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CAESAR (see’-zer)

Gaius Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.) was the greatest man of ancient Rome. Though he was descended from an old aristocratic family, he was a member of the popular party from his earliest youth.

Marius, the leader of this party, had married Caesar’s aunt; and he took a great interest in the promising youth.

When he was eighteen, Caesar faced mortal danger. Marius was now dead; Sulla, who had been his bitterest enemy, was in power. He demanded that Caesar should divorce his wife Cornelia, the daughter of one of Marius’ friends. Caesar refused; and he escaped the wrath of Sulla only because the Vestal Virgins (see page 3226) pleaded for the lad. “That boy,” grumbled Sulla, as he granted Caesar’s pardon, “will some day be the ruin of the aristocracy, for there is in him many a Marius.”

In 76 B.C. Caesar sailed for the island of Rhodes, in the Mediterranean Sea, in order to study oratory—the art of making speeches. He was captured by pirates off Miletus, in Asia Minor, and kept a prisoner upon the island of Pharmacusa till he was ransomed by his friends. While in captivity Caesar laughingly told the pirates that some day he would have them all crucified. His captors thought it a great joke. But, sure enough, after he was released, young Caesar came back with a powerful expedition, captured many of the pirates and succeeded in carrying out his threat.

When he returned to Rome, he did all in his power to win the favor of the people by means of gifts and entertainments of all kinds. After he had used up his own fortune in this way, he borrowed large sums from the moneylenders of Rome. His efforts bore fruit. He became a great favorite with the people, who elected him to public office again and again.

Caesar had won success as a public leader, but his debts threatened to overwhelm him. So he got the help of his friend Crassus, the wealthiest man of Rome, in arranging for payments to the anxious moneylenders. Caesar was now put in charge of a military campaign in Spain, and for the first time he showed his military genius.
In 6o B.C. Caesar formed a political partnership with Crassus and Pompey, who at that time was considered the foremost Roman citizen. These three men were now all-powerful in Rome; and Caesar had no difficulty in winning election as consul. After serving a year as consul, he was made governor of several provinces, including Gaul (the land we know as France).

In the course of the next ten years he conducted a series of magnificent campaigns in Gaul; he subdued the barbarians who had defied Rome in many parts of that region. While governor of Gaul, Caesar crossed the Rhine River twice and carried the war to the German tribes that dwelt on the other side of that river. He also made two expeditions to England, where no Roman had ever landed before. Caesar has told us the story of his campaigns in his Commentaries of the Gallic Wars, a work familiar to all young people who study Latin.

Caesar’s victories caused Pompey to turn against him, and by 49 B.C. open fighting broke out between the two men. Caesar defeated his rival in the battle of Pharsalia in 48 B.C. and pursued him to Egypt, where Pompey met his death. Caesar remained in Egypt for a time, for he had fallen victim to the charms of Cleopatra, a beautiful Egyptian princess. He even fought a war so that Cleopatra might rule over Egypt together with her young brother.

He then departed for Asia Minor, where King Pharnaces of Pontus was threatening the Asiatic possessions of Rome. Caesar routed the army of Pharnaces in the battle of Zela (47 B.C.). Then he sent the senate a message that consisted of just three words:

Veni, vidi, vici.—”I came, I saw, I conquered.”

Cesar turned his attention next to the remaining supporters of Pompey. The victories of Thapsus (46), in Africa, and Munda (45), in Spain, made him the master of the Roman world. Many people at Rome were now filled with fear and trembling, for hitherto the victors in civil warfare at Rome had generally brought about a reign of terror. But on his return to Rome, Csar pardoned those who had fought against him. Now he ruled alone. His word was law.

We tell you about the achievements of Csar as dictator in our article on the Roman Republic. There is no doubt that he did much for the Roman state. There also seems to be little doubt that he wanted to become king. He had his friend, Mark Antony, offer him a golden diadem, or crown, and he only refused because the people greeted the offer with howls of disapproval. At any rate, Csar determined to keep the supreme power in his own family; he named his grandnephew and adopted son, Octavius, as his successor.

His enemy, Gaius Cassius, formed a conspiracy against him and won the help of Marcus Brutus. Brutus had fought at Pharsalia against Csar, who had pardoned him and showered favors upon him. Brutus joined the conspiraCy against the man who had befriended him because he thought that he would thus help to bring back the good old days of the Roman Republic.

Caesar was attacked by the conspirators in the senate house on the Ides of March (March 15), 44 B.C. He tried to defend himself at first. But when he saw Brutus among those who sought to slay him, he said sadly:

Et tu, Brute? - ”Thou, too, Brutus?”- covered his face with his robe and accepted his fate. He died, pierced by more than twenty wounds, at the foot of Pompey’s statue.

This astonishing man excelled in many ways. He was one of the world’s greatest soldiers, worthy to be compared with Alexander the Great, Hannibal and Napoleon. He was a statesman and lawgiver of the first order. He was greatly esteemed for his eloquence by the Romans. Unfortunately only his Commentaries on the Gallic Wars have come down to us, but he wrote many other works, of which ancient authors speak highly.

ANTONY (an’-toh-nee)

Mark Antony (83?-3o B.C.), whose name in Latin was Marcus Antonius, was an ambitious man, who for a time was master of half the Roman world. He neglected his studies as a youth and wasted his time with gay companions. No one thought that he would ever amount to much.

But when he entered the armies of Rome, he found his real calling. He fought in Syria, Palestine and Egypt and won the reputation of being a brave and energetic officer. He then served under Julius Caesar in Gaul and became his right-hand man. In 50 B.C. Antony went to Rome to serve Caesar’s interests. He was elected as tribune of the people, an important office that carried with it the right of veto over the acts of the senate. As was expected, Antony used his powers to help Caesar’s cause and aroused the anger of the aristocratic party at Rome. He had to flee for his life and took refuge with Caesar in Gaul. He was with that general when he invaded Italy and drove Pompey and his supporters into exile in 49 B.C.

While Caesar was dictator of Rome, he honored Mark Antony greatly. In the year 44 B.C. the dictator was assassinated by a band of conspirators led by Cassius and Brutus. Antony thought it wise to adopt a cautious policy. He soon came to terms with the senate, which backed the conspirators. But when he delivered a funeral oration over Caesar’s body, his eloquence so inflamed the excitable people of Rome that Cassius and Brutus and the rest did not dare remain in the city.

For a time Antony was the most influential man in Rome. But he soon found a rival in Octavian, Caesar’s adopted son and heir, and presently the two men were engaged in open warfare. Then they joined forces. Together with Marcus Lepidus, they formed a triumvirate, or government by three men, in 43. In the following year Antony and Octavian routed the armies of Brutus and Cassius in the battle of Philippi. It was Antony who won the day by his generalship.

Not long afterward Antony became the ruler of all the provinces east of the Adriatic Sea, while Octavian and Lepidus took over the rest of the Roman world. Antony now met the woman who was to become his evil genius. This was the beautiful Egyptian queen, Cleopatra, who in years gone by had won the heart of Caesar. Antony fell madly in love with Cleopatra. He had married Octavia, the sister of Octavian; he now sent her back to Italy while he remained in Egypt in the company of Cleopatra.

