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Managing Human and
Social Systems
Environmental Management Handbook,
Second Edition
Edited by
Brian D. Fath and Sven E. Jørgensen
Volume 1
Managing Global Resources and Universal Processes
Volume 2
Managing Biological and Ecological Systems
Volume 3
Managing Soils and Terrestrial Systems
Volume 4
Managing Water Resources and Hydrological Systems
Volume 5
Managing Air Quality and Energy Systems
Volume 6
Managing Human and Social Systems
Managing Human and
Social Systems
Second Edition
Edited by
Brian D. Fath and Sven E. Jørgensen
Assistant to Editor
Megan Cole
Cover photo: Znojmo, Czech Republic, B. Fath
Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot
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Typeset in Minion
by codeMantra
Contents
Preface ....................................................................................................................... ix
Editors ....................................................................................................................... xi
Contributors ........................................................................................................... xiii
v
vi Contents
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Contents vii
Given the current state of the world as compiled in the massive Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
Report, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively during the past 50 years than in
any other time in human history. These are unprecedented changes that need certain action. As a result,
it is imperative that we have a good scientific understanding of how these systems function and good
strategies on how to manage them.
In a very practical way, this multivolume Environmental Management Handbook provides a com-
prehensive reference to demonstrate the key processes and provisions for enhancing environmental
management. The experience, evidence, methods, and models relevant for studying environmental
management are presented here in six stand-alone thematic volumes, as follows:
VOLUME 1 – Managing Global Resources and Universal Processes
VOLUME 2 – Managing Biological and Ecological Systems
VOLUME 3 – Managing Soils and Terrestrial Systems
VOLUME 4 – Managing Water Resources and Hydrological Systems
VOLUME 5 – Managing Air Quality and Energy Systems
VOLUME 6 – Managing Human and Social Systems
In this manner, the handbook introduces in the first volume the general concepts and processes used
in environmental management. The next four volumes deal with each of the four spheres of nature
(biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere). The last volume ties the material together in its
application to human and social systems. These are very important chapters for a wide spectrum of stu-
dents and professionals to understand and implement environmental management. In particular, the
features include the following:
• The first handbook that demonstrates the key processes and provisions for enhancing environ-
mental management.
• Addresses new and cutting-edge topics on ecosystem services, resilience, sustainability, food–
energy–water nexus, socio-ecological systems, etc.
• Provides an excellent basic knowledge on environmental systems, explains how these systems
function, and gives strategies on how to manage them.
• Written by an outstanding group of environmental experts.
Since the handbook covers such a wide range of materials from basic processes, to tools, technolo-
gies, case studies, and legislative actions, each handbook entry is further classified into the following
categories:
APC: Anthropogenic chemicals: The chapters cover human-manufactured chemicals and activities
COV: Indicates that the chapters give comparative overviews of important topics for environmental
management
ix
x Preface
CSS: The chapters give a case study of a particular environmental management example
DIA: Means that the chapters are about diagnostic tools: monitoring, ecological modeling, ecologi-
cal indicators, and ecological services
ELE: Focuses on the use of legislation or policy to address environmental problems
ENT: Addresses environmental management using environmental technologies
NEC: Natural elements and chemicals: The chapters cover basic elements and chemicals found in
nature
PRO: The chapters cover basic environmental processes.
Volume 6, Managing Human and Social Systems, applies the cumulative knowledge of environmental
science and systems specifically into managing human and social systems. There are over 50 entries
covering a wide area from environmental legislation and policy to human health, economics, sustain-
able development, and green technologies. New entries are included to cover environmental accounting,
limits to growth, and urban agriculture. Case studies investigate the impact of cell tower placement,
health consequences of pesticides in developing countries, and the promise of community-based moni-
toring. This culminating volume gives guidance for effective environmental management and a glimpse
into future challenges and opportunities.
