Hyperborea

“ Habitat.—Mediterranean, Crete (Ehrenberg) , Corfu (Haeckel) .
11. Lithomitra hyperborea, Haeckel.
Eucyrtidium hyperboreum, Bailey, 1856, Amer. Journ. Sci. and Arts, vol. xxii., pl. i. fig. 10.
Lithocampe hyperborea, Haeckel, 1862, Monogr. d. Radiol., p. 315.
Shell cylindrical, with prominent longitudinal ribs and six deep strictures. Cephalis hemispherical. On each joint three to four transverse rows of small, obsolete pores. Each joint is about twice as broad as long.
Dimensions.—Length of the shell (with six joints) 0.12; length of each joint 0.02, breadth 0.04. ”

“ The much-quoted passage given by Diodorus the Sicilian, who lived in the first century before the Christian era and who reproduced it from the Description of the World written by Hecatæus in the fifth century, states that in the island of the Hyperboreans over against Celtica there is a magnificent 26circular temple which they have erected to Apollo. [17] The passage presents more than one difficulty. The Hyperboreans were known to the ancient world as the possessors of the sources of amber, a substance which is not found in Britain but in the neighbourhood of the Baltic. ”

“ Doubtless, Professor Müller, your astonishment has now subsided as to Hecatæus’s credulity in the existence of the Hyperboreans. Diodorus Siculus, who, [Pg 452] though, as Granville Penn has affirmed, he “has transmitted to us many scattered and important truths,” yet does the same judicious commentator add, that it was in a condition “intermixed with much idle fiction, equivocation, and anachronism,” [519] was herein your guide! But the manes of the Hyperboreans now speak from the tomb, and vindicate their existence as well as their locality! ”

“ The possession of separate heads by the Hyperboreans seemed to lend them a remarkable biologic interest in the eyes of their hosts. The Bhlemphroims, it was learned, had not always been headless but had reached their present physical conformation through a slow course of evolution, in which the head of the archetypal Bhlemphroim had been merged by imperceptible degrees with the torso. ”

“ Now, if, with Herodotus, the Ister is conceived to be a river which runs through all Europe from its western extremity, the Hyperboreans, in spite of their name, must be placed in the regions of the west.1178 But there was in ancient times also an idea that the Ister was a vast stream descending from the extreme north;1179 and this notion was evidently entertained by the two poets just mentioned; thus Æschylus, in the Prometheus Unbound, represented Hercules as penetrating to the place where Boreas rushes from the mountains ”

“ Amongst them that have written old stories much like fables, Hecatæus and some others say, that there is an island in the ocean, over against Gaul, as big as Sicily, under the arctic pole, where the Hyperboreans inhabit, so called because they lie beyond the breezes of the north wind. That the soil here is very rich and very fruitful, and the climate temperate, insomuch as there are two crops in the year.
“They say that Latona was born here, and therefore that they worship Apollo above all other gods ”

“ Herodotus also mentions this annual custom of the Hyperboreans, remarking that those of Delos talk of "Holy things tied up in sheaf of wheat conveyed from the Hyperboreans." And the Jews, by the command of their law, offered also a sheaf: "And shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the first-fruits of the harvest unto the priest."
This is not introduced in proof of any feast observed by the people who had harvests, but to show the universality of the custom of offering the Primitiae, which preceded this feast. But yet it maybe looked upon as equivalent to a proof ”

“ Hypernotii therefore should be those who lived beyond the point of the procession of the south wind. The remark of Herodotus will be found, lib. iv. § 36. It is simply this: Supposing Hyperboreans, there ought likewise to be Hypernotii.
439 Those who exult over the misfortunes of their neighbours.
440 Those who rejoice in others’ prosperity.
441 Gosselin observes, that what Strabo here says, is in accordance with the geographical system of the ancients, who supposed that Africa did not extend as far as the equator. ”

