work is—just what the angels would do.
(1856)
Lincoln and Children—See [Children, Lincoln’s Regard for].
Lincoln Story—See [Good for Evil].
Lincoln’s First Dollar—See [Money, Earning].
Liquor—See [Money, How We Spend Our].