Question

Document 2: Lucretius On the Nature of the Universe 4.660-690 (1st C. BC)

“The sight of a rooster ... is intolerable to lions. At the first glimpse they think only of running away. The reason, of course, is that the rooster's body contains certain atoms which, when they get into the lion's eyes, prick the eyeballs and cause acute pain, so that even their bold spirits cannot long endure it. But these atoms have no power to hurt our own eyes, either because they never get in at all or because, once in, they have a clear way out, so that they do not hurt the eyeball by meeting obstruction at any point.”

13. What experiment could someone in antiquity have performed to test this theory about the cause of lions running away from roosters? (400 words maximum. Keep in mind what we learned last term about the technologies that were available in antiquity. Assume that the person performing the experiment is quite wealthy so cost is not an issue.)

Answer 1

Lucretius, Nature of things, 4.710 , it is written that roosters shrill sound creates a panic for lions and they run away and hide at some distance away from the prey. Then when the roosters leave the place , they come back on the prey and eat it. Rooster also secretes a toxic substance which is painful if it hits the eye of a lion. There is an inherent fear in lions on hearing the shrill voice of roosters.

Rooster normally give an alarm call between 12:00 am and 1:00 am at night. The hypothesis prediction says that rooster can be compelled to give a specific voice call at midnight which will disturb everyone inlcuding lions in the forests. It says that roosters shrill call causes the sun to rise just because one hears roosters voice at midnight. It is included under cause and effect category in life and science. This rule says that it is in conjuction that rooster will give a call at night but it will automatically change the duration to next morning and actually the voice of rooster will not cause the sun to rise as it is a biological clock event in life. This confirms the experiment and hypothesis.