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Preface
It is not without some anxiety that I offer this Httle work to the public, for it is, I believe, the first attempt which has been made to treat the difficult subject of the History of Science in a short and simple way.i
Its object is to place before young and unscientific people those main discoveries of science which ought to be known by every educated person, and at the same time to impart a living interest to the whole, by associating with each step in advance some history of the men who made it.
During the many years that I enjoyed the privilege of acting as secretary to the late Sir Charles Lyell, and was thus brought in contact with many of the leading scientific men of our day, I often felt very forcibly how many important facts and generalizations of science, which are of great value both in the formation of character and in giving a true estimate
* Mr. Baden Powell's excellent little ' History of Natural Philosophy,' published in Lardner's 'Cyclopaedia' in 1834, is scarcely intended for beginners, and does not extend farther than the seventeenth century. This is the only work of the kind I have been able to find.
VL PREFACE, of life and its conditions, are totally unknown to the majority of otherwise well-educated persons.
Great efforts are now being made to meet this difficulty, by teaching children a few elementary facts of the various branches of science ; but, though such instruction is of immense value, something more is required in order that the mind may be prepared to follow intelligently the great movement of modern thought. The leading principles of science ought in some measure to be understood ; and these will, I believe, be most easily and effectually taught by showing the steps by which each science has attained its present importance.
It is this task which I have endeavoured to accomplish ; and if teachers will make their pupils master the explanations given in these pages and, wherever it is possible, try the experiments suggested, I venture to hope that this little work may supply that modest amount of scientific information which everyone ought to possess, while, at the same time, it will form a useful groundwork for those who wish afterwards to study any special branch of science.
The plan adopted has been to speak of discoveries in their historical order, and to endeavour to give such a description of each as can be understood by any person of ordinary intelligence. This has made it necessary to select among subjects of equal importance those which could be dealt with in plain language, and to avoid passing allusions to such as did not admit of such explanation.
PREFACE. vii
The history of the nineteenth century has been a very difficult and I fear scarcely a successful task ; for, while those who know anything of the subjects mentioned, will feel that the accQunt is very defective owing to so much being left out, the beginner will probably find it difficult owing to so much being put in. The reproach on both sides would be just, yet it seemed better to give even a few of the leading discoveries and theories of our own time than to leave the student with such crude ideas of many branches of science as he must have had if the history had ended with the eighteenth century.
When treating of such varied subjects, many of them presenting great difficulties both as regards historical and scientific accuracy, I cannot expect to have succeeded equally in all, and must trust to the hope of a future edition to correct such grave errors as will doubtless be pointed out, in spite of the care with which I have endeavoured to verify the statements made.
As the size of the book makes it impossible to give the numerous references which would occur on every page, I have named at the end of each chapter a few of the works consulted in its preparation, choosing always in preference those which will be useful to the reader if he cares to refer to them. I had also prepared questions on the work ; but those competent to give an opinion, tell me that teachers in these days prefer to prepare their own lessons. I have therefore substituted, at p. 439, a chronological table of the viii PREFACE.
various sciences, by means of which questions can be framed, either upon the discoveries of any- given period, or on the progressive advance, through several centuries, of any of the five main divisions of science which are dealt with in this volume.
In conclusion, I wish to acknowledge my obligations to many kind friends, and especially to Mr. A. R. Wallace and Mr. J. C. Moore, F.R.S., who have rendered me very material and valuable assistance. I am also much indebted to the Rev. R. M. Luckock, of the Godolphin Grammar School, who read the whole work in manuscript, with a view to pointing out any portions which might be unintelligible to schoolboys.
London : December 1875.
Contents
PAGE
Introduction , , . i
Chapter I
Ignorance of the Greeks concerning Nature — Ionian School of Learning — Thales discovers the Solstices and Equinoxes, and knows that the Moon Reflects the Light of the Sun — Anaximander invents a Sun-dial — Discovers the Phases of the Moon — Makes a Map of the Ancient World — Pythagoras teaches that
■ the Earth moves, and that the Morning and Evening Star are the same — He studies Geology, and knows that Land has in some places become Sea — True sayings of Pythagoras and his Followers about Geology ....... 7
CHAPTER n.