From now on he was Cleopatra’s slave. From time to time he would bestir himself and would become again for a while the great general that he used to be. Most of his time, however, was spent in the luxurious court of Cleopatra in Alexandria. Antony forgot that he was a Roman; he assumed the airs and the ceremonies of an Eastern despot. This conduct disgusted some of his Roman friends. They left him to enter the service of Octavian, who now ruled alone over western Rome.

By 32 B.C. Octavian and Antony had broken off relations and they began to prepare for a fight to the finish. At last, one day in September, 31 B.C., the fleet of Octavian faced the combined fleets of Antony and Cleopatra off Actium, in Greece. In the mighty sea battle that followed, Antony and Cleopatra were routed and they had to flee to Alexandria.

In the following year Octavian appeared off Alexandria with a powerful fleet and army. Antony’s fleet and his cavalry went over to Octavian; his infantry was cut to pieces in battle. He now heard a rumor, which later proved to be false, that Cleopatra had taken her own life. In despair Antony slew himself by falling on his sword. He was spared at least the suffering of learning that Cleopatra had tried to betray him and to make peace with Octavian.

CICERO (siss’-e-roh)

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.c.) was the foremost orator of ancient Rome. In his youth he studied the law, literature and philosophy with equal zeal. He also tried his hand at soldiering, but he did not distinguish himself. So he gave up all hope of a military career and determined to win fame as a lawyer. He soon became one of the most successful lawyers of Rome. So renowned was his eloquence that the courts were always crowded when it became known that Cicero was going to speak.

The Romans, who always greatly esteemed orators, elected Cicero to a number of public offices, including the highest office of all, the consulship. While he was consul, in 63 B.C., Rome was threatened by a great conspiracy, led by Catiline, a worthless member of the aristocracy. The conspiracy was revealed to Cicero, who denounced Catiline in the senate house in one of the most famous orations of all time.

Catiline managed to make his way out of the city, but some of the conspirators were caught. Cicero had been given great power in order to crush the conspiracy, and he now had five of the conspirators put to death without a trial. Catiline was later defeated in battle and slain.

Cicero was hailed as the Father of his Country by the grateful people of Rome. But after he had become a private citizen again, the fickle Romans forgot the great services that he had rendered to the state. He was accused by his enemies of having had Roman citizens put to death without a trial and he was forced into exile. For several years he remained in exile in Greece. When he returned to Rome, he bowed to the might of the three men who ruled Rome at that time— Caesar, Pompey and Crassus.

In 51 B.C. he had to leave Rome, much against his will, to become governor of the province of Cilicia, in Asia Minor. Unlike most Roman governors of foreign provinces, Cicero proved to be both honest and humane and he won the gratitude of the Cilicians. He was impatient to return to Rome, and as soon as his year of office was over, he left for the scene of his former triumphs.

Soon after Cicero’s return to Rome, civil war broke out between Caesar and Pompey ( B.c.). Cicero did not know which side to support at first. At last he decided tofollow Pompey into exile in Greece. After Pompey’s defeat in the battle of Pharsalia, Cicero went back to Italy and threw himself on the mercy of Caesar, who generously pardoned him. Cicero now retired from public life for a while. He remained in his villa at Tusculum and spent his time writing works on philosophy.

After the assassination of Caesar, Cicero attached himself to Octavian, Caesar’s heir, who had made an alliance with the Roman senate. Octavian was soon openly at war with Mark Antony, who had been Caesar’s friend and supporter. Cicero thought it was perfectly safe for him to turn the full force of his eloquence against Antony, and he attacked him in twelve bitter philippics. (A philippic is an oration full of personal attacks; the name comes from the orations against King Philip of Macedonia by Demosthenes, a famous Athenian orator).

When Octavian joined hands with Antony in 43 B.C., Cicero was doomed; for Octavian consented to Antony’s demand that the great orator should be put to death. Warned of his danger, Cicero was in despair. He fled from Italy in a boat and then returned to his Tusculan villa because the winds were unfavorable. Then he was persuaded to flee again, but this time he was caught by the soldiers sent in pursuit of him, Cicero’s devoted slaves prepared to defend their master to the death, but he forbade them to do so. Wearily he told his pursuers to strike. He was cut down in the sixty-third year of his life.

Cicero was one of the greatest figures in Roman literature. His orations, most of which have come down to us, are the finest example of Roman eloquence. He wrote many works on philosophy, discussing the great problems of life and death in wonderful prose. His letters gave a remarkable picture of one of the most interesting periods in the history of mankind.

AUGUSTUS (aw-gus’-tus)

Augustus (63 B.C.-14 An.), the founder and first ruler of the Roman Empire,was called Gaius Octavius as a boy. He was the grandnephew and the particular favorite of Julius Csar. Since Csar had no sons of his own, he made up his mind that some day his grandnephew would succeed him as ruler of Rome.

Young Octavius went to Spain in 45 B.C. in order to join Csar, who was campaigning against certain followers of his rival, Pornpey. It was at this time that Octavius was formally adopted by Csar. The lad took the name of his granduncle with the added name of Octavianus. So he was now Gaius Julius Csar Octavianus, or Octavian, as he is generally called by historians who write in English.

After Csar’s assassination in March, 44, Octavian came to Rome. In spite of his youth he soon became one of the most powerful men of the Roman state. In our two articles on the Story of Ancient Rome we have told you about Octavian’s career as a Roman leader—how he strove with Cassius and Brutus and, later, with Mark Antony, for the mastery of Rome; how he set up an empire which was to endure for centuries; what he accomplished as the emperor Augustus. (This name, meaning highly honored, was bestowed upon him by the Roman senate).

It has been said that the life of the first Roman emperor was really the life of two men - Octavian and Augustus. In the years when, as Octavian, he was fighting for the rule of the Roman world, he did many mean and treacherous things to bring about his ends. He thought nothing of sacrificing his friends in order to win over powerful enemies. We have told you, in our life of Cicero, how he gave up that famous orator to the vengeance of Mark Antony. In this period of his life he also won a reputation for great cruelty.

But after Octavian became the emperor Augustus, a ruler with no serious rivals, there was a great change for the better. In general he showed a kindness and a generosity that had been almost entirely lacking in former years.

He was sometimes merciful even to those who, like the conspirator Cornelius Cinna, had sought his death.

Though Augustus was the supreme ruler of the Roman state, he was too prudent to take the title of king - a title hated by the Romans. Nor did he assume the outer appearance of a king. He never wore a crown, nor did he ever have a king1y court. To the end of his life he lived like an ordinary Roman citizen. His friends never considered him as a master, but as an equal.

Augustus was not a good general, but he had the happy gift of choosing his officers well. In some of the battles in which he took part it was only the skill of others that won the day after his own bungling had almost lost it. After he became emperor, he left the fighting almost entirely to his generals, who were worthy of his trust.