Brian D. Fath
Brno, Czech Republic
December 2019
Editors
Brian D. Fath is Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Towson University (Maryland,
USA) and Senior Research Scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis
(Laxenburg, Austria). He has published over 180 research papers, reports, and book chapters on envi-
ronmental systems modeling, specifically in the areas of network analysis, urban metabolism, and
sustainability. He has co-authored the books A New Ecology: Systems Perspective (2020), Foundations
for Sustainability: A Coherent Framework of Life–Environment Relations (2019), and Flourishing within
Limits to Growth: Following Nature’s Way (2015). He is also Editor-in-Chief for the journal Ecological
Modelling and Co-Editor-in-Chief for Current Research in Environmental Sustainability. He was the
2016 recipient of the Prigogine Medal for outstanding work in systems ecology and twice a Fulbright
Distinguished Chair (Parthenope University, Naples, Italy in 2012 and Masaryk University, Czech
Republic in 2019). In addition, he has served as Secretary General of the International Society for
Ecological Modelling, Co-Chair of the Ecosystem Dynamics Focus Research Group in the Community
Surface Modeling Dynamics System, and member and past Chair of Baltimore County Commission on
Environmental Quality.
xi
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Contributors
xiii
xiv Contributors
Mathis Wackernagel
Global Footprint Network
Oakland, California
Taylor & Francis
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http://taylorandfrancis.com
I
APC:
Anthropogenic
Chemicals and
Activities
1
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1
Food: Pesticide
Contamination
Introduction ...................................................................................................... 3
Before Registration ........................................................................................... 3
After Registration ............................................................................................. 4
Food Processing................................................................................................ 5
Trade Issues ....................................................................................................... 5
Analytical Methods for Pesticide Residues ................................................... 6
Future ................................................................................................................. 6
Denis Hamilton References ......................................................................................................... 7
Introduction
How much pesticide residue did I eat today?
No more than necessary, and less than would be detrimental to your health.
Government authorities must be able to support the answer to the consumer’s question with scien-
tific data and valid scientific studies.[1] The “no more residues than necessary” concept originates from
the principle of good agricultural practice, which implies that the desired effect (pest control) will be
achieved without leaving more residues than necessary in the food.
Before Registration
Pesticide residue evaluation and risk assessment prior to registration are summarized in Figure 1.[2,3]
Risks to the environment and to the user are also evaluated but are not considered further under the
present topic—food contamination with pesticide residues.
Metabolism studies on a pesticide in crops and farm animals identify the nature of the residue. The
residue may consist of a parent compound or metabolites or a mixture. In some cases, different pesti-
cides produce the same metabolites; in other cases, the metabolite of one pesticide is another pesticide.
Some crops genetically modified for herbicide resistance achieve their resistance by metabolizing the
herbicide to a derivative with no herbicidal activity.
The acceptable daily intake (ADI) of a chemical is the daily intake, expressed on a body-weight basis,
which, during an entire lifetime, appears to be without appreciable risk to the health of the consumer
on the basis of all the known facts at the time. The ADI is based on animal feeding studies that find the
daily dose over a lifetime resulting in no observable adverse effect on the most sensitive animal species
tested. Then, a margin of safety (safety factor, commonly 100) is applied to allow for extrapolation from
animals to humans and the variability in responses between average and highly sensitive humans.
3
4 Managing Human and Social Systems
RISK ASSESSMENT
Are the toxicology and dietary
intake of residues compatible?
FIGURE 1 Risk assessment process before registration for pesticide residues in food. ADI: acceptable daily intake;
Acute RfD: acute reference dose; MRL: maximum residue limit or tolerance.
Source: Hamilton DJ, Food contamination with pesticide residues, in Encyclopedia of Pest Management, 2002,
p 287.
The acute reference dose (acute RfD or ARfD) of a chemical is an estimate of the amount normally
expressed on a body-weight basis, which can be ingested in a period of 24 hours or less without appre-
ciable health risk to the consumer on the basis of all known facts at the time of the evaluation. The acute
RfD is also based on the results of animal dosing studies with a suitable safety factor.