Anaxagoras studies the Moon — Describes Eclipses of the Sun and Moon — Is Tried and Condemned for Denying that the Sun is a God — Hippocrates the Father of Medicine — Separates the office of Priest and Doctor — Studies the Human Body — Eudoxus has an Observatory — Makes a Map of the Stars — Explains the Movements of the Planets — Democritus studies the Milky Way — Aristotle an Astronomer and Zoologist — Divides Animals into Classes — Teaches that there is a Gradual Succession of Animal Life — Studies the Difference of the Life in Plants and Animals — Theophrastus the first Botanist . -13
CONTENTS.
Chapter III. 320 To 212 B.c. Page
School of Science at Alexandria — The Ecliptic and the Zodiac — Greeks believed that the Sun moved round the Earth — Aristarchus knew that it was the Earth which moved — He also knew of the Obliquity of the Ecliptic, and that the Seasons are caused by it — He knew that the Earth turns daily on its Axis — Euclid discovers that Light travels in straight lines— Archimedes discovers the Lever — Principle of the Lever — Hiero's Crown, and how Archimedes discovered the principle of Specific Gravity — Screw of Archimedes . . . . . . . .18
Chapter IV
Erasistratus and Herophilus study the Human Body — Eratosthenes the Geographer lays down the First Parallel of Latitude and the First Meridian of Longitude — He measures the Circumference ofthe Earth — Hipparchus writes on Astronomy — Catalogues 1,080 Stars — Calculates when Eclipses will take place — Discovers the Precession of the Equinoxes . . . . . . .25
Chapter V
Ptolemy founds the Ptolemaic System — He writes on Geography — Strabo, a great traveller, writes on Geography — Studies Earthquakes and Volcanoes — Galen the greatest Physician of Antiquity — Describes the Two Sets of Nerves — Proves that Arteries contain Blood — Lays down a theory of Medicine — Greece and her Colonies conquered by Rome — Decay of Science in Greece — Concluding remarks on Greek Science . . 32
CONTENTS. xi
Part II. Science Of The Middle Ages
CHAPTER VL
SCIENCE OF THE ARABS.
PAGE
Dark Ages of Europe — Taking of Alexandria by the Arabs, and burning of the Library — The Arabs, checked in their conquests by Charles Martel, settle down to Science — The Nestorians and Jews translate Greek Works on Science — Universities of the Arabs — Chemistry first studied by the Arabs — Alchemy, or the attempt to make Gold — Hermes the first Alchemist — Hermetically-sealed Tubes — Gases and Vapours called ' Spirits ' by the Arabs — The use of this Word retained by us . . . .39
Chapter VII. Science Of The Arabs (continued)
Geber, or Djafer, the founder of Chemistry — His Explanation of Distillation — Of Sublimation — Discovers that some Metals increase in weight when heated — Discovers strong Acids — Nitric Acid — Sulphuric Acid — Discovery of Sal-Ammoniac by the Arabs — Arabs mix up Astronomy with Astrology — Albategnuis calculates the Length of the Year — Mohammed Ben Muse, first writer on Algebra — Uses the Indian Numerals — Gerbert introduces them into Europe — Alhazen's discoveries in Optics — His Explanation why only one image of each object reaches the Brain — His discovery of Refraction, and of its effect on the light of the Sun, Moon, and Stars — His discovery of the magnifying power of rounded glas^ses ....... 43
Chapter VIII. Science Of The Middle Ages In Europe. '
Roger Bacon — His * Opus Majus ' — His Explanation of the Rainbow—He makes Gunpowder — Studies Gases — Proves a Candle will not burn without Air — His Description of a Telescope — Speaks of Ships going without Sails — Flavio Gioja invents the xii CONTENTS.