There was only one serious defeat in his reign—the battle of the Teutoburger Forest, in which three Roman legions, led by Varus, were cut to pieces by the Germans. Augustus could not be consoled when he heard of this disaster. He let his hair and beard grow and often cried out in his grief: “Varus, Varus, give me back my legions!”
It is true that by setting up a government in which one man was all-powerful, Augustus paved the way for such wicked emperors as Caligula, Nero and Domitian. But his own reign was a prosperous and happy one, and he was proud of his achievements as emperor. On his deathbed, he turned to those who were standing about him and said: “If I have acted well my part in life’s drama, greet my departure with your applause!”

MAECENAS (meh-see’-nas)

When we speak of a patron of art—a man who helps artists and men of letters and musicians—we often say: “He is a Maecenas.” This Maecenas was a real person, who flourished at Rome in the last days of the Republic and the early days of the Empire.

Gaius Cilnius Maecenas (7o?-8 B.C.) was a member of a respectable old Roman family, which claimed descent from the old kings of Etruria, in central Italy. He was a wealthy man and a cultured one, with a deep knowledge of Latin and Greek literature. While still a young man he became an intimate friend of Octavian, the grandnephew and adopted son of Julius Cesar. After the assassination of Caesar in 44 B.C. Octavian became one of the most important men of Rome. Maecenas was his most trusted adviser.

It is said that Maecenas had a good deal to do with the establishment of the Roman Empire. After Octavian had crushed Mark Antony and had become the sole ruler over Rome, he did not know whether or not to restore the republican form of government. He summoned two of his oldest friends, Maecenas and Agrippa, and asked them what they advised.

Agrippa was all in favor of the republic. But Maecenas reminded Octavian of the evils that the republican form of government had brought to Rome. He claimed that Octavian could bring about peace by setting up a monarchy—a permanent form of government that would not be changed at the whim of the fickle Roman public. Octavian took the advice of Maecenas. He became the first emperor of Rome under the name of Augustus.

For a few years Maecenas continued to enjoy the favor of the Emperor, but then, for some unknown reason, the relations between the two men cooled. After 21 B.C. Maecenas took no further part in public life. He spent most of his time in his magnificent villa on the Esquiline Hill, in the city of Rome. This villa was a favorite meeting-place for all sorts of people—statesmen, men of letters, artists, musicians, actors and clowns.

Some of these guests were vulgar people, whose only merit was that they made their host laugh. But Maecenas did not permit them to become intimate with him. He reserved his friendship for men of talent. His particular favorites were Virgil and Horace, the greatest poets of that day.

Maecenas used his influence to help Virgil recover his farm, which had been taken from him by the government.

He showered even greater favors upon Horace. He got a pardon for him for having fought against Octavian at Philippi in 42 B.C. Later Maecenas gave Horace a farm in the Sabine district near Rome - a farm that was made immortal in Horace’s odes. Nor did Maecenas ever make any demands on the poet. The relationship between them was always that of two intimate friends of equal rank, though Mcenas was a man of distinguished family and Horace was the son of a freedman - a man who had once been a slave.

Maecenas wrote a good deal himself - both prose and poetry - but very little of what he wrote has come down to us. This is no great loss, to judge by the fragments which still exist. Like many other people, Mcenas was an excellent critic of other men’s writings, but could not write well himself.

MARCUS AURELIUS (oh-ree’-li-us)

The great Greek thinker Plato once wrote that men would enjoy a perfect form of government only when a philosopher became a king or when a king became a philosopher. For a philosopher is a man who is interested in the eternal problems of life and death; such a man would not care for personal glory and gain, but would seek only the happiness of his subjects. In the year 161 A.D. what Plato longed for actually came to pass; for a philosopher became the emperor of Rome. He was Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (12 i-8o), or Marcus Aurelius, as he is generally known.

His name as a boy was Marcus Annus Verus. From his early childhood he studied the works of Latin and Greek literature and philosophy with great enthusiasm. He was particularly inspired by the writings of the Greek Stoic (stoh’-ik) philosophers. The Stoic sect had been founded by the Greek Zeno in the third century B.C. The name Stoic came from a famous stoa, or porch, where the Stoics of Athens used to teach. A hundred years before Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, the wise old philosopher and writer who was tutor to Nero, was a famous Roman Stoic.

The Stoics held that a wise man should not allow himself to be influenced by either joy or grief; he should willingly accept all that was in store for him.

Furthermore, he should lead a frugal life, shunning all luxury in food and clothing. The Stoics had a very stern idea of duty, too. They thought that a man should do his assigned task without any thought of reward either in this world or in the world to come.

The Stoics, as you see, had a rather forbidding faith, which certainly would not attract most children. Yet as a mere boy of twelve Marcus became a Stoic and from that time he faithfully obeyed all the Stoic teachings. He continued his study of philosophy and attracted much attention at Rome as a lad of great promise.

The emperor Antoninus Pius adopted Marcus as his son, and he became known thereafter as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. He was the Emperor’s trusted companion and adviser; and when Antoninus died, in 161, Marcus Aurelius followed him upon the throne.

In our article on the Roman Empire we tell you about his achievements as a ruler. He continued to be a Stoic to the end of his days. Even when he was the master of a great part of the civilized world, with all the
luxuries of the Orient his for the asking, he lived simply and dressed in plain garments. And he gave himself up with all his heart and soul to what he realized was his duty— watching over the interests of his millions of subjects.

In his spare time the Emperor wrote down in a diary the serious thoughts that came to him concerning the meaning of life and the way it should be lived. He so loved the Greek philosophers who had converted him to the Stoic belief that he wrote this diary in the Greek language. After a while it came to contain a fairly complete summing up of the Emperor’s Stoic faith.

The Emperor gave the name “To Himself” to this diary of his. There is no reason to believe that he ever meant it to be read by anybody but himself. But, under the name Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, it became one of the most widely read works of Greek literature, second only to the New Testament in popularity. It is perhaps the noblest monument of pagan thought.

It is sad to record that this great man was an enemy of the Christians. Some people think that he was influenced by the Stoic philosophers who were his constant companions and who were jealous of a faith that was robbing them of many followers. However that may be, Marcus Aurelius believed, as did many people in his day, that the Christians were secretly planning to overthrow the Empire. He thought, therefore, that his duty as emperor made it necessary for him to treat them with great severity.

The Romans mourned deeply at the death of Marcus Aurelius. Yet they could not think of him as a mortal man who had passed away. They thought rather that he had been sent down from heaven for a time in order to bless mankind and that he had now returned to Heaven. He was worshiped as a god after his death. For many years to come the image of the Emperor was to be found among the household gods of almost every Roman family that still remained faithful to the ancient pagan beliefs

We have learned that there are three methods for transferring heat energy, namely: conduction, which takes place mainly in solids; convection, which takes place mainly in fluids, either gases or liquids; and radiation, which applies to the transfer of energy through space.

Conduction

The knowledge of these principles and the application of them are very important to our everyday life. In heating and cooling our homes, offices and factories, and in cooking food, we are interested in methods of transferring heat from one place to another. In other cases, such as in the use of refrigerators, we are mainly interested in preventing a transfer of heat. In other words, we control the transfer of heat so that we can get it to a place where it is needed or keep it out of places where it is not needed.

