The Washington times., 1922-09-17
CATS AND DCL0UER,
OLIVER LODGE.
EARTHWORNS :

EARTHW0RNS :
This Is Not a Specimen Of
Free Verse, But a Hint or
the Contents of Volume III,
Outline Of Science.
A SHORT while since We re-
lated in this place. with justt
fiablel pride, how we had arrived al
considerable degree OF erudition
by reading volumes one and two OF
j. Arthur Thomson's Outline OF
Science" (Putnam). Now we have
just finished volume three, and we
have gathered therefrom several
additional scientific facts of stu.
pendous import. Take. for II.
ample. the relation Of cats to
clover.
Felis, the cat, has never had any
great appeal for us on either
esthetic or utilitarian grounds.
His voice Is not as the falling Of
waters. his domestic relations are
uncertain. and his flesh is not
Willingly eaten to any large extsn,
in our best families. Yet, through
confederation of circumstances
nature has established a direct re.
latlon between the number and
Voracity Of cats and the amount
Of clover, T. pratense and T. re.
pens. which adorns our lawns and
In the fields of the farmer pro.
vides food for cattle.
And IL all comes about in this
wise: Clover is fertilized by humble
bees. The grubs OF the bees are
preyed on by field mice. Cats eat
the field mice. Hence, the more
cat-owning old maids, the more
cats. consequently less mice, there.
fore more bees, and necessarily
more clover. Q. E. d. says tha
skeptical reader? It's all there, IN
the third volume.
Now, lest you may think infor.
nation Of this kind OF no value TO
the average reader, get yourself d
copy of Scott Fitzgerald's Beau.
tiful and Damned" Therein you
will find one character asking an.
other this very question, about The
relation OF cats to clover. AS both
men were in quite an advanced
state of intoXication, the answer
was not forthcoming. and we woUll
have remained in ignorance OF it
had we not read the Outline. So
it seems that knowledge Of
science is necessary for an intel
ligent reading of the lightcst
novels.
And the humble earthworm.
Lumbricus terrestris, we discover
has far more important use than
to serve as bait. We have it on
authority that the earthworm has
mad all the fertile soil that now
exists. Charles Darwin found IN
one acre of ground $4,000 earth
worms, each Of which passed ten
tons OF earth through its bot,'
each year. They have, according to
the same authority, been doing this
for millions of years. BY watching
his acre closely for twenty years
he found that the worms made
new soil at the rate of three incnts
in fifteen years.
Volume three also contains an
exhaustive article on Psychic
Science by Sir Oliver Lodge: II.
gether with chapters on Botany,
Inter-relation of Living Creatures.
Biology, Chemistry, the Chem, st
as Creator, Meteorology. Eltc.
tricity, Wireless Telegraphy and
Telephony, and Flying.
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Some Of the topics treated are:
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