Mariner's Compass — Greeks knew of the Power of the Loadstone to attract Iron — Use of the Compass in discovering new lands — Invention of Printing — Columbus discovers America — Vasco de Gama sees the Stars of the Southern Hemisphere — Magellan's ship sails round the World — Inventions of Leonardo da Vinci. . . . . . . . . . • 5 ^
Chapter IX. Science Of The Sixteenth Century
Rise of Modem Science — Dogmatism of the Middle Ages — Reasons for studying Discoveries in the order of their dates — Copernican theory of the Universe — Copernicus goes back to the System of Aristarchus — Is afraid to publish his Work till quite the end of his Life — Work of Vesalius on Anatomy — He shows that Galen made many mistakes in describing Man's Structure — His Banishment and Death — The value of his Work to Science— Fallopius and Eustachius Anatomists — Gesner's Works on Animals and Plants — He forms a Zoological Cabinet and makes a Botanical Garden — His Natural History of Animals — His classification of Plants according to their Seeds — His work on Mineralogy — Csesalpinus makes the First System of Plants on Gesner's plan — Explains Dioecious Plants — Chemistry of Paracelsus and Van Helmont ......
Chapter X. Science Of The Sixteenth Century (continued)
Baptiste Porta discovers the Camera Obscura — Shows that our Eye is like a Camera Obscura — Makes a kind of Magic Lantern by Sunlight — Kircher afterwards makes a Magic Lantern by Lamplight — Dr. Gilbert's discoveries in Electricity — Tycho Brahe, the Danish Astronomer — Builds an Observatory on the Island of Huen — Makes a great number of Observations, and
CONTENTS. xiii
PAGE
draws up the Rudolphine Tables —Galileo discovers the principle of the Pendulum — Calculates the velocity of Falling Bodies, and shows why it increases — Shows that Unequal Weights fall to the Ground in the same time — Establishes the relations of Force and Weight — Stevinus on Statics —Summary of the Science of the sixteenth century 74
Chapter XI. Science Of The Seventeenth Century
Astronomical discoveries of Galileo — The Telescope — Galileo examines the Moon, and discovers the Earth-light upon it — Discovers Jupiter's four Moons — Distinguishes the Fixed Stars from the Planets — The phases of 'Venus confirm the Copernican theory — Galileo notices Saturn's Ring, but does not distinguish it clearly — Observes the spots on the Sun — The Inquisition force him to deny the movement of the Earth — Blindness and Death of Galileo .......... 87
CHAPTER Xn.
SCIENCE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
Kepler the German Astronomer — Succeeds Tycho as Mathematician to the Emperor Rudolph — His description of the Eye — He tries to explain the orbit of the planet Mars — And by comparing Tycho's tables with observation discovers his First and Second Law of the movements of the Planets — His delight at Galileo's discoveries — Kepler's Third Law — Comparison of the labours of Tycho, Galileo, and Kepler . . . . -95
CHAPTER XIIL
SCIENCE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
Francis Bacon, 1561-1626 — He teaches the true method of ■ studying Science in his 'Novum Organum' — Rene Descartes, 1 596-1 650 — He teaches that Doubt is more honest than Ignorant Assertion — Willebrord Snellius discovers the Law of Refraction, 1621 — Explanation of this Law ..... 103 xiv CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIV.
SCIENCE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
PAGE
Fabricius Aquapendente discovers Valves in the Veins^Harvey's discovery of the Circulation of the Blood — Discovery of the Vessels which carry nourishment to the Blood — Gaspard Asellius notices the Lacteals — Pecquet discovers the Passage of the fluid to the Heart — Riidbeck discovers the Lymphatics . . .no
CHAPTER XV.
SCIENCE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
Torricelli discovers the reason of Water rising in a Pump — Uses Mercury to measure the Weight of the Atmosphere — Makes the First Barometer — M. Perrier, at Pascal's suggestion, demonstrates variations in the pressure of the atmosphere — Otto Guericke invents the Air-pump — Working of the Air-pump — Guericke proves the Pressure of the Atmosphere by the experiment of the Magdeburg Spheres — He makes the first Electrical Machine — Foundation of Royal Society of London and other Academies of Science . . . . . . . .116
CHAPTER XVI.