You already know that if you hold one end of a poker while the other end is placed in a bed of live coals, within a few minutes the entire poker becomes hot. The molecules of the hot coals are in very rapid vibration. The molecules of the iron poker which are near the coals receive some of this energy of vibration and in turn transmit this vibration to their less active neighbors. These transmit energy to the next molecules and so on, until the whole poker is heated. In no case does one molecule from the live bed of coals move along the poker to your hand; the molecules of a solid are held in the same positions with respect to one another. Only the vibrations are communicated along the poker.

Silver is the best conductor of heat known, copper is next, and gold and aluminum are not very far behind. Metals are much better conductors than other substances.

Feathers, fur, straw, wool and cork are poor conductors of heat. Liquids and gases in general are very poor conductors. A very poor conductor is called an insulator. The poor conductivity of such things as wool, fur and so on, is chiefly due to the fact that they contain such large air spaces. Substances which contain a large number of small air spaces are in general poor conductors.

We see therefore that substances differ widely in their ability to conduct heat. The following simple experiment will prove this point. Twist the ends of two thick wires of iron and copper together. Place some wax on the end of each wire and heat the twisted part in a flame. In a few minutes you will notice that the wax at the end of the copper wire will melt first. This proves the superior conducting power of copper.

If you have ever stood barefooted, on a tile floor, you know that your feet feel much colder than when you stand on a rug in the same room. Heat from your feet is quickly conducted to the tile. This proves that the tile is a better conductor of heat than the rug. You probably know that most modern cooking utensils are made of copper or aluminum; and now you know the reason why. They conduct well the heat from the stove to the food that is to be cooked.

Insulators

Many materials are useful, not because they are good conductors, but because they are poor conductors. Our woolen winter clothing, for instance. Air is a much poorer conductor of heat than wool and since there are many air spaces in wool, this material is one of the best heat insulators known. Wool clothing does not actually give us any warmth in winter; it prevents the heat of the body from escaping. Clothing made from the poorest conductors is “warmest.” Several light sweaters are warmer than one heavy sweater because there is a layer of non-conducting air between each two. The warmth of a fur coat is much appreciated by women, but its beauty is apparently appreciated more. If it were not so, fur coats would be worn with the fur on the inside instead of on the outside. Linen and cotton conduct heat twice as fast as wool and are therefore more suitable for summer clothing. On cold winter nights fowls on the roost spread their feathers to increase the size of the air spaces. A pad of flannel is good for lifting hot pans, and a wooden handle is put on a soldering iron because flannel and wood are poor conductors. Glass is also a poor conductor of heat. When hot tea is poured into a glass it is liable to crack because the inside of the glass gets heated first and expands, while the outside has not yet been heated—unless a good conductor, such as a metal spoon, is put into the glass to conduct the heat away.

The walls and doors of your refrigerator contain materials which are poor conductors of heat, such as sawdust and cork. They keep the heat of the room from being conducted into the refrigerator. While we are on the subject of refrigerators, it may be interesting to point out that they were an important part of the equipment of polar explorers. Can you tell why?

Furnaces and hot-water pipes are covered with asbestos or magnesia prepared in a form so as to contain a great number of air spaces. These substances will withstand high temperatures and are poor conductors of heat; so the heat is not wasted by leaking out through the walls of the furnace, or the pipes. Houses are built with double walls and sometimes with double roofs and double windows. The air spaces between the walls keep the heat from escaping in winter and the outside heat from coming in during the hot weather. Thus the house is warmer in winter and cooler in summer. We say such a house is well insulated. A well-insulated house needs less fuel than one that is not insulated.

Advertisements in newspapers and magazines now call your attention to many kinds of insulating materials that are used in the construction of houses.

Convection

We often warm our hands by holding them over a radiator or stove. Heat is carried from the stove or radiator to the hands by a stream of air. Thus we see that warm air is streaming upward from the source of heat to some colder place. The reason for this is that substances expand when heated, and their density is correspondingly decreased. This means that air over a heated surface is less dense than the surrounding air. The colder, heavier air will displace this lighter air and push it upward. Such convection currents may be produced in either liquids or gases. Ordinary ventilation depends upon convection. Air which is exhaled (breathed out) from your lungs is warmer and lighter than the cold air in a room. If the window is open at the top, this warm, used air will escape out the window, pushed up by the colder air which comes in from nearer the floor.

The hot gases in a ‘chimney are lighter than the air outside and the effect we call the draft is due to the greater pressure exerted by colder air. The speed with which the air is forced up the chimney depends in part on the difference in weight between the column of hot gases in the chimney and a column of outside air of the same height and cross section. The hotter the gases and the taller the chimney, the greater the draft.

This accounts for the tall chimneys constructed for factories. A stack built for smelting copper ores in Montana is 580 feet high.

A cheap and convenient heating system for a house is found in the hot-air furnace. This system consists of a stove with a jacket about it from the top of which pipes lead to the rooms to be heated. Through the pipes air is pushed up by convection currents.

Cold air is led into the base of the jacket where it is heated, in turn, and pushed up into the pipes by the colder air behind it. The cold air in each room is forced out through openings near the floors. In many of the more modern homes convection alone is not relied upon for the circulation of warm air. An electrically operated fan or blower circulates the air by pushing it through. In such cases the air is made to pass through a pad of loosely woven felt or other fibrous material to take out dust and smoke. Such systems are commonly referred to as air conditioning.

Land and sea breezes are also caused by convection. The land has a lower specific heat than the water. In other words, the land heats up more quickly than the water but it also loses its heat more quickly. Therefore during the daytime the land has a higher temperature than the water. The air over the land is pushed upward by the cooler air from the sea. About noon a cool sea breeze begins to blow toward the land. At night, the reverse is true; that is, the land cools more quickly, going below the temperature of the water. The warmer air over the water is forced upward and the winds consequently blow offshore, from the land toward the water. This is commonly known as a land breeze. For these reasons fishermen along the coast go to sea at night with the land breeze and return in the forenoon with the sea breeze.

In steam-heating systems, water is heated to boiling and the steam, which occupies about i,óoo times as much volume as the water had occupied, expands through the pipes and into the radiators. It is distributed by its own pressure throughout the system. When the steam reaches a radiator in a room, the cooler air outside the radiator causes the steam to condense, because heat must flow from a higher heat-level to a lower heat-level—from a hotter thing to a cooler thing. As enough heat leaves the steam, the steam becomes water; it condenses. As the steam condenses in the radiator, each gram sets free 540 calories of heat; this much heat was added to the gram of boiling water in order to convert it to steam. The heat from the radiators is distributed to the room by convection and by radiation. After condensation the water at a temperature below xoo degrees Centigrade returns to the boiler, usually through the same pipe. This process is repeated as long as the boiler produces steam.

