Part 4

“The lifeless earth,” says Sir Robert Ball, “is the canvas on which has been drawn the noblest picture that modern science has produced. It is Darwin who has drawn this picture. He has shown that the evolution of the lifeless earth from the nebula is but the prelude to an organic evolution of still greater interest and complexity. He has taken up the history of the earth at the point where the astronomer left it, and he has made discoveries which have influenced thought and opinion more than any other discoveries that have been made for centuries.”

The neglected department of Marine Zoology the Nineteenth Century has made particularly its mission to investigate, but space only permits mention of four names: Edward Forbes, Lord Kelvin (Sir Wyville Thomson), Ernst Heinrich Haeckel, and the Prince of Monaco.

The first, whom Lord Kelvin considers “the most accomplished and original naturalist of his time,” was a pupil of Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Jussieu, and De Blainville. He is regarded as the originator of the use of the dredge for collecting specimens and the first who undertook the systematic study of Marine Zoology with reference to the distribution of fauna. In 1859 his Natural History of the European Seas appeared after his death.

One of the most important investigators in this line is Prof. Haeckel, famous for his studies of the lower class of marine animals. He is also distinguished for his researches in other branches of Zoology and Palæontology, and was one of the first followers of Darwin in Germany.

Entomology has also made enormous progress during the Nineteenth Century. At the end of the Seventeenth Century, Ray estimated the number of insects throughout the world at 10,000 species! The great entomologists of the Eighteenth Century include Linnæus, De Geer, and Fabricius. Next follow Latreille, Kirby and Spence, and a host of distinguished scientists in Europe and the United States, of whom Sir John Lubbock (Lord Avebury) heads the list. A comparatively new line of investigation is that of the Chalcididæ (see Fairy Flies, pages 1449-1458, in Vol. IV).

ESTHER SINGLETON.

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Zodiacal Light Frontispiece

Chart of the Northern Constellations Opposite p. 73

Belt and Sword of Orion ” 121

Nebula in the Constellation Cygnus ” 169

Sun’s Surface and Sun Spot ” 217

Portion of the Moon’s Disk ” 265

Nine Views of the Hour-Glass Sea on Mars ” 313

Twelve Views of Jupiter ” 361

Three Views of Saturn ” 409

CONTENTS

THE HEAVENS. Amédée Guillemin 25

SPACE. Richard A. Proctor 33

EXTENT OF THE SIDEREAL HEAVENS. Sir Robert S. Ball 42

THE STARS. Amédée Guillemin 53

THE LUCID STARS. J. E. Gore 60

THE CONSTELLATIONS. Camille Flammarion 70

THE ARABIAN HEAVENS. Ludwig Ideler 106

ASTRONOMY WITHOUT A TELESCOPE. J. E. Gore 120

THE MILKY WAY. Richard A. Proctor 133

THE MAGELLANIC CLOUDS—ZODIACAL LIGHT—STAR GROUPS. Amédée Guillemin 147

THE NEBULÆ AND SWARMS OF SUNS. J. E. Gore 154