Birds and All Nature, Vol. 4, No. 1, July 1898: Illustrated by Color PhotographyVarious
History
Birds and All Nature, Vol. 4, No. 1, July 1898: Illustrated by Color Photography
Various
Birds -- Periodicals; Natural history -- Periodicals
Every new item of nature's news that breaks upon the consciousness
increases capacity for pleasure for all time. He who meets nature
with enlightened senses is rewarded every day of his life for the
pains taken in delightful study by way of preparation. A landscape is
infinitely enhanced to him who has pursued the science of color with
some diligence. The sounds of the forest speak tenderly to all; but he
who knows the secrets of melody and harmony, and the limits of human
skill in music, has worlds of delight in the forest that others may not
enter. And so has the swain whose childhood was spent among the voices
of the trees. The sense of smell has a thousand raptures for the man
whose nose has lived up to its possibilities.
To look upon all nature broadly with the familiarity which comes only
from long acquaintance and scientific investigation of her various
aspects is the highest type of living. While this is not possible to
all, yet, much of it may be experienced by every one who has the desire
and follows it. The leading facts of all the sciences are open to all
who care to know them. The beauties and mysteries of the world are
constantly inviting us. And the rapid developments of knowledge in all
directions give us all the exciting motives one can desire.
Looking out over the face of the world, we note that there are two
sorts of material to be considered. One is alive or was produced by the
action of life, and the other is material which has never known a want.
We are drawn most to that which has pulsed with sap or blood--that
which has made a struggle of some sort.
All things that live are made up chemically principally of four
of the elements of the universe which are best adapted by their
characteristics for the purposes of life. Three are gases, oxygen,
hydrogen, and nitrogen; one is a solid, carbon. All these have what
is technically known as affinities of narrow range and low intensity
except oxygen. Oxygen is greedy to attack almost everything, the
others unite but sparingly and feebly. From these elements, life
chooses combinations that are easily changed in form and light enough
to stand up from the earth, to swim in the waters, and even to fly in
the atmosphere. So gaseous and quick to change are the things of life
that life itself has the reputation of being fleeting. Development is
a change in the arrangement of parts, and function is a transformation
of motion. These four elements, three gaseous and one solid, three very
exclusive and one very free in choosing all sorts of associates, have
been the means whereby life has been possible upon the earth. Their
characters have provided for what are known as differentiation and
integration.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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