SCIENCE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
Boyle's Law of the Compressibility of Gases — ^This same Law discovered independently by Marriotte — Hooke's theory of Air being the cause of Fire — Boyle's experiments with Animals under the Air-pump — ^John Mayow, the greatest Chemist of the Seventeenth Century — His experiments upon the Air used in Combustion — Proves that the same portion is used in Respiration— Proves that Air which has lost its Fire-air is Lighter — MayoVs ' Fire-air ' was Oxygen, and his Lighter Air Nitrogen — He traces out the effect which Fire-air produces in Animals when Breathing . . . . . . . . .128
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XVII.
SCIENCE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
PAGE
Malpighi first uses the Microscope to examine Living Stmctures — He describes the Air-cells of the Lungs — Watches the Circulation of the Blood —Observes the Malpighian Layer in the Human Skin — Describes the structure of the Silkworm — Leeuwenhoeck discovers Animalcules — Grew and Malpighi discover the Cellular Structure of Plants — The Stomates in Leaves — They study the Germination of Seeds — Ray and Willughby classify and describe Animals and Plants — The Friendship of these two Men . • 137
CHAPTER XVIII.
SCIENCE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
1642, Birth of Newton — His Education — 1666, His three great Discoveries first occur to him — Method of Fluxions and Differential Calculus — First Thought of the Theory of Gravitation — Failure of his Results in consequence of the Faulty Measurement of the size of the Earth — 1682, Hears of Picart's new Measurement — Works out the result correctly, and proves the Theory of Gravitation — Explanation of this Theory — Establishes the Law that Attraction varies inversely as the squares of the distance — 1687, Publishes the 'Principia' — Some of the Problems dealt with in this Work . . . . . . .147
CHAPTER XIX.
Transits of Mercury and Venus — Kepler foretells their occurrence — 163 1, Gassendi observes a Transit of Mercury — 1639, Horrocks foretells and observes a Transit of Venus — 1676, Halley sees a Transit of Mercury, and it suggests to him a method for Measuring the Distance of the Sun — 1691-1716, Halley describes this method to the Royal Society — Explanation of Halley's method 156
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XX.
SCIENCE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
PAGE
Newton's Discovery of the Dispersion of Light — Traces the amount of Refraction of each of the Coloured Rays — Makes a Rotating Disc turning the colours of the Spectrum into White Light — Reason why all Light passing through glass is not Coloured — Mr. Chester More Hall discovers the Difference of Dispersive Power in Flint and Crown Glass — Newton's Papers destroyed bvhis pet dog — Last years of Newton's life . .164
CHAPTER XXL
SCIENCE OF THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
Roemer measures the Velocity of Light — Newton's Corpuscular Theory of Light — Undulatory or Wave Theory proposed by Huyghens — Invention of Cycloidal Pendulums by Huyghens — Discovery of Saturn's Ring — Sound caused by Vibration of Air — Light by Vibration of Ether — Reasons why we see Light — Reflection of Waves of Light — Cause of Colour — Refraction explained by the Undulatory Theory — Mr. Tylor's Illustration of Refraction — Double Refraction explained by Huyghens — Polarisation of Light not understood till the nineteenth century . 1 72
CHAPTER XXIL
Summary of the Science of the Seventeenth Century . 182
CHAPTER XXin.
SCIENCE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
Great spread of Science in the Eighteenth Century — Advance of the Sciences relating to Living Beings — Foundation of Leyden University in 1574 — Boerhaave, Professor of Medicine at Leyden, 1 701 — Foundation of Organic Chemistry by Boerhaave — Influence of Boerhaave upon the study of Medicine — Belief of the Alchemists in ' Vital Fluids ' — Boerhaave's Experiments on the Juices of Plants — Dr. Hales's Experiments on Plants — Boerhaave's Analyses of Milk, Blood, &c. — Great popularity of his Chemical Lectures , . . . . . . . .189
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXIV.
