Wonders of Earth, Sea and Sky | Page 2

OF THE ROCKS 77 BY N.S. SHALER.
THE PITCH LAKE IN THE WEST INDIES 97 BY CHARLES
KINGSLEY.
A STALAGMITE CAVE 111 BY SIR C. WYVILLE THOMSON.
THE BIG TREES OF CALIFORNIA 119 BY ALFRED RUSSEL
WALLACE.
WHAT IS EVOLUTION? 127 BY PROFESSOR EDWARD S.
HOLDEN.
HOW THE SOIL IS MADE 135 BY CHARLES DARWIN.
ZOOeLOGICAL MYTHS 143 BY ANDREW WILSON.
ON A PIECE OF CHALK 171 BY T.H. HUXLEY.
A BIT OF SPONGE 205 BY A. WILSON.
THE GREATEST SEA-WAVE EVER KNOWN 211 BY R.A.
PROCTOR.
THE PHOSPHORESCENT SEA 228 BY W.S. DALLAS.
COMETS 251 BY CAMILLE FLAMMARION.
THE TOTAL SOLAR ECLIPSE OF 1883 261 BY E.S. HOLDEN.
HALOS--PARHELIA--THE SPECTRE OF THE BROCKEN, ETC.
268 BY CAMILLE FLAMMARION.
THE PLANET VENUS 282 BY AGNES M. CLERKE.
THE STARS 296 BY SIR R.S. BALL.
RAIN AND SNOW 342 BY JOHN TYNDALL.
THE ORGANIC WORLD 357 BY ST. GEORGE MIVART.
INHABITANTS OF MY POOL 366 BY ARABELLA B. BUCKLEY.
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 387
SUGGESTIONS FOR SUPPLEMENTARY READING. 389

NOTE.
The publishers' acknowledgments are due to Messrs. Houghton, Mifflin
& Co., for permission to use "America and the Old World," by L.
Agassiz; to Messrs. D.C. Heath & Co. for permission to use "Some
Records of the Rocks," by Professor N.S. Shaler; and to Professor E.S.
Holden for permission to use "What is Evolution?" and "An
Astronomer's Voyage to Fairy Land."

LIST OF COLORED ILLUSTRATIONS
A GEYSER. _Frontispiece, See Page_ 47
VIEW IN A CANON Face Page 12
A VOLCANO 48
A STALAGMITE CAVE 116
WHERE SPONGES GROW 208
A COMET 254
THE SPECTRE OF THE BROCKEN 272
AND ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-FOUR BLACK AND WHITE
ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.

THE MARVELS OF NATURE
BY EDWARD S. HOLDEN, M.A., Sc.D. LL.D.
The Earth, the Sea, the Sky, and their wonders--these are the themes of
this volume. The volume is so small, and the theme so vast! Men have
lived on the earth for hundreds of the sands of years; and its wonders
have increased, not diminished, with their experience.
To our barbarous ancestors of centuries ago, all was mystery--the
thunder, the rainbow, the growing corn, the ocean, the stars. Gradually
and by slow steps they learned to house themselves in trees, in caves, in
huts, in houses; to find a sure supply of food; to provide a stock of
serviceable clothing. The arts of life were born; tools were invented;
the priceless boon of fire was received; tribes and clans united for
defence; some measure of security and comfort was attained.
With security and comfort came leisure; and the mind of early Man
began curiously to inquire the meaning of the mysteries with which he
was surrounded. That curious inquiry was the birth of Science. Art was
born when some far-away ancestor, in an idle hour, scratched on a bone

the drawing of two of his reindeer fighting, or carved on the walls of
his cave the image of the mammoth that he had but lately slain with his
spear and arrows.
In a mind that is completely ignorant there is no wonder. Wonder is the
child of knowledge--of partial and imperfect knowledge, to be sure, but
still, of knowledge. The very first step in Science is to make an
inventory of external Nature (and by and by of the faculties of the mind
that thinks). The second step is to catalogue similar appearances
together. It is a much higher flight to seek the causes of likenesses thus
discovered.
A few of the chapters of this volume are items in a mere catalogue of
wonders, and deserve their place by accurate and eloquent description.
Most of them, however, represent higher stages of insight. In the latter,
Nature is viewed not only with the eye of the observer, but also with
the mind's eye, curious to discover the reasons for things seen. The
most penetrating inward inquiry accompanies the acutest external
observation in such chapters as those of Darwin and Huxley, here
reprinted.
Now, the point not to be overlooked is this: to Darwin and Huxley, as
to their remote and uncultured ancestors, the World--the Earth, the Sea,
the Sky--is full of wonders and of mysteries, but the wonders are of a
higher order. The problems of the thunder and of the rainbow as they
presented themselves to the men of a thousand generations ago, have
been fully solved: but the questions; what is the veritable nature of
electricity, exactly how does it differ from light, are still unanswered.
And what are simple problems like these to the questions: what is love;
why do we feel a sympathy with this person, an antipathy for that; and
others of the sort? Science has made almost infinite advances since
pre-historic man first felt the feeble current of intellectual curiosity
amid his awe of the storm; it