Radiation

We have already spoken briefly about the process of transmission of energy without the aid of intervening molecules—radiation. If you stand before an open fire you are heated. Since the air is a non-conductor, you do not receive this heat by conduction. Since convection carries the heated air upward, you do not get the heat by convection. The energy must be transmitted to you by some other method. Heat comes to us from the sun across millions of miles of space where there is no material in which conduction or convection can take place. In such cases the heat is called radiant heat. Radiant heat may pass through objects without heating them. Energy, or radiant heat, from the sun passes through the upper layers of the earth’s atmosphere without heating them.

Glass permits short waves of radiant energy from the sun to penetrate, but not longer waves like those of a flame. If a pane of glass be held before a gas flame, it will transmit only a little of the heat and will become very hot because it has absorbed much of this heat. The reason is that the flame emits long waves. The sun’s heat, however, passes readily through a glass-enclosed greenhouse; yet the heat from inside the greenhouse can not escape through the glass. Heat comes from the sun through the atmosphere without heating it. The short waves from the sun can penetrate the atmosphere, but when they strike the earth they are absorbed and warm it up.

The earth radiates longer waves which are mostly absorbed by the surrounding atmosphere. If the atmosphere were not present, we would burn to death during the day and freeze to death at night. This is one of the reasons why life can not be maintained on the moon, which does not have a thick blanket of atmosphere. Orange-growers in Florida and California protect their crop from sudden frost by burning smudge pots. These smoky fires are built for the purpose of providing a layer of smoke which absorbs radiation from the earth, and thus provides a sort of extra blanket.

Absorption and Reflection of Heat

Have you ever wondered why light-colored clothes are worn in summer, or why the Arabian horses are white?

Surfaces differ in their ability to absorb radiant heat. Polished materials are good reflectors of heat; hence they are poor absorbers. Clean snow is a good reflector; hence it will not absorb much heat. This accounts for the fact that the snow in the country does not melt so rapidly as the snow in the city. In the city the snow gets dirty more rapidly and it melts faster. All black substances are found to be good absorbers of heat. Lay a black cloth and a white cloth in the sun on a cold day. In a short time you will find that more snow has melted under the black cloth than under the white cloth. The black cloth has absorbed more heat, and ha in turn, radiated more heat, and so melted the snow more quickly. Can you now see why light-colored clothes are worn in the summer? The Arabians use white horses because in that hot country dark-colored horses would more easily be exhausted from heat. A good absorber of heat is also a good radiator of heat; and a poor absorber of heat is a poor radiator of heat.

Refrigeration

In many homes a gas flame is used directly to produce ice in a refrigerator while in others an electrical motor is used. In either type of refrigerator we have one of the most interesting examples of repeated transmissions of energy. In the second type, the electric refrigerator, the energy of burning fuel is transformed into electrical energy at the power house; this energy is changed by means of a motor to mechanical energy y operating a pump which in turn compresses a gas until it liquefies. The heat produced when this gas is compressed is carried away by running water or by the circulation of air. We choose a gas which liquefies easily such as sulphur dioxide or the new commercial preparation “freon.” The cooled liquid then evaporates through a valve with a small opening into coils of pipe in the compartment of the refrigerator where the ice cubes are kept. The pressure in these pipes is kept very low by the pump which acts both as an exhaust pump and as a compressor. In order to evaporate in the coils the liquid must have heat energy supplied to it. The only place heat energy can come from is the food and if the food gives up this heat energy, it will be cooled. Thus we see that to evaporate, the liquid must take heat from the food.

Most of us are familiar with the cooling effect of evaporation. You have often heard swimmers say that it is warmer in the water than out of it. This should not be surprising to us if we understand the principles of evaporation. When you come out of the water, your body is wet and water evaporates from it. The heat necessary to vaporize the water is taken from the body, leaving the body cool. Some liquids evaporate even faster than water. If a little alcohol or ether is poured on the hand and allowed to evaporate, your hand will become cooled. Every molecule that evaporates from your hand must take enough heat away from it to give it sufficient energy to leave your hand. Only the fast-moving alcohol molecules will escape, leaving the slower ones behind. As you already know, slow-moving molecules in a liquid mean low temperature. In the summer-
time people use electric fans for the sole purpose of evaporating the moisture from their bodies at a faster rate. This evaporation takes heat from their bodies.

Converting Heat to Work

Heat energy can be converted into mechan a1 energy by means of a machine called a heat engine. For example, if we boil water in a covered pot, we may notice the cover moving up and down. When sufficient heat energy is added to the water molecules they are converted into a gas—steam—and the pressure of the steam against the cover is sufficient to raise it. This is a crude but simple example of how we convert heat energy into mechanical energy. With this principle in mind let us devise a simple ideal steam engine just for the sake of understanding the principle of operation. Watt, the inventor of the steam engine, probably went through the same reasoning process. If we allow steam from the boiler to enter inlet i, it will enter the cylinder and push the piston to the right as shown in diagram i. Now if we close inlet i and open inlet number 2, the expanding steam will drive the piston to the left provided that outlet r is open for the spent steam to escape. If now inlet 2 is closed and inlet i is open, the steam will expand against the piston and drive it to the right provided that outlet 2 is open. Outlet x must, of course, be closed, otherwise a pressure will not be built up against the piston. In this ideal model of steam engine everything would work fine if all the inlets and outlets were opened and closed at the right time. In a real steam engine the opening and closing of the inlets and outlets, called valves, is entirely automatic.

The principle of the modern steam engine is based on the ideal engine we have just described. The steam chest, contains an ingenious device called a slide valve, that slides from one end of the box to the other. Its purpose is to uncover the inlets, or ports, which allow steam to pass either to the right-hand or left-hand side of the piston, P. (The piston slides in the cylinder) Since the slide valve, must move left and right, it is connected to an eccentric on the shaft of the flywheel through a rod. Steam flows from the boiler through the pipe, into the cylinder, and exerts a force, pushing the piston, to the left. As the piston moves, it turns the shaft by means of the driving rod and a crank. This in turn moves the eccentric rod which causes the slide valve to move to the right. When the piston has moved about one-third of its stroke, the slide valve closes the port. The steam is now trapped in the cylinder and continues to expand, driving the piston forward. When the piston reaches the left end, the slide valve has moved far enough to the right to admit fresh steam through the port and to open the right end of the cylinder through to the exhaust port.

The piston is then pushed back toward the right, which in turn forces the cool steam in the right end out of the exhaust port. As the piston moves back and forth, the slide valve also moves back and forth. First it admits steam into one side of the cylinder and then into tile other, at the same time opening one exhaust port, and then the other. This back-and-forth motion of the piston, known as reciprocating motion, is changed to a rotary motion of the shaft by a connecting rod and crank. Actually the inlet ports opening to the steam chest are shut off before the piston reaches the end of the stroke, and the piston is driven the remainder of the way by the expansion of the steam trapped in the cylinder. The inertia of the heavy flywheel steadies the motion of the crankshaft and insures constant speed of rotation.

As Sindbad the Sailor was sitting in the mansion which he had built in the city of Bagdad, he heard a poor porter say: “Men are not rewarded according to their merit. I have worked harder than Sindbad, and yet he lives in splendor and I live in misery.”

Sindbad was moved by the porter’s complaint and invited him to come in and listen to the story of his adventures.