SCIENCE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
PAGE
Childhood of Haller — Foundation of the University of Gottingen in 1736 — Haller made Professor of Anatomy — Haller's Ana- ■ tomical Plates — He discovers the power of Contraction of the Muscles — Rise of Comparative Anatomy — John Hunter's industry in Dissecting and Comparing the Structures of different Animals — His Museum and the arrangement of his Collection — Bonnet's Experiments on Plants — Experiments upon Animals by Bonnet and Spallanzani — Regrowth of different parts when cut off — Bonnet's theory of Gradual Development of Plants and Animals — Anatomical Works of Haller — He discovers the power of the Muscles to contract . . . . . -195
CHAPTER XXV.
SCIENCE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
Birth and Early Life of Bufifon and Linnaeus compared — Bufifon's Work on Natural History — Daubenton wrote the Anatomical Part — Buffon's Books very interesting, but not always accurate — He first worked out the Distribution of Animals — Struggles of Linnaeus with Poverty — Mr. Clifford befriends him — He becomes Professor at Upsala — He was the first to give Specific Names to Animals and Plants — Explanation of his Descriptions of Plants — Use of the Linnaean or Artificial System — Afterwards superseded by the Natural System — Linnaeus first used accurate terms in describing Plants and Animals — Character of Linnaeus — Sale of his Collection, and Chase by the Swedish Man-of-war . . 204
CHAPTER XXVL
SCIENCE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
The Study of the Earth neglected during the Dark Ages — Prejudices concerning the Creation of the World — Attempts to Account for Buried Fossils — Palissy, the Potter, first asserted that Fossil-shells were real Shells — Scilla's Work on the Shells of Calabria, 1670 — Woodward's Description of Different Fonnations, 1695 — Lazzaro Moro one of the first to give a true expla-
-^^iii CONTENTS.
PAGE
nation of the facts — Abraham Werner lectures on Mineralogy and Geology, I775 — Disputes between the Neptunists and Vulcanists — Dr. Hutton first teaches that it is by the Study of the Present that we can understand the Past — Theory of Hutton — Sir J. Hall's Experiments upon Melted Rocks — Hutton discovers Granite Veins in Glen Tilt — William Smith, the * Father of English Geologists ' — His Geological Map of England . . 214
CHAPTER XXVII.
SCIENCE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
Birth of Modem Chemistry — Discovery of 'Fixed Air,' or Carbonic Acid, by Black and Bergmann — Working out of ' Chemical Affinity ' by Bergmann — He tests Mineral Waters, and proves ' Fixed Air ' to be an Acid — Discovery of Hydrogen by Cavendish — He investigates the Composition of Water — Oxygen discovered by Priestley and Scheele — Priestley's Experiments — He fails to see the true bearing of his Discovery — His Political Troubles and Death — Nitrogen described by Dr. Rutherford — Lavoisier lays the Foundation of Modern Chemistry — He destroys the Theory of ' Phlogiston ' by proving that Combustion and Respiration take up a Gas out of the Air — Discovers the Composition of Carbonic Acid and the nature of the Diamond — French School of Chemistry — Death of Lavoisier . . . 225
CHAPTER XXVIII.
SCIENCE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
Doctrine of Latent Heat, taught by Dr. Black in 1760 — Water containing Ice remains always at 0° C, and Boiling Water at 100° C, however much Heat is added — Black showed that the lost Heat is absorbed in altering the condition of the Water — Watt's Application of the Theory of Latent Heat to the Steam-engine — Early History of Steam-engines — Newcomen's Engine — Watt invents the Separate Condenser — Diagram of Watt's Engine — Difficulties of Watt and Boulton in introducing Steam-engines ........... 241
CONTENTS. xLc
CHAPTER XXIX..