The maximum residue limit (MRL), synonymous with “tolerance,” is the maximum concentration
of pesticide residue legally permitted in or on food commodities. The MRL usually applies to the com-
modity of trade, which may or may not be the same as the edible portion. For a fruit such as apples, it is
the same, while for bananas, the MRL applies to the whole banana, but only the pulp is eaten. An MRL
provides a division between food that is legally acceptable or unacceptable. Foods derived from com-
modities complying with the relevant MRLs are intended to be toxicologically acceptable, but the MRL
is not a dividing line between safe and unsafe.
Supervised residue trials on animal feed commodities and livestock feeding studies with pesticide
residues generate the information required to support MRLs for meat, milk, and eggs.
Risk assessment tells us whether or not the amounts of residue are likely to be safe for consumers.[4,5]
We estimate dietary intake (also referred to as “dietary exposure”) of pesticide residues by multiplying
the level of residue in the food ready for consumption by the amount of the food consumed. For chronic
risk assessment, we compare the sum for all foods of expected long-term average intake with the ADI for
the pesticide. For acute risk assessment, we compare possible intake from high consumption of a food,
in a period of 24 hours or less, with the acute RfD.
After Registration
The design of monitoring studies for residues in food commodities depends on the purpose: random
survey of food consignments (surveillance), targeted enforcement sampling where a residue problem is
suspected, export monitoring to meet trade requirements, and total diet studies.
Government authorities regularly survey agricultural and animal products for levels of pesticide
residues. If the label directions were based on reliable and representative field trials and if users are
Food: Pesticide Contamination 5
faithfully following label directions, then residues will be within the legal MRLs. Most surveys have
demonstrated a high level of compliance.
Total diet studies identify which pesticides and measure in what quantities people are actually con-
suming. Food purchased in the marketplace is prepared by peeling and cooking as in the normal house-
hold and is then subjected to residue analysis. Amounts of foods consumed are known from specially
designed food surveys for subpopulations such as adult males and females, children, toddlers, and
infants, as well as for ethnic groups and regions or localities. Dietary intakes for populations and sub-
populations are calculated from the diets and the residue levels found by analysis. Commonly, total diet
studies demonstrate intakes much less than the ADI.
Food Processing
Food processing usually reduces pesticide residue levels because of the washing or cleaning, peel-
ing, milling, juicing, cooking, or baking. Residue levels may increase in some processed commodities
because the residue tends more to one fraction than another.[6] For example, residues on the surface of
a wheat grain will find their way into the bran fraction with little in the flour. Residues of oil-soluble
pesticides will find their way mainly into the vegetable oil fraction from an oilseed such as soybean.
In particular cases, a food process can change the nature of the residue. For example, ethylenebisdi-
thiocarbamate fungicides are converted, on cooking, to ethylenethiourea, which is more toxic than the
parent pesticide. Fortunately, ethylenebisdithiocarbamates are essentially surface residues, and their
levels can substantially be reduced by thorough washing before a cooking or blanching step.
Trade Issues
MRL values derived from good agricultural practice are, by their nature, local. A pesticide is used in the
best way within local cultural practices to control a specific pest, and the rate of pesticide disappear-
ance depends on local environmental conditions. Comparisons among countries of national MRLs and
tolerances will frequently reveal substantial differences. Table 1 shows the range of MRLs for ethephon
in 17 countries for each of four commodities.
The differences pose problems for international trade in food commodities. The importing country
may reject shipments of food that do not comply with its national MRLs. It is attractive for some lobby
groups and some governments to use national differences in MRLs as a barrier to trade.
Where no MRL or tolerance has been set for a pesticide on a food, some national governments apply a
“zero tolerance,” that is, the MRL is assumed to be zero unless otherwise stated. The reason no MRL is set
could simply be that the pest problem does not occur or that the crop is not produced locally; for example,
cold temperate countries do not produce pineapples, so there will be no local uses or local MRLs.
The Codex Alimentarius Commission was established in 1961 to implement the FAO/WHO Food
Standards Program. A purpose of the program is to protect the health of consumers and to ensure fair
practices in the food trade. The Codex Committee on Pesticide Residues (CCPR) has the responsibility
to establish Codex MRLs for food commodities in international trade.
