h deals with the ways and habits--the
truly wonderful devices, adaptations, and instincts--of insects, birds,
and mammals. We no longer deny a degree of intelligence to some members
of the animal world--even the line between intelligence and reason is
sometimes difficult to find.

Fresh contacts between physiology and the study of man's mental life;
precise studies of the ways of children and wild peoples; and new
methods like those of the psycho-analyst must also receive the attention
they deserve, for they are giving us a "New Psychology" and the claims
of psychical research must also be recognised by the open-minded.

The general aim of the OUTLINE is to give the reader a clear and concise
view of the essentials of present-day science, so that he may follow
with intelligence the modern advance and share appreciatively in man's
continued conquest of his kingdom.

J. ARTHUR THOMSON.

I

THE ROMANCE OF THE HEAVENS

THE SCALE OF THE UNIVERSE--THE SOLAR SYSTEM

Sec. 1

The story of the triumphs of modern science naturally opens with
Astronomy. The picture of the Universe which the astronomer offers to us
is imperfect; the lines he traces are often faint and uncertain. There
are many problems which have been solved, there are just as many about
which there is doubt, and notwithstanding our great increase in
knowledge, there remain just as many which are entirely unsolved.

The problem of the structure and duration of the universe [said the
great astronomer Simon Newcomb] is the most far-reaching with which
the mind has to deal. Its solution may be regarded as the ultimate
object of stellar astronomy, the possibility of reaching which has
occupied the minds of thinkers since the beginning of civilisation.
Before our time the problem could be considered only from the
imaginative or the speculative point of view. Although we can to-day
attack it to a limited extent by scientific methods, it must be
admitted that we have scarcely taken more than the first step toward
the actual solution.... What is the duration of the universe in
time? Is it fitted to last for ever in its present form, or does it
contain within itself the seeds of dissolution? Must it, in the
course of time, in we know not how many millions of ages, be
transformed into something very different from what it now is? This
question is intimately associated with the question whethe