SCIENCE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
PAGE
Benjamin Franklin, born 1706 — His Early Life — Du Faye discovers two kinds of Electricity — Franklin proves that Electricity exists in all Bodies, and is only developed by Friction — Positive and Negative Electricity — Franklin draws down Electricity from the Sky — Invents Lightning-conductors — Discovery of Animal Electricity by Galvani — Controversy between Galvani and Volta — Volta proves that Electricity can be produced by the Contact of two Metals — Electrical Batteries — The Crown of Cups — The Voltaic Pile .......... 253
CHAPTER XXX.
SCIENCE OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
Bradley and Delisle, Astronomers — Aberration of the Fixed Stains — Nutation of the Axis of the Earth, Delisle's Method of Measuring the Transit of Venus — Lagrange and Laplace — Libration of the Moon accounted for by Lagrange — Laplace works out the Long Inequality of Jupiter and Saturn — Lagrange proves the Stabihty of the Orbits of the Planets — Sir William Herschel constructs his own Telescopes — Discovery of a New Planet — • Discovery of Binary Stars — Herschel studies Star-clusters and Nebulae — Theory of Nebulae being matter out of which Stars are made — The Motion of our Solar System through Space — Weight of the Earth determined by the Schehallien Experiment — Summary of the Science of the Eighteenth Century . . 265
CHAPTER XXXI.
SCIENCE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
Difficulties of Contemporary History— ^.Discovery of Asteroids and Minor Planets between Mars and Jupiter — Dr. Gibers suggests they may be fragments of a larger Planet — Encke's Comet, and the correction of the size of Jupiter and Mercury — Biela's Comet, noticed in 1826 — It divides into two Comets in 1845 —
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Irregular movements of Uranus — Adams and Leverrier calculate the position of an Unknown Planet — Neptune found by these calculations in 1846 —A Survey of the whole Heavens made by Sir John Herschel — His work in Astronomy — Comets and Meteor-systems ......... 287
CHAPTER XXXII.
SCIENCE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
Discoveries concerning Light made in the Nineteenth Century — Birth and History of Dr. Young — He explains the Interference of Light — Cause of Prismatic Colours in a Shadow — And in a Soap-bubble — Malus discovers the Polarisation of Light caused by Reflection — Birth and History of Fresnel — Polarisation of Light explained by Young and Fresnel — Complex Vibrations of a Ray of Light — How these Waves are reduced to two separate Planes in passing through Iceland-spar — Sir Da,vid Brewster and M. Biot explain. the colours produced by Polarisation . . 302
CHAPTER XXXIII.
SCIENCE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
History of Spectrum Analysis — Discovery of Heat-rays by Sir W. Herschel — And of Chemical Rays by Ritter of Jena — Photography first suggested by Davy and Wedgwood — Carried out by Daguerre and Talbot — Dark Lines in the Spectrum first observed by WoUaston — Mapped by Fraunhofer — Life of Fraunhofer — He discovers that the Dark Lines are different in Sunlight and Star-light — Experiments on the Spectra of different Flames — Four new Metals discovered by Spectrum Analysis — Artificial Dark Lines produced in the Spectrum by Sir David Brewster — Bunsen and Kirchhofif explain the Dark Lines in the Solar Spectrum — Metals in the Atmosphere of the Sun — Huggins and Miller examine the Stars and Nebulae by Spectrum Analysis . 3 r5
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXIV.
SCIENCE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
PAGE
Early Theories about Heat — Count Rumford shows that Heat can be produced by Friction — He makes Water boil by boring a Cannon — Davy makes two pieces of Ice melt by Friction — His conclusion about Heat— How 'Latent Heat' is explained on the theory that Heat is a kind of Motion — Dr. Mayer suggests the Determination of the Mechanical Equivalent of Heat — Dr. Joule's Experiments on the conversion of Motion into Heat — Dr. Him's Experiments on the conversion of Heat into Motion — Proof of the Indestructibility of Force and Conservation of Energy . 329
CHAPTER XXXV.
SCIENCE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY ^CONTINUED).
