TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY 287
Photo: Stephen Cribb.

"BOILING" A KETTLE ON ICE 287
Photo: Underwood & Underwood.

THE CAUSE OF TIDES 290

THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT 290
Photo: G. Brocklehurst.

A BIG SPRING TIDE, THE AEGIR ON THE TRENT 291
Photo: G. Brocklehurst.

The Outline of Science

INTRODUCTION

There is abundant evidence of a widened and deepened interest in modern
science. How could it be otherwise when we think of the magnitude and
the eventfulness of recent advances?

But the interest of the general public would be even greater than it is
if the makers of new knowledge were more willing to expound their
discoveries in ways that could be "understanded of the people." No one
objects very much to technicalities in a game or on board a yacht, and
they are clearly necessary for terse and precise scientific description.
It is certain, however, that they can be reduced to a minimum without
sacrificing accuracy, when the object in view is to explain "the gist of
the matter." So this OUTLINE OF SCIENCE is meant for the general reader,
who lacks both time and opportunity for special study, and yet would
take an intelligent interest in the progress of science which is making
the world always new.

The story of the triumphs of modern science is one of which Man may well
be proud. Science reads the secret of the distant star and anatomises
the atom; foretells the date of the comet's return and predicts the
kinds of chickens that will hatch from a dozen eggs; discovers the laws
of the wind that bloweth where it listeth and reduces to order the
disorder of disease. Science is always setting forth on Columbus
voyages, discovering new worlds and conquering them by understanding.
For Knowledge means Foresight and Foresight means Power.

The idea of Evolution has influenced all the sciences, forcing us to
think of _everything_ as with a history behind it, for we have travelled
far since Darwin's day. The solar system, the earth, the mountain
ranges, and the great deeps, the rocks and crystals, the plants and
animals, man himself and his social institutions--all must be seen as
the outcome of a long process of Becoming. There are some eighty-odd
chemical elements on the earth to-day, and it is now much mo