“ As in all the genus, the female is said to court the male, which is duller, and performs most of the duties of incubation. The eggs are larger and rounder than in the next species, the nest less concealed. P. (Lobipes) hyperboreus, the Red-necked Phalarope, {279}with more tapering bill, breeds in Scandinavia, Russia, and Siberia, as well as from Alaska to Greenland, Iceland, Shetland, Orkney, and the Hebrides; it rarely migrates to Western Europe, but reaches India, New Guinea, Guatemala, and Peru. ”

“ In Scotland they occur on most of the higher hills from Arran northwards, though no longer in Dumfries and Galloway; while abroad they occupy Northern Europe, with the Pyrenees and the Alps, and possibly Northern Asia. In the lighter L. rupestris the adult male never has a black breast or a grey back in autumn. This form occurs in North Asia and North America, with Greenland, Iceland, and Japan, many local races having been described as distinct species or sub-species; while the larger L. hyperboreus (hemileucurus) , with a white base to the tail, inhabits Spitsbergen ”

“ The experiments with the dynamometer in order to measure their strength, the anthropometric measurements with a calliper, and the printing of the thumb-marks, caused the Bororos first of all great anxiety, then boisterous amusement. They looked upon it all as utter nonsense—in a way I did not blame them—and repeatedly asked why I did it. I told them that I did it to find out where they came from.
"We are not monkeys," said they; "we do not walk on our hands. ”

“ From the extreme north north-east to the point204 where the sun rises in the summer, it is the country of the Scythians. Still further than them, and beyond205 the point where north north-east begins, some writers have placed the Hyperborei, who are said, indeed, by the majority to be a people of Europe.206 After passing this point,20724 the first place that is known is Lytarmis,208 a promontory of Celtica, and next to it the river Carambucis,209 where the chain of the Riphæan Mountains terminates, and with it the extreme rigour of the climate ”

“ In the very young Ophiuroid the madreporite is on the edge of the disc, and the stone-canal extends horizontally outwards; and in some Asteroidea there is a similar outward direction in its course. As development proceeds the dorsal interradial areas of the disc of the young Ophiuroid grow out into lobes, building up the conspicuous adult disc and forcing the madreporite, and with it the stone-canal, downwards towards the ventral surface. ”

“ Still, in spite of such exceptions and anomalies in distribution, there is much evidence for a real distinction between boreal and southern faunas in the Jurassic and in the Cretaceous which may indicate a zonal distribution of temperature in Mesozoic time. It should be remembered, however, that a boreal climate probably did not then mean a frigid climate, and that the differences in temperature were probably not so great as at the present time. ”

“ Robottom for authority, and the country is open for those who wish to examine for themselves. The place can easily be found. It is known as the Borax Fields in the Slate Range, and will be examined carefully by many competent men, since the tincal — a crude borate of soda — is a valuable mineral, and can be separated, at little expense, from the sulphate of soda. ”

“ Many of the Boreal species occur on both sides of the Atlantic, and thus support the theory of a more continuous fringe of continental land once existing along the north of the Atlantic. Among the prominent genera, besides several of those mentioned under the Arctic Sub-region, are Purpura, Chenopus, Littorina, Gibbula, Natica, Patella, Tectura, Chiton, Doris, Aeolis, Tellina, Thracia. ”

“ The borax vein is traceable for several thousand feet, striking along the western and northern side of the largest sedimentary hill in the range, and finally passing down a cañon to the eastward, where it becomes a well-defined vein. Toward the western end the borate of lime appears to be much mixed with the sandy sediments, gypsum, and clays, giving the appearance of having been formed near the shore line of the basin in which this great mass of material has been left as a residuary deposit, due to the evaporation of the water containing the calcium borate. ”

“ The Protozoans appear to have flourished extensively in the Lower Silurian seas, though to a large extent under forms which are still little understood. We have here for the first time the appearance of Foraminifera of the ordinary type—one of the most interesting observations in this collection being that made by Ehrenberg, who showed that the Lower Silurian sandstones of the neighbourhood of St Petersburg contained casts in glauconite of Foraminiferous shells, some of which are referable to the existing genera Rotalia and Texularia. ”