Oersted discovers the Effect of Electricity upon a Magnet — Electro- Magnetism — Experiments by Ampere on Magnetic and Electric Currents — Ampere's Early Life — Direction of the North Pole of the Magnet depends on the course of the Electric Currents — Magnetic Currents set up between two Electric Wires — Electro- Magnets made by means of an Electric Current — Arago magnetises a Steel Bar with an ordinary Electrical Machine — Faraday discovers the Rotatory Movement of Magnets and Electrified Wires — Produces an Electric Current by means of a Magnet — Seebeck discovers Thermo-Electricity, or the production of Electricity by Heat — Schwabe discovers Periodicity of the Spots on the Sun — Sabine suggests a connection between Sun-spots and Magnetic Currents — This proved in 1859 by Observations of Carrington and Hodgson — Electric Telegraph— Wheatstone — Cooke — Steinheil — Morse — Bain ...... 34.1
CHAPTER XXXVI.
SCIENCE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED/.
Davy discovers that Nitrous Oxide produces Insensibility — Laughing-gas— Safety-lamp, 18 15 — Nicholson and Carlisle discover Decomposition of Water, 1800 — Davy discovers the effect of Electricity upon Chemical Affinity — Faraday's Discoveries in xxii CONTENTS.
FAGS
Electrolysis — Indestructibility of Force — Various Modes discovered of Decomposing Substances — ^John Dalton, chemist — Law of Definite Proportions — Law of Multiple Proportions — Dalton's Atomic Theory — The Study of Organic Chemistry — Liebig, the great teacher in Organic Chemistry . . . 362
CHAPTER XXXVn.
SCIENCE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
The Organic Sciences are too difficult to follow out in detail — . Jussieii's Natural System of Plants — Goethe proves the Metamorphosis of Plants — Humboldt studies the Lines of Average Temperature on the Globe — Extends our knowledge of Physical Geography — Writes the ' Cosmos ' — Death of Humboldt in 1858 380
CHAPTER XXXVin.
SCIENCE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
The three Natui'alists, Lamarck, Cuvier, and Geoffroy St.-Hilaire — Cuvier begins the Museum of Comparative Anatomy — Lamarck's History of Invertebrate Animals — G. St.-Hilaire brings Natural History Collections from Egypt — Lamarck on the Development of Animals — G. St.-Hilaire on 'Homology,' or the similarity in the parts of different animals — Cuvier's ' Regne Animal ' and his Classification of Animals — Cuvier on the Perfect Agreement between the Different Parts of an animal — He Studies and Restores the Remains of Fossil Animals — His ' Ossemens Fossiles ' — Death of Cuvier — Von Baer on the Study of Embryology — His History of the Development of Animals, 1828 388
CHAPTER XXXIX.
SCIENCE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
Prejudices which retarded the study of Geology — Sir Charles Lyell traces out the Changes going on now — Mud carried down by the Ganges — Eating away of Sea-coasts — Eruption of Skaptar Jokul — Earthquake of Calabria — Rise and Fall of Land —
CONTENTS.
PAGE
•Principles of Geology' published in 1830 — Louis Agassiz: his early life — De Saussure's Study of Glaciers — Agassiz on Europe and North America being once covered with Ice — Boucher de Perthes on Ancient Flint Implements — McEnery on Flint Implements in Kent's Cavern, v^dth Bones of Extinct Animals — Swiss Lake-dwellings — ' Antiquity of Man ' .... 404
CHAPTER XL.
SCIENCE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY (CONTINUED).
Facts which led Naturalists to believe that the different kinds of Animals are descended from Common Ancestors — All Animals of each class formed on one Plan — Embryological Structure — Living and Fossil Animals of a country resemble each other — Gradual Succession of Animals on the Globe — Links between different species — Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection — Wallace worked out the same Theory independently — Sketch of the Theory of Natural Selection — Selection of Animals by Man — Selection by Natural Causes — Difficulties in Natural History which are explained by this Theory — Foolish Prejudices against it — Concluding Remarks on the History of Science . . -4^9
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