CCPR relies on the data supplied by member governments and has established many MRLs. The
methods of data evaluation in Codex are very similar to the methods in countries with regulatory con-
trol of pesticide use; Codex draws on the expertise of scientists from such countries around the world.
Member government acceptance of Codex MRLs for food commodities in international trade is reduc-
ing the incidence of trade barriers based on national MRLs.
Developing countries have sometimes suffered pesticide residue trade difficulties because a lack of
resources has made it difficult for them to monitor their exports effectively to ensure compliance with
the importing country MRL requirements.
Future
The science of risk assessment will be further developed. Food safety and food security will continue to
be important for consumer, government, and industry.[9] Trade issues will continue to be problematic
with specific incidents of residues in foods arising from time to time. National governments will develop
strategic approaches to deal with trade issues related to pesticide residues. Knowledgeable people in gov-
ernment and industry and experienced workers in functioning laboratories will be needed to support
those strategic approaches. Exporters will need to monitor residues in a high percentage of their exports
to meet the requirements of their customers. We might expect more developments with biopesticides.
Relevant impurities in biopesticides are more likely to be biological than chemical, posing new chal-
lenges for analytical and test methods.
Food: Pesticide Contamination 7
References
1. Frehse, H. ed. 1991. Pesticide Chemistry, Advances in International Research, Development, and
Legislation, Proceedings of the Seventh International Congress of Pesticide Chemistry (IUPAC),
Hamburg, 1990. VCH Verlagsgesellschaft mbH: Weinheim, Germany; 361–601.
2. FAO. 2016. Submission and Evaluation of Pesticide Residues Data for the Estimation of Maximum
Residue Levels in Food and Feed; third edition. FAO Plant Production and Protection Paper,
225:1–286.
3. Dishburger, H.J., Ballantine, L.G., McCarthy, J., Murphy, J. and Tweedy, B. G., eds. 1991. Pesticide
Residues and Food Safety: A Harvest of Viewpoints. ACS Symposium Series 446, American Chemical
Society: Washington, DC, 1–348.
4. Hamilton, D.J., Holland, P.T., Ohlin, B. et al. 1997. Optimum use of available residue data in the
estimation of dietary intake of pesticides. Pure Appl. Chem. 69:1373–1410.
5. WHO. 2009. Principles and Methods for the Risk Assessment of Chemicals in Food, IPCS. Chapter
6, Dietary Exposure Assessment of Chemicals in Food. Environmental Health Criteria 240.
6. Holland, P.T., Hamilton, D., Ohlin, B. and Skidmore, M.W. 1994. Effects of storage and processing
on pesticide residues in plant products. Pure Appl. Chem. 66:335–356.
7. FAO. 2000. Pesticide Residues in Food. Ethephon. Evaluations 1999. FAO Plant Production and
Protection Paper, 157:210.
8. Ambrus, Á. 1999. Quality of Residue Data. In Pesticide Chemistry and Bioscience: The Food-
Environment Challenge, Brooks, G.T. and Roberts, T.R., eds., 339–360. The Royal Society of
Chemistry: Cambridge.
9. Ambrus, Á. and Hamilton, D. 2017. Chapter 12, Future Directions. In Food Safety Assessment of
Pesticide Residues, Ambrus, Á. and Hamilton, D., eds., 507–510. World Scientific Press: Singapore.
Taylor & Francis
Taylor & Francis Group
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2
Human Health: Consumer
Concerns to Pesticides
Introduction ...................................................................................................... 9
Pests and Pesticide Safety in Homes and Gardens ..................................... 10
Food Residues .................................................................................................. 11
Pesticide Residues in Foods from Organic, Integrated and Conventional
Production
Towards Residue-Reduced Food Crops ...................................................... 12
Government Action Plans • Retailer Initiatives
NGO Initiatives—Ranking Residue Contents ............................................ 12
Conclusions ......................................................................................................13
George Ekström and Acknowledgments ...........................................................................................13
Margareta Palmborg References ....................................................................................................... 13
Introduction
A recent European survey of risk perception and food safety showed, in line with previous research
findings, that consumers tend to worry most about risks caused by external factors over which they
have little or no control. Consequently, consumers appear to be less worried about risks possibly
associated with their own behavior or practices. Physicians and scientists are the most trusted infor-
mation sources with regard to serious food risks, followed by public authorities and mass media.