“Perhaps when you have learned by what sufferings I won my wealth,” said Sindbad, “you will be more contented with your own lot in life.

“Look at my white hair and worn facet I seem an old man. But how young and strong I was when I sailed away to make my fortune by trading in strange countries! Soon after we departed, our ship was becalmed near a small island, but when we landed to look at the place, we found that what we had taken for land was only the green back of a great beast, a sort of ocean cow, called a whale.

“No sooner had we landed than it began to sway to and fro, and then it plunged beneath the waves and left us struggling in the sea. Clinging to a large piece of wood, I was washed ashore on a desert island.

“Here I thought I should have starved. But on wandering about I found a clump of fruit trees and hidden among them a great white ball about fifty feet in size. By this time I was very weary, and so when I had eaten some of the fruit I crept beneath the ball and lay down to sleep. Just as I was closing my eyes I looked up and saw that the sky was darkened by the wings of a gigantic bird.

“‘Good heavens!’ I exclaimed. ‘This great white ball is the egg of the monstrous bird that sailors call a roc.’

“And so it was. The roc settled on the egg under which I was lying, and one of its claws, which was as big as the trunk of a tree, caught my dress.

“At daybreak the roc flew up into the air and carried me to such a height that I could not see the earth. Then it descended with such speed that I nearly lost my senses. As it alighted I freed my dress and found myself in a deep valley cut off from the world by a circle of high, steep mountains.

“It was the Valley of Diamonds! The grouQd was covered with precious stones. Full of joy, I began to fill my pockets with them, but my joy was soon turned to terror. The valley was haunted by great serpents, and I could find no means of escape.

“I crept into a cave and blocked up the opening with a large stone, but all night I was kept awake by the hissing of the serpents. At daybreak they retired, as they were afraid of the roc that used then to visit the valley in search of food. Then I stole out of the cave, only .to be knocked over by something that came tumbling down the mountainside. It was a great piece of fresh meat. As it rolled along, the diamonds on the ground stuck to it. Looking up, I saw on the mountains a band of men, who were preparing to roll another piece of meat into the valley.

“‘I have heard of this means of getting diamonds,’ I said to myself. ‘It strikes me that it is also a good means of getting away.’

“So I tied myself to the piece of meat and hid beneath it, and presently an eagle swooped down and seized the meat and carried it to its nest on the top of the mountains. The band of men drove the eagle away, and turned the meat over to pick off the diamonds that had stuck to it, and found me tied to it.

“When they had all the diamonds they needed, we sailed for home. But on passing the desert island my companions landed with an ax and broke open the great white ball. A terrible scream rang through the sky. The roc had seen them. They rushed back to the ship, and we quickly sailed away; but the roc followed us, bearing in its claws a great piece of granite. This it dropped on our ship, and down we all went into the sea. Holding on to a fragment of wreckage with one hand, and swimming with the other, as the sea was calm, I managed to reach another island.

“It was a delicious spot! Sparkling streams ran between vineyards full of grapes and orchards full of fruit.

There I met a strange old man, who made signs to me to carry him over one of the streams. As soon as I hoisted him on my back, the old man threw his legs over my neck and squeezed my throat so that I fainted. When I came to, he was still fixed on my shoulders. And there he remained.

“He made me his slave. When, in order to keep up my strength, I made some wine out of the grapes, he took it from me and drank it all up. Happily, it was too strong for him, and releasing his hold of my neck, he fell to the ground, and I killed him.

“By the shore I met some sailors, with whom I returned to Bagdad.

“‘That was the Old Man of the Sea’, they said to me. ‘You are the first person that has escaped from being at last strangled by him.’

“Now don’t you think,” said Sindbad to the porter, “that I have earned all the riches that I brought away from the Valley of Diamonds?” The porter agreed that he had.

Once upon a time there lived a king and .1 queen who had no children, and this was a great sorrow to them. But one day as the queen was walking by the side of the river, a little fish lifted his head out of the water and said, ‘Your wish shall be fulfilled; you shall have a daughter.”

What the little fish had foretold soon came to pass, and the queen had a little girl whom they called Brier Rose. She was so beautiful that the king, in great joy, determined to hold a feast.

He invited not only his relations, friends, and neighbors, but also all the fairies that they might be good to his little daughter.

Now there were thirteen fairies in his kingdom, and he had only twelve golden dishes, so he was obliged to leave one of the fairies without an invitation. The rest came, and after the feast was over, they gave their gifts to the little princess. One gave her virtue, another beauty, another wisdom, and so on till she had all that was excellent in the world.

But just as the eleventh fairy had done blessing her, a great noise was heard at the door, and the thirteenth fairy stormed in, very angry that she had not been invited.

“Here is my gift!” she cried. “The princess shall in her fifteenth year be wounded by a spindle and fall down dead!” Then she rushed out again, not knowing that the twelfth fairy had not yet spoken.

Now the twelfth fairy came forward and soothed the weeping queen.

“I can not promise that the wish of the thirteenth fairy shall not be fulfilled,” she said, “but I can soften it. Your daughter shall not die, but will fall asleep for a hundred years.”

But the queen would not be comforted. “Only say that we may sleep with her!” she begged. And the twelfth fairy said this might be done.

The king called all his soldiers to him. “Search the kingdom,” he ordered. “Buy up and destroy every spindle. Let not a single one be left in all the land.” And he commanded that the princess be guarded day and night, so that never, till she passed her fifteenth birthday, should a spindle come near her.

As the years passed, the fairies’ gifts were all fulfilled. The princess was so beautiful, well-behaved, amiable and wise that everyone loved her.

Now it happened that on the eve of the day Brier Rose was fifteen years old, a birthday feast was prepared for her, with great rejoicing in all the land, for the king and queen felt that the danger was now over. Everyone was busy hanging garlands in the palace or preparing the feast, and for a few minutes in the afternoon no one was with the princess. She roved about, well pleased to be alone, and she came at last to an old tower to which there was a narrow staircase. Upstairs there sat an old woman spinning away busily.

“How now, good mother,” said the princess, “what are you doing there?”

“Spinning,” said the old woman.

“How prettily that little thing turns around!” said the princess. “I wish I might try it.”

“Take it then,” said the old woman.

The princess sat down and took the spindle and began to spin. But scarcely had she touched it when she fell down on the floor as though dead.

However, she was not dead, but had only fallen into a deep sleep.

Immediately the king and queen fell asleep too. And the horses slept in the stables, and the dogs in the court, the pigeons on the housetop and flies on the walls. Even the fire on the hearth left off blazing and went to sleep, and the meat that was roasting stood still.

The cook, who was at the moment pulling the kitchen-boy by the hair to give him a box on the ear for something he had done amiss, let him go, and both fell asleep. And so everything stood still, and slept soundly.

A large hedge of thorns soon grew round the palace, and every year it became higher and thicker till at last the whole palace was surrounded and hid, so that not even the roof or the chimneys could be seen. But there went a report through all the land of the beautiful sleeping princess, so that from time to time several king’s sons came and tried to break through the thicket into the palace. This they could never do, for the thorns and bushes laid hold of them as if with hands, and there they stuck fast.

