The Harmonies of Nature; Or, The Unity of CreationLongmans, Green, and Company, 1866 - 406 páginas |
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Términos y frases comunes
able admirable algæ animal annelides apparatus aquatic arms attached beak beautiful beetles birds birds of prey bivalve Boat-fly body branches burrow carapace carnivorous caterpillars cavity cells cilia claws cockchafer colour constantly covered crab crustaceans darts decapods defence distance earth eggs enables enemies extremely feet fibres filaments fishes flowers fluid Foraminifera forest formidable frequently furnished ground head herbivorous hole inches Infusoria insects instinct jaws larva larvæ leaf legs length less light lithophytes live locomotion mandibles manner means molluscs motion mouth muscles muscular naked nature nest ocean operculum organs orifice peculiar perfect plants polyps prey quadrupeds Raft Spider rapidity remarkable render reptiles resemble roots sand sea-urchin sharp shell side skin soon species spider spines stalita stomach stomata strong structure substances suckers surface swimming tail teeth tentacles thread tongue trees tropical vast vegetable wants whole wings wonderful young
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Página 87 - The mountain-stream or torrent," observes Keith, " washes down to the valley the seeds which may accidentally fall into it, or which it may happen to sweep from its banks when it suddenly overflows them. The broad and majestic river, winding along the extensive plain, and traversing the continents of the world, conveys to the distance of many hundreds of miles the seeds that may have vegetated at its source. Thus the southern shores of the Baltic are visited by seeds which grew in the interior of...
Página 114 - I beheld, for the first time, the splendid spectacle of this living fountain, vomiting forth, from a circular cavity, an impetuous torrent of liquid matter, and hurling along, in rapid succession, opaque masses, which it strewed everywhere around. The beauty and novelty of such a scene in the animal kingdom, long arrested my attention, but after twenty-five minutes of constant observation, I was obliged to withdraw my eye from fatigue, without having seen the torrent for one instant change its direction,...
Página 60 - ... continually grow thicker ; until, by a gradual descent they reach its surface ; where striking in, they increase to a large trunk, and become a parent tree, throwing out new branches from the top. These in time suspend their roots, and receiving nourishment from the earth, swell into trunks, and shoot forth other branches ; thus continuing in a state of progression so long as the first parent of them all supplies her sustenance.
Página 278 - This is then conveyed by the duct to the basal aperture of the poison-canal of the fang. We may suppose, that as the analogous lachrymal and salivary glands in other animals are most active during particular emotions, so the rage which stimulates the venom-snake to use its deadly weapon must be accompanied with an increased secretion and great distension of the poison-glands ; and as the action of the compressing muscles is contemporaneous with the blow by which the serpent inflicts its wound, the...
Página 242 - To this end her instinct instructs her to fabricate a kind of diving-bell in the bosom of that element. She usually selects still waters for this purpose. Her house is an oval cocoon, filled with air, and lined with silk, from which threads issue in every direction, and are fastened to the surrounding plants; in this cocoon, which is open below, she watches for her prey, and even appears to pass the winter, when she closes the opening. It is most commonly, yet not always...
Página 234 - The subterranean passages which lead from the mound are hardly less remarkable than the building itself. Perfectly cylindrical, and lined with a cement of clay, similar to that of which the hill is formed, they sometimes measure a foot in diameter. They run in a sloping direction, under the bottom of the hill, to a depth of three or four feet, and then ramifying horizontally into numerous branches, ultimately rise near to the surface at a considerable distance. At their entrance into the interior...
Página 57 - We see a small plant with linear leaves, and ,a stalk not thicker than a crow's quill ; on digging down a foot or eighteen inches beneath, we come to a tuber, often as large as the head of a young child ; when the rind is removed, we find it to be a mass of cellular tissue, filled with fluid much like that in a young turnip. Owing to the depth beneath the soil at which it is found, it is generally deliciously cool and refreshing. Another kind, named mokuri, is seen in other parts of the country,...
Página 331 - ... and thus continue their headlong flight. In these perilous achievements, wonder is excited less by the surpassing agility of these little creatures, frequently encumbered as they are by their young, which cling to them in their career, than by the quickness of their eye...
Página 276 - ... satisfactorily explain the ocean currents ; nobody has yet discovered a satisfactory explanation of the tides; no complete, rational theory of medicine exists, but we are still tied down largely to empiricism. Psychology is based on physiology, but no one yet comprehends the relations and the action of the two lobes of the brain and the two sets of nerves. No satisfactory theory is yet agreed upon with respect to bacteria and the germs of disease in general, epidemics, epizootics, and the like....
Página 242 - ... for an instant ; then with a jerk it snatches as it were a bubble of air, which is not only attached to the hairs which cover the abdomen, but is held on by the two hinder legs, which are crossed at an acute angle near their extremity ; this crossing of the legs taking place at the instant the bubble is seized. The little creature then descends more rapidly, and regains its cell, always by the same route, turns the abdomen within it, and disengages the bubble.