Economic operators (food manufacturers, farmers, and retailers) are cited as being among the
least trusted.[1]
Interviews conducted with over 1,000 consumers in a survey done in 2001 by the British Co-op Group
showed that consumers were concerned about the effects of pesticides. Consumers who took part in
this survey, when prompted with a series of questions, were concerned that pesticides are harmful to
wildlife, leave residues in food, pollute water courses, are harmful to growing children, are harmful to
the respondents themselves, and damage the health of farm workers.[2,3] According to a personal com-
munication with David Pimentel, in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has reported
that 97% of people prefer foods without pesticides.
Particular causes of consumer concern are the potential for ‘cocktail’ effects from multiple resi-
dues (see Table 1),[4–6] and the fact that children may exceed health- related acute reference doses
even at legally acceptable residue levels (see Table 2).[6] In Australia, the Food Standards code con-
tains provisions for an additional, overall limit for pesticides belonging to the same chemical group
(see Table 3).[7]
9
10 Managing Human and Social Systems
TABLE 2 Food Residues Potentially Leading to Short Time Intake in Excess of the Acute Reference Dose
(ARfD) for Toddlers 2004
Food Highest Residue Maximum Residue ARfD (mg/kg Intake, % of ARfD
Pesticide Commodity Found (mg/kg) Limit (mg/kg) Body weight) for Toddlers
Dicrotophos Chinese broccoli 4.14 — 0.0017 1,763
Lambda- Lettuce 0.92 1 0.0075 106
cyhalothrin
Oxamyl Cucumber 0.42 — 0.009 135
Endosulfan Melon 0.21 0.3 0.02 110
Monocrotophos Zuccini 0.14 — 0.002 381
Aldicarb Potatoes 0.035 0.5 0.003 122
Source: Swedish food residue monitoring report (see Andersson and Jansson[6]).
TABLE 3 Approaches to the Limitation of Organophosphorus Pesticide Residues in Food in Australia and by the
British Co-operative Group, Respectively
Group
Tolerance in
Australia and
Co-op Zero Co-op Zero
Group Tolerance in Australia Tolerance Tolerance
Azamethiphos, azinphos-ethyl, azinphos-methyl, coumaphos, demeton, diazinon, Ethoprophos, Cadusafos,
dichlorvos, dimethoate, disulfoton, dithianon, ethion, famphur, fenchlorphos, fenamiphos, chlorfenvinphos,
fenitrothion, fenthion, formothion, maldison,a methamidophos, methidathion, omethoate, demeton-S-methyl,
mevinphos, naphtalophos,b parathion-methyl, phosmet, pirimiphos- ethyl, phorate, phosphamidon,
pirimiphos-methyl, pyrazophos, sulprophos, temephos, tetrachlorvinphos, prothiofos tebupirimfos,
thiometon, S.S.S-tributylphosphorotrithioate, trichlorfon, vamidothion terbufos
Source: Maximum residue limits—Chemical groups[7] and The Co-operative Group.[11]
a ISO common name is malathion.
b WHO INN, no ISO common name available.
The large irregular nebulae described in the last chapter are all
more or less mingled with stars, at least in appearance, and it has
been suggested that they are star-clusters in process of formation,
with larger and brighter masses of filmy nebulosity all about them
than at later stages, for long-exposure photographs reveal some
exceedingly faint nebulosities surrounding Kappa Crucis and the
Pleiades and other fully-developed star-clusters. But this can only be
a guess until we know more about the nature of nebulae. In some
regions of the sky we find vast spaces thinly veiled by nebulosity so
faint and transparent that it seems to have reached the very limit at
which matter can exist and be recognised as such. Thus in the
constellation of Orion nearly all the bright stars are connected
together by the vast convolutions of an exceedingly faint diffused
nebula in spiral form, the innermost curve of which ends in the Great
Nebula of the Sword, and the whole region within is filled with faint
light.
