Nicolas Joly

“ But then, in turn, as though by a law of Fate, evil accompanies the good: fire destroys with greater rapidity than it produces by forging those formidable engines, those implements of death, by which in the twinkling of an eye the flower of nations is cut down on the battle-field.—Revue Scientifique. ”

“ FROM the remotest antiquity the red color sometimes observed in water appears to have attracted attention. In all ages there have been stories of rains of blood, and of rivers changed to blood, and these phenomena have given rise to the most ludicrous explanations, and to the most ridiculous apprehensions. ”

“ Thus we have seen that fire gave rise to nearly all the arts, or at least promoted their development. Metallurgy, architecture, ceramic arts, agriculture, navigation, commerce, industry, all are quickened by its vivifying flame. ”

“ Is there or has there ever been a people absolutely ignorant of the means of producing fire? Many authors answer this question affirmatively. Thus we are told that the natives of Tasmania, though acquainted with fire and making use of it, nevertheless are ignorant of the means of producing it. Hence it is the special duty of their women to carry fire-brands that burn day and night, and by the light of which the tribe make their way through the woods. ”

“ Among several thousand artemiæ studied by me, I have not found a single well-defined male individual. The distinguished Genevan naturalist, Carl Vogt, said, the other day, that he had had the like experience. Hence we may conclude that the artemia of our salt-marshes perpetuates its kind by means of virgin females, whose eggs, although deprived of seminal impregnation, are developed in an incubatory sac situated at the base of the maternal abdomen. These produce young artemiæ, which have to undergo amazing metamorphoses before they arrive at a complete resemblance to their parent. ”

“ FIRE, the common source of heat, of light, and of life, and the active principle of a multitude of industries, and of metallurgical industry in particular, is unquestionably one of the greatest conquests achieved by man over Nature. ”

“ This explanation we hold to be simpler and more natural than the other, which refers the discovery of fire to the spontaneous conflagrations of forests, or to the friction of dry branches of trees.
Fire, we repeat with profound conviction, must have been very early known to man, for we cannot conceive of his living without it. And hence, "who can picture the joy, the gladness, the radiant ecstasy of that one of our unknown forefathers who first triumphantly exhibited to his astonished tribesmen the smoking brand from which he had succeeded in causing flame to burst forth?" ”

“ This I have demonstrated by keeping colorless artemiæ for a while in water tinged by red monads, or simply by carmine, and so giving them a red color.
But, though the artemia has nothing to do with the coloration of water, it is, nevertheless, a subject of wonder and study for the physiologist. Like several other animals belonging to the great sub-kingdom Articulata (psyche, bee, silk-worm moth) , our crustaceans possess the singular privilege of reproducing themselves without being subjected to the general law of sexual union. ”

“ From all this it follows that the red color of the Mediterranean salt-marshes is caused by the Monas Dunalii but is that animalcule the only cause of the phenomenon? Has not the Artemia salina of Audouin, Dumas, and Payen, also something to do with it? This problem was soon solved. We have first to bear in mind that these little crustaceans are found in far greater numbers in brackish water than in water at its maximum point of concentration, and that in the latter case, indeed, they occur so rarely that their presence may be regarded as in some sort merely accidental. ”

“ I collected on the spot some samples of the water which looked most like blood, and also of water which, being less briny than this, was also of a fainter red color. Under the microscope the water collected in the various compartments exhibited myriads of minute creatures, with oval or oblong bodies, often compressed in the middle, but sometimes cylindrical. Very young individuals were colorless, those a little older were greenish, and the adult were of a deep red. ”

“ In water of this kind, the artemia appears to be sickly; it evidently languishes in the over-dense medium; it swims about with difficulty, always keeping at the surface. It is more or less of a red color along the line of its digestive canal; but this coloration is a secondary thing, and is owing to the monads it has swallowed in water. The latter deposits in their intestine salt-crystals, which may be seen through their transparent envelope, mingled with monads in a state of partial or total digestion. ”

“ The name of parthenogenesis has been bestowed on this singular mode of reproduction by virgin females, independently of commerce with males; oftentimes, the latter do not exist at all, or at least are as yet unknown. In conclusion, we would remark that the eggs of our virgin artemia produce only females, while the unfecundated eggs of the queen-bee produce males, and males only.—La Nature. ”

“ If the torches or brands go out, it may be necessary to make a long journey in order to have them lighted again from the fire kept up by another tribe. Nearly every family, too, carries about a cone of banksia, which burns slowly like amadou. ”

“ Thus, friction is produced by means of a stick which is made to slide rapidly to and fro upon a piece of dry, soft wood laid upon the ground (in Tahiti, the Sandwich Islands, New Zealand, Timor, etc.) . This process Tylor denominates the stick-and-groove (Fig. 1) , but the fire-drill (Figs. 2 and 4) is more generally used. In its simplest form, the fire-drill consists of a stick, one extremity of which is inserted in
a hole bored in a piece of dry wood, while the stick itself is twirled between the hands and pressed downward (see Fig. 2) . ”

“ We are not concerned now with these errors and superstitions, on which modern science has pronounced its verdict; we propose rather to consider some well-attested facts, the causes of which leave no room for doubt or ambiguity. ”

“ Audouin, Dumas, and Payen, of the Institute, have attributed it to the Artemia salinia, a minute branchiopod crustacean, which in fact swarms in the partennements, [1] where the saltness of the water is far below the degree of saturation requisite for the precipitation of salt crystals, but is of much rarer occurrence where the water, being very highly concentrated, assumes at times a blood-red color. ”

“ This instrument occurs not only in Australia, Sumatra, the Caroline Islands, and Kamtchatka, but also in China, South Africa, and North and South America. It was employed by the ancient Mexicans, and is still in use among the Yenadis of Southern India, and the Veddas of Ceylon (Fig. 3) .
Fig. 3. Ancient Mexican Fire-Drill. ”

“ As for the analogies, or even direct resemblances, between certain ceremonies to the worship of Agni and certain rites of the Catholic worship, they, too, may be explained, at least to some extent, by community of origin: Agni, as Akta, would be Christ; Maya, the Virgin Mary; Twastri, Saint Joseph. ↑ A small, sharp-nosed animal, not unlike the Guinea-pig. ”