“ It was while acting as midshipman under Admiral Saunders that Robison himself observed the effect of the aurora borealis on the compass, which had been remarked by Hiörter, Wargentin, and Mairan several years before, but which was not then generally known. The aurora borealis, he afterwards wrote, “is observed in Europe to disturb the needle exceedingly, sometimes drawing it several degrees from its position. It is always observed to increase its rate of deviation from the meridian; that is an aurora borealis makes the needle point more westerly. ”

“ He proved that if a body be projected with any velocity in free space, subject only to a central force, varying inversely as the square of the distance, the body must revolve in a curve which may be any one of the sections of a cone—a circle, ellipse, parabola, or hyperbola; and he found that those comets of which he had observations move in parabolae round the Sun, and are thus subject to the universal law. ”

“ Boracic ACID, (acid of borax, or sedative salt.) Many people still think this to be an artificial production, but not long since Mr. Hoefer [17] found it in a lake near Sienna in the great dutchy of Hetruria, and it has long been known to be united to the fossil alkaly in native borax. It acts like an acid, though very feebly. It melts in the fire and volatilizes with water. Its specific gravity is 1,480.
§ 36. Amber ACID, is a concrete salt obtained from amber; it acts like a feeble acid. It is yet doubtful whether amber be of vegetable origin; many reckon it fossil. ”

“ A very remarkable point which has led to great confusion in the study of the Foraminifera, is the fact that the shell on which we base our characters of classification, may vary very much, even within the same individual. Thus in the genus Orbitolites the first few chambers of the shell have the character of a Milioline, in Orbiculina of a Peneroplis. ”

“ Contains 10 Propositions, from 41 to 51; on the 42th whereof he finds a Sphere equal to an Hyperbolical Ring-solid; whence divers ways are open'd towards the attaining the Quadrature of the Hyperbola: And he finds at Sphere equal to a Ring made by the Rotation of a Segment of an Hyperbola, and of the Segment of a Circle thereto annexed, dcscribed about the Base of the Hyperbola as a Chord Line: Then he absolutely cubes certain Hoofs cut out of an Hyperbolical Cylinder, and thence derives other ways towards the obtaining the Quadrature of the Hyperbola. ”

“ The Pleurobrachia alone retains its quickness of motion in after life, and although its long graceful streamers appear only as short stumpy tentacles in the young (Fig. 34) , yet its active little body would be more easily recognized in the earlier stages of growth [Pg 35] than that of the other Ctenophoræ. Figs. 34, 35, and 36 show the Pleurobrachia at various stages of growth; Fig. 34, with its thick stunted tentacles and short rows of flappers, is the youngest; the flappers themselves are rather long at this age, looking more like stiff hairs than like the minute fringes of the adult. ”

“ As if the ordinate describe a parabola, m being = 2, and n = 1, the force will be as the given quantity 2B°, and therefore is given. Therefore with a given force the body will move in a parabola, as Galileo has demonstrated. If the ordinate describe an hyperbola, m being = 0 - 1, and n = 1, the force will be as 2A-3 or 2B3; and therefore a force which is as the cube of the ordinate will cause the body to move in an hyperbola. ”

“ Any segment of a paraboloid of revolution is half as large again as the cone or segment of a cone which has the same base and axis; (2) Any segment of a hyperboloid of revolution or of a spheroid is to the cone or segment of a cone with the same base and axis in the ratio of AD + 3CA to AD + 2CA in the case of the hyperboloid, and of 3CA − AD to 2CA − AD in the case of the spheroid, where C is the centre, A the vertex of the segment, and AD the axis of the segment (supposed in the case of the spheroid to be not greater than half the spheroid) . ”

“ Boric acid is also a [Pg 430] constituent of certain silicates, such as tourmaline, axinite, and datholite.
The natural borates are used in the preparation of borax, which is largely employed as a preservative agent, for fluxing, and for other purposes.
There is only one series of boron compounds which have any importance. These are the borates in which the trioxide (B2O3) acts the part of a weak acid. The addition of any acid liberates boric acid, which separates out in cold solutions as a crystalline precipitate. ”