Quite distinct from these nebulae are others of perfectly regular
form, very small, purely gaseous, without intermingling of any stars,
but usually with one bright star-like nucleus at the centre. One form
is the ring nebula, of which much the best known is that in the
northern constellation of the Lyre. There are, however, some in the
south. In a large telescope they appear like little golden wedding-
rings against the dark sky background.
Another regular form is the “planetary nebula,” so called because
they look much like planets in large telescopes, being perfectly round
or oval with a sharply-defined edge, and in several cases there are
handle-like appendages, which may possibly be encircling rings, like
the rings of Saturn. These nebulae shine with a peculiar bluish-green
light, the colour of the unknown gas nebulium, of which they are
chiefly composed. In Hydra, south of the star Mu, is one of the
brightest and largest, known as H 27—that is, No. 27 on William
Herschel’s list. It is elliptical and of a lovely bluish colour, with a
bright nucleus exactly in the centre.
By means of these sharply-defined central nuclei it has been
found possible to measure the approaching or receding movements
of these nebulae, and although the one just mentioned is receding
from us with a speed of only 3½ miles a second, their average speed
is high, amounting to 40 or 50 miles a second. One in Sagittarius is
receding at more than 80 miles a second, and another in Lupus
attains a speed of over a hundred.
These are movements comparable with those of stars, but the
average is higher than even for the most rapidly moving class of
stars, the red-solar and Antarians. May we, then, place the planetary
nebulae at the end of our star-series, since we saw that from the
blue down to the red the average movements became faster and
faster, and may we believe that all stars eventually become gaseous
nebulae, as “new stars” seem to do? But we saw that in spectrum
these nebulae rather resemble the stars at the other end of the
series, the Wolf-Rayet, which lead directly to the hottest and
brightest of all, the Orion stars. Planetary nebulae also resemble
Wolf-Rayet, Orion, and Sirian stars, and differ from solar and red
stars in that they cluster near the Milky Way, and are scarcely ever
found far from it. Their place in the universe cannot be established
yet.
One more kind of nebula, the most numerous of all, remains to
be mentioned, the so-called “white nebulae,” which do not glow
green like many of the brighter planetaries, but shine with a white
light and have more or less star-like spectra, although not even the
most powerful telescopes can resolve the white cloudiness into
stars. The typical nebula of this class is the famous Andromeda
Nebula, visible to the naked eye in northern skies as a large oval
spot shining softly “like a candle shining through horn.” Photography
first disclosed the remarkable fact that it has the form of a great,
closely-wound spiral, and further research has shown that by far the
greater number of “white nebulae” have this form. There is a very
fine one in Aquarius,[12] which has been known since 1824, but
visual observations gave absolutely no idea of its true form. A
photograph exposed for four hours in September 1912 showed it
clearly as about two turns of a great spiral.
The distribution of this kind of nebula is quite different from that of
the gaseous nebulae, for, instead of clustering towards the Milky
Way, they avoid it, and especially the brightest region, where we saw
that the others most abound, viz. in Scorpio, Sagittarius, and
Ophiuchus. On the contrary, the largest number of these is found
near the north pole of the Galaxy—that is, as far removed from it as
possible, in Virgo. There is, however, no corresponding group about
the south pole of the Galaxy.
One investigator has found the distance of the Andromeda
Nebula to be twenty light-years, but the distance and the movements
of this type are difficult to discover. They are evidently very different
from the others, and quite as mysterious.
XVI
THE CLOUDS OF MAGELLAN
Like a great river returning into itself, the Galaxy encircles the
starry heavens, and those who know only its northern course have
no idea of its brilliance and wonderful complexity in its brightest part.
Its light is soft, milky, and almost uniform, between Cygnus and
Sirius, but when it enters Argo it becomes extremely broad, and
spreads out like a river on a flat marshy plain, in many twisting
channels with spaces between. Where Canopus shines on the bank
there is a narrow winding ford right across its whole breadth, as if a
path had been made by the crossing of a star.
