others of them turned west, and came clear across into Europe. In
fact, they came near to overrunning Europe during the last days of
the Roman Empire so that the famous Charlemagne had to fight them in
the eighth century, as you will learn when you study history in
school, or still better when you read stories of knights and
paladins of the early Middle Ages. So part of us white men came to
Europe, and then to America, directly from southern Asia. And part
of us came round by way of China and Tartary and Russia; tho now we
are all mixt up together so that no one can tell which from t’other.
Yet even now, whenever you get up in the gallery and look down on
the people’s heads, you can see that some white men have long,
egg-shaped heads and narrow faces, and some have round bullet-shaped
heads and broad faces. The long sort of head came straight up from
India, by way of Asia Minor; and the round sort came round the end
of the mountains and across central Asia. That’s the reason why, tho
we are all white men, we can’t wear one another’s hats.
That’s about the way it is with all kinds of animals and plants.
Each one starts somewhere, and spreads out in all directions as far
as it can, gradually changing as it goes, until from being one sort
of pine or oak, there come to be dozens, and instead of one kind of
cat or dog there are a score. On the whole, too, the latest kinds of
animals and plants are better than the earlier ones and there are a
great many more of them. This is what we call Evolution—but why it
all happens or what it is all for, Is just precisely “one of those
things that no fellah can find out.”
Still one can’t help thinking that if we men can make as many things
as we do out of iron—knives and saws and locomotives and bridges and
sky-scrapers and battle-ships and all sorts of wonderful machinery,
and make them better and better all the while, some wiser being than
ourselves might make other and still more wonderful machines out of
the life-jelly which we call protoplasm, and keep making them better
and better and more and more kinds of them as the ages have gone on.
INDEX
Air, importance of clean, 276.
Ambidexters, 121-122.
Amoeba, 40;
feeding of, 245.
Ants, 194-209.
Anti-toxin, 280.
Bacteria, 31, 38, 71, 141;
and disease, 266 and following, 274 and following.
Bean, 20-23, 146.
Bee, 70, 71.
Birds, instincts of 96-98;
lizard-like, 351.
Blind spot, 186-188.
Blood, 32, 43-44;
growth of, 50-51;
and air, 242 and following;
waste matter in, 253 and following;
poisons in, 263 and following;
living creatures in, 268 and following;
as defence, 279 and following;
messages by way of, 294 and following;
salt in, 329 and following;
sea water as, 330 and following.
Bones, of chick, 5;
of fish, 16;
growth of, 49-50, 300.
Brain, of chick, 4, 5;
of fish, 16;
and speech, 114-118;
centers in, 123-135;
accidents to, 127-133;
complexity of human, 357.
Breath, why we get out of, 257 and following.
Breakfast table, experiments in recalling, 228-229, 234.
Camel, 106.
Cat, 12;
hunting instinct in, 86-87;
and mouse, 94-95;
and food in bottle, 102;
double paws of, 320;
teeth of, 321;
sharp claws of, 328;
feet of, 341;
ancestors of, 350.
Caterpillars, and moths, how find their way, 158-163;
change to butterflies, 297 and following.
Cells, 31-41, 238;
of eggs, 25-27;
of human beings, 27-29;
of plants, 35-37;
of bone, 45.
Chick, hatching of, 1-2;
growth in eggs, 3-6;
instincts of, 91-93;
gill slits of, 332 and following.
Children, 24;
growth of, 56-58, 61-64;
best plays for, 58-60;
grip of very young, 75-76, 84;
swallowing of, 77;
instincts of, 78-85, 93-94;
compared with animals, 112-114.
Cold, and heat, sense of, 169-170;
experiments with, 191-192;
how we catch, 286.
Colors, how we see, 177, 183-185, 197-198.
Coon, and box, 102-104.
Corn, 66-68.
Cork, 43.
Cow, 12, 113, 246;
and stuffed calf, 105-106, 112;
limbs of, 340, 341.
Crab, breaking joints of, 309 and following;
eye of, 310, 319.
Date palm, 68.
Dog, 12, 61-62, 246;
hunting instincts in, 86-88, 95;
story of, 100,-101;
advantage of speech to, 110,-111;
sight and smell in, 220-222;
teeth of, 321 and following;
claws of, 328;
feet of, 341;
ancestors of, 349 and following.
Dolls, why girls play with, 78-79.
Ears, of chicks, 4;
of fish, 16, 211-212;
of beasts, 28;
sixth sense in, 166-167, 189;
of ants, 200-202;
of other insects, 210;
of jelly-fish, 211;
of various animals, 211-213;
making of, 332;
muscles of, 336.
Ear minds, 234-235.
Egg, of hen, 1-6, 27;
of other birds, 7-11, 22, 27, 31, 72-73;
of reptiles, 7-8, 10, 12;
of fishes, 7, 8, 12, 14-19, 22, 27, 70, 317;
of star-fish and sea-urchins, 8-9, 24-27, 69-70, 72, 315, and
following;
of frogs and toads, 9-11, 27;
of beasts, 12-13, 28;
living portion of, 43;
birds idea of, 97;
effect of accidents to, 315 and following, 358 and following.