Now on the day that the hundred years were completed, a prince came to the thicket. He saw no thorns, as he had expected; he saw nothing but beautiful roses and flowering shrubs, through which he passed with ease, and they closed after him as firm as ever. He came at last to the palace, and there in the court lay the dogs asleep, and the horses in the stables, and on the roof sat the pigeons fast asleep with their heads under their wings. And when he came inside the palace, the flies slept on the walls, and the cook in the kitchen was still holding up her hand as if she would box the ears of the kitchen-boy, and the maid sat with a black fowl in her hand ready to be plucked.

Then he went on still farther, and all was so still that he could hear every breath he drew; till at last he came to the old tower and opened the door of the room in which the princess lay. There she was, fast asleep. She looked so beautiful that he could not take his eyes off her, and he stooped down and gave her a kiss. The moment he kissed her, she opened her eyes and smiled upon him.

Then the king and queen awoke, and all the court. The horses got up and shook themselves, and the dogs jumped about and barked; the pigeons took their heads from under their wings and looked about and flew into the fields; the flies on the walls buzzed away; the fire in the kitchen blazed up and cooked the dinner, and. the roasting meat turned again. The cook gave the boy the box on his ear so that he cried out, and the maid went on plucking the fowl.

And then was the wedding of the prince and the princess celebrated, and they lived happily together all their lives long.

A mirage is an optical illusion, or deception. It occurs especially in certain conditions of the air when the air is very hot. Sometimes in deserts there are spots called oases, where there is water, and, as there is water, there are also green trees and shade. We are told that sometimes travelers think they are coming to an oasis only a few miles away, where they can get water and shade; and then, as they travel on, it disappears. A great explorer once “discovered” and named a mountain which did not exist, but which he had seen as a mirage.

But a true mirage is not an appearance in the sky due to nothing at all, and it is not pure imagination on the part of those who see it. When the traveler sees an oasis in the desert, and it fades and deceives him, what he has seen is the image of a real oasis, much farther on, below the horizon. The light from the real oasis has been reflected from a layer of air, and the traveler sees it as if there were a huge mirror in the sky placed at such an angle as to give a view of the oasis to the traveler’s eyes. The oasis itself may be many weary miles distant.

The reason for this is that there are layers of air of different temperatures, and therefore of different density, and whenever light passes from one thing into another of different density, part of it does not go on, but is deflected back. Appearances due to a similar cause are often seen at sea. A ship near the horizon may seem to have another ship, exactly like itself, perched upside down upon it.

Resin is the name given to a gummy liquid that is found in many plants, but it is used especially to mean the crude turpentine that is exuded by various pine, fir and larch trees. The crude turpentine is distilled to separate the oil of turpentine from the solid matter. It is this solid matter which we call rosin. Rosin comes in hard, brittle lumps, ranging in color from a pale amber to a very dark brown.

Rosin is used for many purposes. Varnishes, sealing-wax, soap and cement are among the useful articles which contain it. Violinists rub rosin on their bows to make them grip the violin strings properly, and ballet dancers use it to prevent their shoes from slipping on the floor. Sometimes rosin is sold in solid form and sometimes as a powder.

A great deal of the world’s supply of resin and turpentine comes from the belt of long- leaf pine forest that extends from North Carolina to Florida and across the Gulf states as far as Texas. The resin, turpentine, pitch and tar obtained from these forests are called Naval Stores, because they were used in the building of ships in the days of wooden sailing vessels. Nowadays these products are not needed for shipbuilding, but they are widely used in a great many other ways, especially in the paint industry.

The sense of smell depends upon tiny particles of things coming in the air to the lining of our noses, especially certain parts of the lining of the nose. When we have a cold, this lining, or mucous membrane, of the nose gets swollen, and produces a much greater amount of mucus than usual, as we all can tell by the number of handkerchiefs we have to use in a day.

The chief reason why we can not smell so well when we have a cold is probably that this mucous, constantly pouring out of the lining of the nose and running over it, prevents the scent of things from getting to the sensitive part of the nose, and washes away any solid scented particles. Also, it may be that the poisons produced by the microbes that cause a cold poison the living cells of the mucous membrane and also poison the tiny ends of the nerves of smell that run to it, so that, even if scented things do reach the sensitive part of the mucous membrane, they can not be felt.

This applies alike to scents coming in from outside and also to the scents of food, which pass up at the back of the roof of the mouth into the nose, and which, when we have not a cold, help to give our food half its flavor.

As the earth spins round, the sun appears to rise sooner, the farther east we are, and to rise later, the farther west we are. So the apparent time, judged by the sun’s rising and setting, is different in different places, according as they are east or west of each other. Midday on one side of the earth is midnight on the other side.

So it is necessary to have some point from which to reckon our time, and the place on which many nations have agreed is Greenwich, near London, England. Countries have their own time for their own purposes; but for general purposes, as, for instance, events occurring in the sky, they refer to Greenwich time - that is to say, the time reckoned by what the sun seems to do at Greenwich. The lines on maps up and down the earth’s surface from north to south are called lines of longitude, or meridians. The spaces between them grow narrower as you go north and south of the Equator; and the lines meet at the poles. Places on the same line of longitude as Greenwich have Greenwich time exactly, and no other place can have it. That line is called the Greenwich meridian. Places east of that line are marked on maps so many degrees east longitude, and are sometimes spoken of as so many degrees east of Greenwich; and similarly for places west of the Greenwich meridian. Farthest east and farthest west of the Greenwich meridian is a single line that is both 180 degrees east and 180 degrees west of Greenwich. When it is noon at Greenwich, it is midnight along this line.

“The dark” is the absence of light. Now, what is the name for the absence of sound? What do we call the state of things when we hear no sound? The answer is silence. By darkness we mean absence of light, just as silence is absence of sound.

But there is more to say. There may be a wave motion in the ether, but it is hardly proper to call that light until someone sees it. Similarly, there may be a wave movement in the air, but it is hardly proper to call that sound unless someone actually hears it. Seeing and hearing, then, depend, ‘first of all, on there being something outside of us - a particular kind of wave; and secondly, on our being able to feel that something.

A blind man cannot see, even in the light. Our great poet Milton, in his poem on Samson, makes Samson say, when he had lost his sight: “Oh, dark, dark, dark amid the blaze of noon”. That famous line will help us to understand what darkness may depend on - either the absence of light or the absence of the power to see light.

It is often supposed that cats and tigers can “see in the dark,” but we must know that nobody at all can see if it is perfectly dark - that is to say, if there is no light at all. When we speak of being in the dark we usually mean that there is so little light at we see hardly anything.

That is because our eyes are so made that they cannot alter themselves to suit the conditions of very dim light; but some animals can make the pupil of the eye so wide as to get the benefit of whatever rays of light are about. This is the case with cats, and if we watch the cat’s eye when it is in the dark, we see that the pupil appears much enlarged. This allows all the light possible to enter the eye, and the cat, and lions and tigers and other night-prowling animals that have eyes like the cat, are able to see very much better in dim light than we can. But even among human beings there are some people, especially seamen, who can see farther in the dark than others.