After this it suddenly becomes extremely narrow, but so bright
that all the light which was shining in the broad channel seems to be
condensed in this narrow bed. In the brightest, richest part the Great
Nebula of Argo is easily distinguished by the naked eye. Contrasting
with this and other bright condensations are black gaps, the largest
and blackest of which is the well-known Coal-Sack near the
Southern Cross.
THE MILKY WAY IN SCORPIO, LUPUS,
AND ARA
Photographed at Hanover, Cape Colony,
by Bailey and Schultz
The river now divides. One short stream, which goes north from
Centaur towards Antares, is faint and soon lost; but another northern
stream is so bright and so persistent that from Centaur to Cygnus we
may say that the Galaxy flows in a double current. This northern
portion forms first the smoke of the Altar on which the Centaur is
about to offer the Beast, then passes through the Scorpion into the
Serpent-Holder, and here, between η Ophiuchi and Corona Australis,
the double stream has its greatest width. The northern division soon
grows dim and seems to die out, but begins again near β Ophiuchi,
and, curving through a little group of stars, passes through the head
of the Eagle and forms an oval lagoon in the Swan.
The southern stream passes through the Scorpion’s Tail into
Sagittarius, then through the Eagle and the Arrow till it flows close
beside the northern stream in the Swan, and finally rejoins it in a
bright patch round α Cygni. Except just here it is much brighter than
the northern stream, and its structure is even fuller of wonderful
detail than in Argo. In Sagittarius it consists of great rounded patches
with dark spaces between. The brightest of these contains the star γ
Sagittarii; then follows a remarkable region of small patches and
streaks, the portion passing through Sagittarius and Aquila being
thickly studded with nebulae. This is followed by another bright
patch, rivalling that round γ Sagittarii, which involves the stars λ and
6 Aquilae.
This ends the most brilliant and wonderful part of the Milky Way.
When well seen, as we see it in the south, it recalls Herschel’s
words, written at the Cape when it came into view in his telescope:
“The real Milky Way is just come on in great semi-nebulous
masses, running into one another, heaps on heaps.” And again: “The
Milky Way is like sand, not strewed evenly as with a sieve, but as if
flung down by handfuls, and both hands at once.”
What is it? The ancients thought it the pathway of departed
spirits, or fiery exhalations from the earth imprisoned in the skies, or
a former road of the sun through the stars. But Democritus and some
other inquiring Greeks believed it to be the shining of multitudes of
stars too faint and too close together to be seen separately, and we
know this to be the truth. We know also, from simply counting the
stars in different regions of the sky, that their numbers increase
regularly as we go from north or south towards the Milky Way, and
stars of all magnitudes are most abundant within its course. We saw
also that star-clusters and certain kinds of nebulae frequent it, while
other kinds avoid it, and that blue and white stars are the most
abundant near it, and tend to move through space in planes parallel
with it, while the redder stars are scattered and move about in all
directions.
Facts like these lead astronomers to believe that the Milky Way
has a definite relation with all the visible universe, that even the most
distant nebula is not an outlying universe apart from ours, but all are
parts of one vast stellar system.
It is possible that the Milky Way, which we see as a great circle,
double in one part, is really an immense spiral, and that we are
nearest one curve of it, the great southern division which looks so
bright. It may be that the spiral nebulae, vast though they are in
terms of earthly measurement, are tiny models of one tremendous
spiral which enfolds the universe with its coils.
Footnotes:
[1] Published at 5s. by Gall & Inglis, Edinburgh and London.
[2] Stars are classified by astronomers in “magnitudes,” i.e.
degrees of brightness, those of first magnitude being the
brightest. Stars below sixth magnitude cannot be seen with the
naked eye.
[3] Compare Aratus:
The illustrations and footnotes have been moved so that they do not break up
paragraphs and so that they are next to the text they illustrate.
Typographical and punctuation errors have been silently corrected.
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STARS OF THE
SOUTHERN SKIES ***