Elephant, teeth of, 323 and following;
trunk of, 343 and following.
Enzymes, 291 and following.
Evolution, 356.
Eyes, 32;
of chicks, 4, 5;
of fishes, 16;
how formed, 17-18, 28;
images in, 175-176;
as camera, 176;
and color, 177-179, 183-185;
object of two, 185-186;
blind spot of, 186-188;
of ants, 197-200;
of various creatures, 214-215, 219;
of insects, 215-217;
black, 300 and following;
third, 336.
Eye minds, 229-233, 237.
Fatigue, cause of, 255 and following.
Fighting in play, 88-90.
Finger nails, 29, 34, 43, 53.
Fish, growth of, 53-54, 61, 70;
feeding of, 246;
monsters, 317 and following;
gills of, 331.
Flies and disease, 269-273, 274 and following, 284.
Food, as fuel, 244 and following, 252 and following;
importance of clean, 275.
Games, best for children, 58-60;
why children like, 81-85;
of animals, 86-90.
Hair, 80, 43, 58;
whitening of, 301 and following.
Head, of chick, 4;
of fish, 16;
early growth of, 293;
shapes of human, 355.
Horns, 34.
Horse, 12;
finds its way, 222-224;
epidemic among, 284;
teeth of, 321 and following;
limbs of, 338 and following;
feet of ancient, 348 and following.
Hunger and thirst, sense of, 172.
Hydra, result of injuries to, 307 and following.
Insects, breathing of, 242 and following;
and disease, 269.
Instincts, 74-98, 101, 109.
Jelly-fish, 40, 46.
Leading shoot, 144-146.
Life, length of in various creatures, 61-64;
nature of, 239 and following.
life-jelly, 25, 27, 46, 238, 249, 251, 303, 356.
Light, growth and turning of plants toward, 147-148, 151-152,
156-157;
movement of animals toward, 159-164, 196-197.
Liver, and sugar, 260;
and bile, 278.
Lizard, new legs and tails of, 304 and following;
third eye of, 337.
Lockjaw, 267 and following, 277.
Lungs, of chicks, 5, 6, breathing by, 243 and following.
Lymph cells, as defence, 280 and following;
duties of, 296 and following, 303.
Mammoth, 345.
Man, ancient, 351 and following;
early migrations of, 354 and following.
Milk, importance of clean, 269, 275.
Monkey, 12;
and box, 101-102;
and colds, 285;
feet of, 341.
Mosquitoes and disease, 269.
Mouse, 61-62;
and disease, 269;
teeth of, 325.
Muscles, growth of, 50;
working of, 240.
Muscle minds, 235-237.
Muscular sense, 167-169, 191, 223-225.
Nausea, 173.
Nerves, of chick, 4-5;
growth of, 50.
Nose, and smell, 189-190;
of ants, 203-209;
bacteria in, 277-278.
Pain, sense of, 170-172.
Parents, advantage of two, 65-66;
cases of one, 71-73.
Parrots, 108-109, 113.
Pigs, and rattlesnakes, 264;
teeth of, 325 and following.
Plants, as engines, 240-241;
take food from air, 250, 254;
sickness of, 286 and following.
Rabbit, 12, 113, 341.
Rat, and maze, 104-105;
and disease, 269 and following;
teeth of, 325.
Reptiles, 63.
Roots, growth of, 50, 146-147, 154-155.
Salamander, 333 and following.
Sea-anemone, 69, 136-140, 307.
Second wind, 259.
Seeds, of bean, 20-23;
and pollen, 66-69.
Shark, teeth of, 327.
Sight, illusions of, 177-184.
Skin, 32-34, 43, 53, 75;
as defence, 276 and following.
Snake, poison of, 262 and following;
teeth of, 327;
lung of, 335;
limbs of, 350-351.
Soils, diseases of, 288.
Speech, 108-118;
and brain, 114-118;
and thought, 119-120.
Speech centre, 120-124.
Sponge, 242, 330.
Squirrel, teeth of, 325.
Star-fish, growth of young, 54-55;
food of, 246;
re-growth of, 308 and following;
monsters, 315 and following.
Sugar, as food, 244-245, 251, 253, 291;
as poison, 259 and following.
Tadpole, change of to frog, 296 and following.
Tails, of human beings, 107-108;
of birds, 333.
Taste, 190-191, 218.
Teeth, of children, 29, 325;
growth of, 44-45, 49-50, 299 and following;
importance of clean, 277 and following;
as tools, 321 and following.
Tickling, 89-90.
Touch, errors of, 192.
Trees, living part of, 42-43;
growth of, 48-49, 53-54.
Vaccination, 279 and following.
Vine, climbing of, 153-154.
Worms, feeding of, 245;
repair of injuries to, 305 and following, 311 and following;
monsters, 314.
Yeast, 46, 71, 292.
End of Project Gutenberg's Natural Wonders, by Edwin Tenney Brewster