It has been discovered that there is light which we cannot see. Our eyes are keyed to a certain scale or band of wave lengths. Beyond this band are shorter waves, which we call ultra-violet rays, still shorter ones, which we call X-rays, and unbelievably tiny ones, gamma rays. There may even be shorter ones than the gamma rays, called cosmic rays. Beyond the other end of the scale of light rays that are visible to us are invisible rays with longer waves. They are called infra-red rays. Instruments can detect these very short and very long rays, though our eyes cannot. Some insects are thought to see them. Some cameras can take pictures by infra-red light, which are the very long light rays; and you probably have seen X-ray photographs, which are pictures taken by extremely short waves.

There is no hard-and-fast line that can be drawn to mark the end of one geological period and the beginning of a new one. With a few exceptions, the various periods shade gradually into one another without any very abrupt change. However, the beginning of the Eocene period brought about such marked changes in the appearance of the world and its plant and animal life that it seems proper to regard this period as the beginning of a new era in the history of the earth.

Tremendous geological changes took place between the laying-down of the Cretaceous and the Eocene rocks. The Cretaceous rocks, during the greater part of the Cretaceous period, were beneath the water, some of them under the deep sea. In the Eocene, however, they, with all their lagoons, estuaries, lakes and seas, were generally forced up into dry land and mountain ranges. Not only were the chalky and clayey and sandy deposits of the Cretaceous raised above the level of the surrounding sea into such masses as the chalk cliffs of southern England and northern France, but even the floors of ancient seas were forced upwards, sometimes as high as 10,000 or 17,000 feet. It must have been a stupendous although gradual upheaval of the earth’s crust, for it took place all over the world.

When the Eocene deposits began to form, we find that not only was the face of the world completely changed, but its plant and animal life was unlike that of preceding periods. It is for this reason that the period has been called the Eocene, from the Greek word eos, meaning “dawn,” and it has been regarded as the beginning of a new system, which has been named the Tertiary. It was the dawn of the world as we know it to-day.

Eocene rocks are found all over the earth. In the Old World they are found chiefly in the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Carpathians, the Caucasus, Asia Minor, Northern Africa, Persia, Baluchistan, the Sulaiman Mountains, China and Japan. In eastern North America the Eocene rocks stretch along the Atlantic and all the way from New Jersey into Texas. In the interior of the continent there are large areas of Eocene rocks in Alberta, some in Saskatchewan, and in various parts of the central and western United States. There were shallow lakes and marshes and much volcanic activity in this region during the Eocene.

The vegetation of the period was very rich, and many of our common trees grew freely, as ashes, beeches, willows, poplars, elms and maples. Palms and bananas were also to be found. The climates of Alaska and Greenland were temperate, and luxuriant forests abounded in those regions.

The animal life of the period was varied. Mammals, birds, reptiles, fishes, insects and molluscs were well represented. Among the birds, snipes, seagulls, buzzards, hawks, ospreys, quails, pelicans, flamingoes and horn- bills were common. But the most striking feature of the Eocene animal life was the disappearance of the huge lizards of the Cretaceous period and the appearance of new and better developed mammals.

Just why the mighty race of dinosaurs died out is a mystery. The Eocene climate was cooler than that of the preceding period, and it may have been that these great reptiles could not stand the change in temperature. Perhaps the fact that the early mammals may have fed on dinosaur eggs had much to do with the reptiles’ rapid decrease in numbers and final and complete disappearance.

Two of the most extraordinary creatures living in the Eocene were the titanothere and the uintathere. The former appeared early in the Eocene as an animal no larger than a sheep, and gradually developed into a beast the size of a small elephant. The titanothere had a heavy body supported by thick legs. Two great bony lumps grew out of the front of the skull, and the brain was hardly as large as a man’s fist. For all their great size, the titanotheres must have been very stupid creatures.

The uintathere has been found only in America, where it was characteristic of the Eocene period. It also was as large as a small elephant, and was well armed with six stout horns, four above its nose and two above its ears. In the males the upper canines were developed into two long, sabre-like tusks. Like the titanothere, the uintathere had a ridiculously small brain within its bulky body.

Other mammals appearing in the Eocene were the ancestors of the horse, rhinoceros, tapir, pig, camel and monkey.

After the Eocene came the Oligocene, a period not very different from the Eocene. Oligocene rocks are not common east of the Mississippi except in the Gulf region. On the Pacific coast they are more common, however, and in the interior of the continent are large areas with many interesting fossils. In general the plants were like those of the Eocene, but the climate was cooler.

THE LARGEST MAMMAL THAT EVER WALKED THE EARTH

It was during the Oligocene that baluchitherium, the largest of land mammals, lived. The bones of this great beast were discovered in the hills of Baluchistan in southern Asia. It stood from twelve to thirteen feet high at the shoulder, and by lifting its head and stretching, it could eat leaves twenty feet above the ground. It was a distant relative of the modern rhinoceros with which we are all familiar.

The Miocene followed the Oligocene. Miocene rocks are found in France, Belgium, Switzerland and in many other countries, and show a gradual progression in all forms of life, together with the production of many new forms. In western North America Miocene rocks are widespread, but they are not very thick except on the Pacific coast.

The most remarkable of the new animals were the mastodon and the dinotherium, both huge beasts of the elephant family. The tusks of the mastodon were straight; those of the dinotherium turned downward. The first mastodon was discovered in 1613, and the history of its discovery is very curious, one of the rare examples of imposture in science.

THE SURGEON WHO DECEIVED THE WORLD OF SCIENCE

The skeleton was found by some workmen in a sand quarry at Dauphiny, in France. Such bones had never been found before, and a surgeon called Mazuyer saw a chance of making a great sensation. He purchased the bones and then pretended that he had found them in a tomb thirty feet long and fifteen feet broad, built of bricks, and bearing the inscription: “Teutobocchus Rex.” He also stated that he had found fifty medals of Marius in the tomb; and there seemed no reason to doubt his apparent good faith.

A barbarian king named Teutobocchus had actually invaded Gaul at the head of the Cimbri, had been defeated by the Roman Marius and led in triumph to Rome. According to tradition, Teutobocchus was so tall that he towered above all the trophies borne on the lances of the soldiers in the triumphal procession. Mazuyer’s story therefore fitted in perfectly with the legend and met with general acceptance. The giant formed out of the mastodon’s bones was twenty-five feet long, and the skeleton was exhibited throughout France and Germany. A great many people were rather skeptical, and a learned anatomist argued that the bones belonged to an elephant; but it was not until they were removed to the Museum of Natural History in Paris that the remains were actually identified as the skeleton of a creature like an elephant.

The dinotherium, found only in Europe and India, was larger than either the mastodon or the mammoth. It lived on herbage, and seems to have inhabited lakes.

In the Miocene, cats, and hogs and antelopes were also found. Wolves, panthers and sabre-tooth tigers were common.

The whole Tertiary period may be considered as the age of mammalian rise and domination, just as the Secondary period was the age of the rule of the great reptiles.